My Mazda5 vs. Glacier National Park (One of America's BEST drives)

Katner

Member
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2008 Mazda5 Grand Touring
*ALL LINKS SHOULD NOW BE FIXED, INCLUDING THE ALBUM*

Recently returned from a trip to the Kalispell area of Montana. On the way down we hit Glacier National Park which is one of America's best drives.

Let me tell you the little 5 performed like a champ. Great mileage all the way down, and what a joy through the bends, some of which are depicted below. I'm so glad I wasn't in a Forester or a Rav4 for this drive.

HERE is a higher-res collection of shots, although unfortunately they are not original size.

Entering the park:
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Approaching the first of many cliffs:
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One of the early lookouts:
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A majestic valley view:
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Another sample of the scenery:
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Thick fog/cloud enveloped the higher elevations of the next pass. Missed out on a bit of scenery but it was eerily exciting to drive in.
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Fog begins to dissipate revealing a heavenly little road that we slithered down aside wet, moss-covered rock-faces. And noone in front of me now!
7.jpg


"The Weeping Wall." Gentle water-falls splash off cliffs right onto the road. Close your sunroof, convertibles ye be warned.
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Note the hazey mist in the distance. Very Jurassic Park.

You're then shot out into a wonderfully thick forest resembling something more like a Vancouver, or Seattle rain forest. Thick, green woods, with nearly every spot of the forest floor covered with ferns and moss. A turquoise-blue river runs rapid aside the road (thought any more pics would just be over kill).

This isn't a drive you want to speed on since the only thing stopping you from a 3000ft fall is a few rocks, but it's nice if you can do the drive on a weekday to avoid congestion. Park entry is $25/day/vehicle but pay an extra $10 for an annual pass.

For you hikers, the Canadian side (Waterton National Park) offers all the same beauty sans the brilliant road access. But since you drive a Mazda you're probably like me and it's actually the combination of the scenery and the brilliance of the narrow, slithery road that draw you. So in that case hit the US side and take in the sights, SMELLS, and driving pleasure.
 
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http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n190/abcmex/cant-see-s***-captain.jpg

um.... try copy and paste and it will work for you. You should know that trick by now man.

Edit: I know its a pain in the ass but they all work... Its jsut the site that he is hosting the pics off of.
 
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Going to fix this guys. Trouble is both my PC's are viewing all pics perfectly and neither are signed in to the root site. Let me work on this. Update soon.
 
Wow...I love national parks, and I have yet to go to Glacier...stunning. Do you have a link to an online album where we could see more hi-res pics from the trip? (if you don't mind sharing)
 
Wow...I love national parks, and I have yet to go to Glacier...stunning. Do you have a link to an online album where we could see more hi-res pics from the trip? (if you don't mind sharing)
Ya. I wanted to throw a few up right away. But I'll edit the original post tonight and add a link to a high-res album with more pictures. All the above pictures are reduced in size by at least 75%.
 
Glacier is a great park and a good drive. Now if you can head a little farther west, the Rattlesnake Grade in SE Washington/NE Oregon is probably one of Americas great undiscovered drives. Nothing lights up a smile more than the yellow squiggly sign with an "advised" 25 MPH... for the next 18 miles!

The only thing that would have mad that drive better would have been a true MT in the car though...
 
Glacier is a great park and a good drive. Now if you can head a little farther west, the Rattlesnake Grade in SE Washington/NE Oregon is probably one of Americas great undiscovered drives. Nothing lights up a smile more than the yellow squiggly sign with an "advised" 25 MPH... for the next 18 miles!

The only thing that would have mad that drive better would have been a true MT in the car though...

I'm going to do that drive then! I'm in the area way to often to not have experienced it. Thanks for the tip.
 
Just fixed the link in the OP.
Great photos.
How does she perform after the repairs? Any noticeable difference?
Glad to see you're back on the streets.
Anthony

Seems fine except for a couple of things. First, the blower-motor has failed 3, count-'em, 3 times in the last 2 months. I'm guessing there is a short somewhere that happened due to the accident. Good luck to the Mazda techs in finding it. Another issue is really bizzar. I walked out to my car today and looked at my hood and noticed the gaps between the hood and the side fenders are different widths on either side of the car. The accident side has a measurably bigger gap than the opposite. I don't know what I'm going to do about that but I'm going to do something! And I did mention in another thread that tire wear seems to be worse since the accident. I had THREE 4-wheel alignments done during the repair and now my tires thump horribly and are going to have to be replaced by the end of summer with only 38,000kms on them (actually less since I drove for almost 6-months on my winters due to the arctic hell we experienced in Calgary this year).

But I also found an old post by someone who did the work on actually finding the proper toe and camber and alignment specs to decrease the poor tire wear. Apparently the stock specs are not proper for the car. I'm going to look into this more. Basically I'm saying tire wear is an old song in this owner's club so I'm not fretting over that issue.
 

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