Day 14 Glacier National Park

It is Monday the day of change. When I first started planning this trip. My biggest thing was I would finally get to do Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Two years ago we missed it being open by two days. We came from the east. We ended up seeing Two Medicine Lake and driving around to the West Side and going in. I was pretty disappointed while  the kids seemed okay. Two days ago talking to a man named Reese at the Lake Yellowstone bar. I found out and verified via some check with Erin back home as my internet was shot in Yellowstone, thus so far behind on these blogs, that Going to the Sun Road would be shut down from the 16 to 20 something for road repairs. Not snow ROAD repairs. Sigh. I would not be able to do a big chunk of it again. The best I would be able to do is go around and go up the west side to Logan Pass, the highest point on the trail. Let the adventures begin.

To start off the day I went to the Buffalo Cafe in Whitefish. A super old place with great food, full of locals and one guy I chatted up about the park. He had attempted to go around the other day and ended up in Two Medicine and was now heading to Spokane. He was doing all this on a motorcycle. Was a really cool guy. The food and service were great at the cafe so I felt ready to start the day. First thing I was going to do was go to the visitor center I had gone to with the girls to get some stamps, stamped, so they could put them in the books we bought this past year in Acadia.

At this point the rain was already falling and the two hikes I had planned BOTH which were on the west side where I could still get to them I had decided I probably would not do. But playing it by ear.

I began the long trek around the park. Along the way I saw a steel teapot sitting int he center of the road. Everyone kept driving past it. It just survived. I passed by Two Medicine Lake and there were some gorgeous views.

Now as we move to Highway 89 we come on to a great adventure. They are doing about 12+ miles of different types of work that I can not put into words. I will let them. On the Montana DOT website it says this "Reconstruction activities; Delays up to 20 minutes; Loose Gravel; Reduced Speeds of 35 MPH; Pilot Cars; Rough Roadway Surface; Single Lane Traffic; Traffic Control by Signal Lights; Flaggers; Motorcycles Consider Alt Route."

You do not say sherlock. It was a nightmare. I literally sat at a standstill waiting for a pilot truck working on a blog. And as I sat there the guy in front of me casually got out of the car, walked to the tree line and started peeing in plain view of everyone. 

I did enjoy the free range cows that were wandering the construction areas. That was fun.

Eventually I made it to the entrance to Glacier and began the trek to the top. 

Check out my IG or FB for videos of the drive it was something.  And the top well it was a bit foggy.

One of the few moments the fog was blown away. Glacier National Park is also Waterton National Park in Canada.

It was really COLD up there AND i did not have winter gear. In fact I bought heavy long sleeve glacier shirt to put on over top of the short sleeve shirt I was wearing UNDERNEATH my heavy Yellowstone hoodie I had bought. And I was still cold. No gloves. Oh I had thought about it but really this is the only park that will be this bad. The amount of fog, not geared properly meant I was not make the hike up there. That was on me.

Logan Pass

Logan Pass

After making the decision to not hike at the pass I started the long trek back down with the idea of stopping at every turnout and if the parking lot was empty doing the St Marys Falls hike. It should be warmer down that spot.

So I passed by the Falls parking and it was not going to happen. I hit the next stop that had a small walking trail. Less than a mile out and back to a small falls and another trail connecting that was a mile out and back to Sunspot Point. I decided to do these even though I had no water or my good camera and I stupidly had left a bunch of stuff sitting in plain view on my front seat. I thought I had locked it. At least that is what I kept telling myself as I force marched back. But hey I did not get eaten my a grizzly bear. And the views were nice as you will see below.

I loved this cute little bridge

Then there was this guy above. I think he is a ground squirrel. Something I had never heard of before.

Of note on the lake with all the wind up there. . the trees. . . the dead ones especially talk to you and it can be very eerie when you are all alone.

The last few pictures are of Wild Goose Island which if it had not been so overcast we could have gotten some great pictures. But it, like Going to the Sun road are featured in the very surreal beginning of the Shining. 

So I have now seen almost half to three fourths of Going to The Sun Road. I would love to see the whole thing someday but we shall see. 

Back to random musings... Highway 2, the Hi-Line. It stretches from Glacier National Park to the border of North Dakota and moves onward from there. But in Montana it is called the Hi-Line. Signs dot the different small towns that populate this very sparsely populated area calling people to contact their congressman saying Support 4 For 2 . I should have taken a picture. It is miles of farmlands paralleling the Great Northern Railroad.

I would travel along this road to the small town of Joplin, MT to my AirBNB. A farmhouse along Highway 2, with horses outside and wonderful set up inside it was one of the best AirBNB;s I have stayed in so far.  They were wonderful and kindly directed me to the Inverness Bar and Supper Club. Was one of the best meals I have had on the trip, price and food wise. By the end i was sitting at the bar eating an ice cream sundae swapping stories with the owner/cook and her 80 some year old father on the end. It was perfect,