Glacier National Park

Taken from Boat ride on Swiftcurrent Lake

Some of you have wondered why I haven't updated the blog since this past Monday.  Well, we are too busy!  We picked up Donna at Missoula airport Tuesday morning and drove back to Hungry Horse, dropped off her suitcase, then drove into Glacier National Park for a quick look-see.  We are near the West Glacier entrance and went to Apgar Visitor Center to get information on hiking and things to see and do while in the park.  Once that was accomplished we drove to Lake MacDonald Lodge, one of the original lodges built for the park.  This particular lodge was built in the Swiss style and is quite impressive.  Walked down to the lake, oohed and ahhed, then drove back out and grocery shopped for the week to have snacks and easy meals to make if we make it back to the RV in a decent time.

Waiting on Sun Road - hugging wall - notice the drop off!

Then Wednesday thru today has been a whirl-wind adventure.  And will continue for the next 3 days. We get up by 5:30am, shower and breakfast, pack our snack/lunch bag with bazillion bottles of water and on the road by 7:30am to get thru the road and construction - sometimes it is a 30 minute wait just to get to Logan's Pass Visitor Center which is exactly half-way to the east side of the park before 10am when there is no more parking in the lot.  And we have spent hours driving from one side to the other to go visit a certain area.  Visiting the east side of the park whether driving outside the park on Route 2 and then north up Montana 40, or driving through the park to get to the east - it's a 3 hour drive one way!,  going on hikes, seeing many beautiful scenes, seeing wildlife, just been amazing.  We went to Two Medicine area of the park, St. Mary area, Many Glacier, transversing the Going-to-the-Sun road each day.  I will not drive this road, poor Dave has had to do this.  We have not gotten back to the RV until 8pm at the earliest.  Long days.

Grinnell Waterfall from Grinnell Glacier

Grizzly Bear looking for berries

Back when the park was formed there were over 200 glaciers and today there is somewhere of 20 to 30 left, depending on who you talk to.  And they say that all glaciers will be gone/melted by 2020.  Very sad. We have taken boat rides across two different lakes, hiking between the 2 to get to the second boat ride - then hiking to see a lake only viewed by hiking and the falls from the melt of Grinnell Glacier.  We have seen grizzly bears, black bears, mountain goats, bighorn sheep - but no moose!  Lots of different birds, small animals like marmots and pikas, and have been swept away with wildflowers.  We have hiked many trails, sometimes got lost in the process, have had our bear spray with us at all times.  We have walked along wild rivers with icy cold crystal clear waters, smelled the wonderful pine and fir trees, have had sensory overload for 3 days now.

A lot of people - 3000 people visit Logan's Pass - a visitors center in the middle of the the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and today we felt the crunch of folks.  Many hiking to Hidden Lake behind the center (us included) and the parking and traffic congestion plus the construction on the Sun Road is frustrating.  I could go on and on about what we have seen and experienced, but won't.  Going-to-the-Sun Road is not what I expected, I knew we would be traveling along the ridge of high mountains with death drop-offs, no room for RVs or vehicles much bigger than ours. But I thought that we actually would be driving upwards, not against a cliff, along a vista view on both sides.  Boy was I wrong!  I have to say that the more pristine raw areas like Many Glacier and Two Medicine is what we have favored.  One thing that has stood out - this is a hiker's park, not set up for driving some distance and stopping and have a picnic.  But - we have seen the park and have conquered it.  More hiking next couple of days and of course, lots more pictures.  Glad we came here - have wanted to see this park for many years.  Only open another 30 days before the snows close down the roads.  You only have 10 more years before the glaciers are gone - hurry!