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Bus Driver Recounts Sun Road Rock Slide

By Beacon Staff

In the two years Katie Brady has worked as a shuttle bus driver on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, she has seen a lot of inclement weather on Logan Pass. But nothing can compare to what she saw on Tuesday, July 17, when a series of dramatic mud and rock slides inundated the iconic road through Glacier National Park.

Nearly 150 vehicles were temporarily trapped and two people suffered minor injuries when a fast-moving rainstorm caused 12 slides on the road between Avalanche Creek and Logan Pass. Road crews quickly cleared a path for the trapped visitors and by the afternoon of July 19 the road had reopened.

Glacier National Park spokesperson Jennifer Lutman said minor slides on the 52-mile road from West Glacier to St. Mary are common and officials are keeping a close eye on the highway, especially during major rain events.

“You can’t predict what’s going to happen,” Lutman said. “All we can do is ensure that it’s safe and keep an eye on the road.”

Lutman said there were no plans to close the road in advance of a major rainstorm.

On July 17, as Brady waited for passengers to board the shuttle bus at Logan Pass, a strong storm had entered the area. According to park officials, an inch and a half of rain fell in 30 minutes.

Brady, 25 of Missoula, is familiar with the changing weather conditions in the park. But as she departed Logan Pass, bound for the Apgar Transit Center, conditions seemed particularly severe. Brady had made it less than one mile down the road, just below the Highline Trail, when rocks and debris slid off the side of an adjacent mountain. Many passengers on the bus remarked that they were glad they hadn’t driven themselves.

About one mile below the pass, Brady turned a corner and saw traffic had stopped in front of a small mud slide. Vehicles began to back up the road, while others tried to turn around. About two minutes later, the small waterfall of mud turned into a cascade of muck and rock.

The bus radio soon began to pick up conversations about other slides up and down the Sun Road.

“At first it was like ‘oh that’s a lot of water,’ but when the big rocks started coming down, it got really scary,” she said.

Brady quickly grabbed her phone and began recording the scene in front of her. The video, which she later posted to YouTube, shows a cascade of debris lasting more than two minutes.

“I figured it was pretty impressive and that I’d never see something like that again,” Brady said. “Well, I hope not to see something like that again.”

Eventually, a park official came to Brady’s bus and told her to turn around and go back to Logan Pass. A few hours later she drove back to Apgar via the east side and Browning. The bus finally returned to West Glacier at about 9 p.m.

Brady said in the future she was going to be more cautious while driving on the road, especially during severe weather.

“I’m going to be a lot more careful about where I stop (on the road) when it’s raining,” she said. “But I’ll be back up there.”

Road crews worked for two days to reopen the road, using heavy equipment and even hand shovels at one point. A park spokesperson said road crews did a final sweep of the road to ensure it was safe before opening it to the public.

The Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass will be open on the west side until Sept. 16 and on the east side until Oct. 21. For up-to-date information about conditions of the Sun Road, visit http://home.nps.gov/applications/glac/roadstatus/roadstatus.cfm