Travel Bad Luck Lucky Break

I’ve written about this topic before, and all you travelers are familiar with it: Not everything goes as planned when one travels. There are missed connections, museums that are unexpectedly closed, mighty monuments you’ve traveled far to see, only to find them swathed in scaffolding. Like the time we made a long-anticipated trip to Milan, and the facade of the cathedral was undergoing restoration.

Darn.

There’s nothing for it. Go on and make the best of things. It could be worse.

Crawling along in dense traffic? You might get an excellent photograph illustrating life in Los Angeles, as The Counselor did recently.

It’s not a particularly appealing scene, but it’s an effective picture of life in the metropolis. Don’t tell me your favorite city doesn’t have traffic like that. I know better. Might as well make the best of an unpleasant circumstance.

Sometimes — rarely, but it happens — that glitch in the travel plans is a lucky break in disguise. Lost on a road in some countryside? You might encounter a place just as interesting as your original destination, although you might miss lunch while you cast about — or perhaps you’ll discover that perfect out-of-the-way restaurant.

Dad and I got a disguised lucky break like that when we visited Glacier National Park. The single road that passes through the immense wilderness of Glacier is named Going-to-the-Sun Road. A significant feat of engineering, completed in 1932, it climbs through 6,646-foot Mt. Logan Pass, and offers spectacular views all along the way. There are occasional turnouts from which to view the scenery, but there are narrow, winding sections that don’t permit stops. The day we were there, all traffic came to a standstill due to road construction. We were stuck in a line of other travelers’ vehicles, got out of the car and walked around, enjoying the additional time to appreciate our spectacular surroundings.

We did our share of hiking in Glacier, but we’d planned to drive to the top of Logan pass before stopping to walk. As it happened, the interruption halted us within view of a geological feature that’s always fascinated me: a hanging valley.

Hanging valleys are common features in glaciated mountain settings worldwide. Several thousand years ago, an enormous glacier formed that valley, and it was filled with ice. A subsidiary glacier formed on top of the mountain and scraped out the U-shaped cirque above as it flowed into the valley glacier. As the ice from that era melted away, it left the elevated — hanging — valley, with a picturesque waterfall descending from it.

Traffic started, we moved forward, then were had to stop again, giving us a clearer look at the formation from another angle.

The stops were especially lucky for Dad, who was driving at that time. He had an opportunity to get out and take in the scenery, instead of having to focus on the rather demanding route, only glancing at the stunningly beautiful mountainscape.

Not every break’s a lucky one. Bad things happen, and a day or an entire trip can be spoiled. But if there’s a place I’d choose to encounter a traffic jam, I’d pick Going-to-the-Sun road any day.

Do you have a lucky break travel story? Please leave a comment for the readers around the world to see.

Note: The glaciers of Glacier National Park are quickly melting away as the earth warms. So long as it remains protected as a national park, it will be an unforgettable place to visit, but there’s no better demonstration of how fragile our earth can be. Walk lightly.

© Brad Nixon 2018. L.A. traffic photo © M. Vincent 2018, used by kind permission.