Plowing continues on Glacier roads

Glacier National Park's Logan Pass is still socked in with snow, and this year will mark one of the latest openings of the entire length of the Going-to-the-Sun Road ever.

Plow crews have reached Logan Pass, but they still have to punch through the Big Drift and clear the Logan Pass parking lot before the job is done. Breaking through the Big Drift on the east side of the pass can take a few days, and crews did not work July 4.

The latest opening of the road ever was July 15, 1933, when the road was first completed. With the exception of July 10, 1943, during World War II, the latest opening was July 2 in 2008.

Glacier Park had a record snowfall this winter as well as a wet, cold, snowy spring, which has stifled plowing efforts.

Melting snow is also causing headaches elsewhere in the park. Flooding temporarily closed the Avalanche Lake Trail, the Quarter Circle Bridge road and the Logging Creek campground. Logging Creek generally opens July 1, but park officials now say it won't open until July 8 at the earliest. The Quartz Creek campground has opened.

Laura Bush to visit Flathead Valley

KALISPELL, Mont. - Authorities in Kalispell, Mont., are working with the U.S. Secret Service in connection with former first lady Laura Bush's planned trip to the Flathead Valley on July 15.

Bush is coming for a Glacier Fund fundraiser at 3 p.m. Friday, July 15, at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park, according to Glacier Fund Executive Director Jane Ratzlaff.

More details about the first lady's visit and the fundraiser will be forthcoming, she said.