Two filmmaking brothers from Arlee have made a documentary on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, covering the early history of Glacier National Park's Indigenous peoples to the clearing and opening of the historic highway today. 

Jordan and Logan Lefler started shooting “Journey to the Sun” in October 2024. They almost canned the project, however, when the National Park Service informed them that they would not get special access to shoot the plowing of the road outside of scheduled media events, Jordan Lefler said in a recent interview. 

But the Park Service gave them plenty of historical and current footage, as did the U.S. Geological Survey team that monitors avalanche danger. They were also able to get to Logan Pass in wintry conditions during scheduled media tours of the plowing. 

The 50-mile scenic highway cuts through Glacier Park, crossing the Continental Divide while connecting the east and west sides of the park. Known as an engineering feat, when the Park celebrated the completion of the road on July 15, 1933, it came after more than two decades of planning and construction.  

The documentary looks to connect the marvel of the past with the present. Each spring, plow crews venture high onto the road in avalanche zones to clear the massive snow mounds that have covered it during winter.  

“Born from ancient trails and carved through impossible terrain in the 1930s, this engineering marvel was never supposed to exist,” the filmmakers say in describing the Sun Road. “Yet here it stands, a testament to human ingenuity and an increasingly fragile bridge between civilization and the untamed wild.” 

Like good documentary filmmakers, the pair made do on other facets of the story, interviewing former park plow crew members, including local historian and former crew member Bill Dakin. They also interviewed Rae Marie Fauley, who grew up in a construction camp along the road where her father worked, and Charles Siderius, who rather famously survived a tumble off the road in a bulldozer near Logan Pass. 

“We wanted to help the general public understand what goes into opening the road,” Jordan Lefler said. “It’s not as easy as it looks. People’s lives are at risk every day trying to get the road open.” 

Adding the Indigenous element to the story was also important, Jordan said. Their grandmother is a tribal member and the west side of Glacier was home to the Kootenai and Pend d’Orielle tribes for 10,000 years or more. 

“It’s more than just a road,” Logan says in a trailer for the film. “The Going-to-the-Sun Road has connected people with Glacier National Park for over a century and to something bigger than themselves.” 

The documentary tells the story of the road through the people who have a deep connection to it.  

“It’s a story of grit, determination and vision,” Jordan adds. “Built by hand, forged by history and loved by generations.” 

The brothers shot 80 hours of footage. They received both a Big Sky film grant and a Greater Montana Foundation grant, along with support from the Glacier National Park Conservancy and many other organizations, to make the film.  

“It was humbling,” to see support for the project, Jordan said. 

The Leflers are no strangers to filmmaking, having more than a decade of experience creating content for PBS, nonprofits and outdoor brands. They have a production company and make a living exclusively doing films and documentaries, though this is the first they’ve directed and produced. 

The film has its public premiere at the Wachholz College Center at Flathead Valley Community College on June 23, which has already sold out. 

They then take the film on the road through the summer and fall, and they’re in talks to have it shown on Montana PBS. 

The next project? Jordan said they’re working on turning a video they did on suicide prevention and the Arlee basketball team’s run to a state championship in 2017 into a feature film. 

Learn more about “Journey to the Sun” and purchase tickets for showings in Montana at journeytothesunfilm.com. 

Deputy Editor Heidi Desch contributed to this story. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Brothers Jordan and Logan Lefler produced and filmed the “Journey to the Sun” documentary, covering the history of the road to the modern-day opening of the road. (Courtesy photo)
  

    Logan Lefler films in Glacier National Park. (Courtesy photo)