GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Aug. 23th

We left Great Falls, Montana and started our drive to Glacier—163 miles. It was an awesome ride. It was my turn to drive and when we arrived in Browning, MT we stopped for gas along with the rest of the world. Then we set out for the last 31 miles to Glacier which was truly a mountainous road. We went to 5950 ft in elevation and then down to 4500. It was fun going down! We arrived at Glacier and went into the park. With Steve’s Senior Access Pass we did not have to pay an entrance fee and camping is half price!

We stayed on the East side of Glacier at St Mary’s Campground ½ mile from the entrance. They say "Lccation, location, location is everything". We selected a wonderful site with snow on the mountains as our view. Breathtaking! One is not allowed to leave anything out at the park because of bears. We took out the camp stove, cooked, and then put it back in the truck. We slept with the bed down, but when we left for the day we put it back up to make sure Precious would be safe.

We took a ride around part of the park and drove along St. Mary’s Lake. It is a 9.9 mile lake and is so blue! The Rocky Mountains are so tall that it makes the Appalachian’s look like rolling hills.

24th Aug.

We got up and the temperature was 45-48 outside. Thank goodness for the furnace!

We went to the St. Mary’s Visitor Center and boarded a shuttle. It was a 50 minute ride up to Logan Pass which is 6600 ft in elevation and the top of the Continental Divide. Behind the visitor center at Logan Pass we took a hike to Hidden Lake Overlook. This was partly a boardwalk and partly trail. It was amazing to see the snow on the mountains and then the beautiful flowers. There were also little waterfalls running from the melting snow. Words cannot express the beauty we saw. We saw a Hoary marmot that whistles, a Columbian Ground Squirrel, a golden-mantled ground squirrel and lots of mountain goats. The goats were so funny they practically posed for us. We even saw a baby goat!

Hidden Lake was magnificent with water that was a greenish blue!

We then took another shuttle from Logan Pass to Avalanche Creek. This section of the road was under construction. What a scary ride. This was truly a mountain road where you look down the side of the road into a valley below. The view was spectacular and breathtaking.

We walked the Trail of the Cedars along Avalanche Creek. There were the biggest cedar trees you have ever seen. This environment was so cool and green. There were a lot of trees that had fallen over because the water in this area is plentiful and the trees do not root very deeply. A strong wind can come through and blow them over.

There was also a gorge glaciers had cut into the rock and water from Avalanche Lake flow into it! Awesome!


Back to the campground for dinner.

On Monday there was a cool breeze and we had to wear a jacket. We had to take Precious to a vet because she had been having issues for 3 days. Outside Glacier is the Blackfeet Reservation. We found a vet who looked at Precious and gave us some medicine help Precious. The doctor said she would be better in a couple of days. It only costs $27.60 for checkup and medicine. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching Precious.

The wind in the park was very strong. Storm clouds came up we had to batten down the hatches. The temperature dropped quite a bit. When we went to bed we prayed we wouldn’t blow away.

Tuesday and Wednesday turned out to be very windy and cold. We took a ride and you couldn’t even see the tops of the mountains. We found out that Logan Pass was closed because of winter like weather. We tried to go fishing; but the wind was so strong that we couldn’t even cast the line! Winds with gusted to 60 mph forcing us to keep the camper closed during the day. It quieted down around 7 p.m. and we put the bed back down.