Glacier National Park was one of the destinations that drove the planning of this trip, so I was particularly excited as I headed east from Spokane. In spite of a rather long and convoluted route, I arrived early enough that evening to take in some sights, and then spent the entire next day driving around the park. So I'll combine those two days into this one post. I'll also mention a couple of my most memorable RV parks on the trip.
It's a short drive from Spokane to the Idaho border, and both Idaho and Montana have plenty of 70 and 75 mph speed limits. My instructions from Sportsmobile to break in the new motor were to drive at a many different speeds. I hadn't tried those two numbers above, yet, so... The van actually seems to like going fast. The first couple days on the road, I was getting about 17.5 mpg. (The instrument cluster can be configured to give you a direct readout of your current mileage.) Now, 10 days and over 3000 miles into the trip, I was getting close to 19 mpg with speeds in the 70's. I have seen numbers as high as 21.5, but that was on a long downhill grade. I have noticed that it takes about an hour after a cold start for the diesel engine to really hit its stride.
I got off the I-90 in St. Regis, Mt. and began a very complicated route that took me up the western shore of Flathead Lake. Luckily, I had printed out the detailed directions the night before. (No, I still don't have a GPS program on my iPad and I really don't know why.) I nearly lost the trail when the directions told me to take the westbound turn onto a road when I knew the park was still far east of me, but it all worked out. The whole drive is extremely beautiful, but get your camera ready when you approach Flathead Lake, because the view from the crest of the hill is particularly spectacular.
I was relieved when I saw the nice big sign for my intended campground, the San-Suz-Ed, just 2.5 miles outside of West Glacier. Pulling up to the office, there was no one around, so I just parked and waited. About half an hour later a woman comes around the corner from the campground pushing a walker. "Take that first site, right there." she directed, "As you can see, no one else is here." "Okay," I replied, "Should we go in the office to settle up?" "Well... it's the end of the season... give me a twenty and we'll call it even. You're going to the park, right? Since it's the end of the season, they may let your rig on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Wouldn't hurt to ask." "Thanks, if not, there's a trolley I can take, right?" "Ha! That shut down after Labor Day. Almost everything is closed up for the season." Nodding toward a sign on the office door, I asked, "I suppose that offer of a hot breakfast is outdated, too." "No... I gotta cook anyway. Come around about 9 am. You know, there's enough light left, you could see MacDonald Lake this evening before it gets too dark. Save you some time tomorrow."
So, I took her advice. The park entrance station was closed, but I found my way easily enough. I did take one wrong turn, onto a dirt road (flashbacks of Red Rock Canyon) and found myself confronted by a one lane bridge:
but quickly got back on track to Fish Creek Camp on MacDonald Lake:
This was my first real view of the mountains of the park. I had always envisioned Glacier Park mountains as snow-capped, particularly this late in the season, but though I did eventually see some glaciers, I didn't see snow on a single peak. The view above is toward the north end of the lake, here's the view toward the south end:
I was intrigued by the intricate pattern of roots on this upended tree on the lake shore:
and also by the multicolored stones just beneath the surface of the water:
That was all I had time for that evening. The next morning, I was noodling on my computer when I noticed that its clock read 9:08 am - an hour later than my wristwatch. I had missed that I'd crossed a time zone somewhere, and the computer had grabbed the correct time off the internet. I hurried over to the promised breakfast. We quickly agreed that I would have waffles and the proprietor suggested adding scrambled eggs and sausage as well. When I said I wasn't a coffee drinker, she produced Earl Grey tea. The waffles were delicious, homemade, not toaster waffles. and they were slathered with three different kinds of her homemade jam: raspberry, rhubarb, and huckleberry. Yum! The proprietor sat down across from me and had her own breakfast. We had an easy, wide-ranging conversation, as if we were family. After breakfast, she pulled out a big map of the park and took the time to describe and mark all the interesting points that a newcomer might pass over. When she tallied up the bill for the breakfast repast, it was a whopping $8. I asked if I could add in three of the homemade cinnamon rolls I'd seen on the counter. She said they'd be a lot fresher if I took ones she had frozen, and gave me four for the price of three. I've been having them for breakfast ever since (half a roll is plenty) and they are delicious.
Seeing from the marked up map that many of the interesting sights were on the eastern side of the park, I decided to change my plans. Originally, I had planned to drive up the western side of the park, enter Canada, and visit friends in Kimberley, B.C. But I found out they would be out of town for the Canadian Thanksgiving (yes, in October), so I decided to loop around to the east and stay just south of the Canadian Border that night. First, though, I wanted to see the western side of the park north of MacDonald Lake. The entrance station was occupied when I passed through this time. When I asked the ranger if they might be relaxed on the 21' limit for vehicles on the Going-to-the-Sun Road since it was so late in the season, she just shook her head with a tight-lipped smile. Oh, well.
I could drive in as far as Avalanche Creek. I got this shot from the eastern shore of Lake MacDonald:
On my way down to the shore for the shot above, I found this bright clump of moss:
Near the north end of the lake is the picturesque Lake MacDonald Lodge:
Just a few miles up the road is Avalanche Creek, as far as vehicles over 21' are allowed to go.There is, however a very nice boardwalk trail through the forest there, with numerous interesting sights along the way. I was struck by the height and straightness of this black cottonwood tree:
At the furthest point of the loop trail is a nice set of falls:
Heading back toward the park entrance, there's an unmarked road (that my RV park host had pointed out to me) that takes you to the north shore of Lake MacDonald:
Every one of those rocks on the beach is a perfect skipping rock. I got five or six hops with mine. After that, I began driving down and around the south end of the park. There are some great views from the highway:
At the southeast corner of the park you reach the town of East Glacier, and from there you can drive toward the interior of the park to Two Medicine. There's a beautiful lake at the end of the drive:
The wind coming down that mountain pass and across the lake was so strong I had to lean into it to stand my ground. Combine that with an air temperature in the high 30s, and it was a bit chilly.
It was already getting late in the day, and I still had a hundred miles to cover to get to my final destination at the northeast corner of the park, Many Glaciers. Before taking that drive into the park, I checked in at my RV park for the evening, just four miles north of the entrance. Some RV parks are notable for their amenities, this one is memorable solely for its idiosyncrasies. It has no amenities, it's just an open field that you can pay to park in. What it does have is several horses freely roaming the grounds:
It was all amusingly bucolic - until of the many dogs that also roam the grounds took a nip at my jeans the moment I turned my back on her. That night was memorable also because it was the first night the wind was so strong it rocked the van on its suspension.
But before that, I had one more trip into the park. The glaciers at Many Glaciers are numerous, but they aren't large:
There are plenty of other great sights:
The bands of bright color in the lower picture are from rays of sun breaking through an otherwise cloudy sky.
As with most of the destinations on this trip, I definitely plan to return to Glacier when I have more time. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the Park Service runs a shuttle on the Going-to-the-Sun Road; with the existing length restrictions, that's how I'll have to see it.
My next post will cover my time in Canada, including Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise, the Columbia Icefields, and other points of interest.
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