Greetings from the great state of Montana. Now that our game in Seattle was done, it was time for us to start heading east.
On Saturday, August 12 we drove from Seattle to Spokane. Beyond the striking differences in the climate from west of the Cascades to the east, there was not too much interesting on the drive. However, we did notice the exit sign for the town of George which proves that someone in the state of Washington has a sense of humor (if you don't get it, say the name of the town and state together).
On Sunday, August 13, we picked up our son Michael and his long-time girlfriend Kathleen (Kat) at the Spokane airport. There's a long backstory as to why they flew there, but we were glad to meet up with them for our journey to meet Kat's parents and then visit Glacier National Park.
Michael and Kat have been living together in Portland for several years, and we've talked about meeting Kat's parents - Orin and Terri Kendall who live in Plains, Montana. Plains is a small town in western Montana, not too far from the Idaho border. We almost got together in 2020, but Covid messed that up.
On Sunday, August 13, we arrived at the Kendall's house where the four of us spent the night. We had a great time getting to know Orin and Terri. They were great hosts and fixed a wonderful dinner which we ate outside under a tree and told lots of stories together.
On Monday, August 14, we had a great breakfast and a picture under the dinner tree before we left with Michael and Kat and headed off for Glacier National Park. We arrived in the late afternoon and checked into the cabin we planned to share for the next two nights. Then we he headed up into Glacier where we drove part of the way up the Going-to-the Sun road to get a sense of the dramatic scenery before turning back and making a stop at the McDonald Lake Lodge. We eventually found our way back to our cabin in West Glacier about 15 minutes from the west entrance to the park.
We planned to visit 20 national parks in the entirety of summer trip and Glacier is the 17th park we've visited. It is also the only park of the 20 that we've visited before. Melinda and I came here in 2015 and visited Glacier and its sister park Waterton in Canada. Unfortunately, on that trip there were serious fires in Montana and Alberta which covered the parks in a thick blanket of smoke. Melinda and I agreed then that we needed to come back and see the Glacier in all its glory, and we were super excited to visit the park again.
On Tuesday, August 16 we drove up the Going-to-the-Sun road to Logan Pass which is at the Continental Divide (see picture on the left). There is a parking lot that is always in high demand - there were no spots when we got there so Michael and I jumped out to hike and Melinda and Kat continued to look for a parking place (along with many others). Thankfully, they found a space in about five minutes. Melinda and Kat took in the Visitor Center and started the hike to Hidden Lake but turned back after a while and then waited for us to return.
Meanwhile, Michael and I started hiking the Highline Trail. This trail runs along the side of the mountains above the Going-to-the-Sun road. The beginning portion is pretty narrow along the mountainside and there's even a steel cable that runs along the trail to hold on to if needed (see picture on the right). The trail had plenty of people on it, and folks had to make room when someone came by going the other way. The views from the trail across the glacially carved valley were spectacular. Many hikers take this trail to the Loop which is 11 miles (including blog reader Chris Meyer). However, we (mostly me) weren't interested in something that long at over 6,000 feet so we turned back after an hour and 20 minutes and started back.
While we were hiking back, we came upon some mountain goats resting on the rocks just above the trail (picture to the left). We'd seen some goats from a distance earlier, but it was very cool to be close enough to take a selfie with them. Thankfully, there were no bear sightings on our hike although the rangers encourage you to take bear spray and we did.
After we returned to Logan Pass, we drove east all the way to the end of the Going-to-the-Sun road in St. Mary's. After getting some ice cream there, we turned back and drove the road all the way back (50 miles) to West Glacier where we were staying. So we got to see the views from both directions on a beautiful, albeit hot, day
Along the way between Logan Pass and St. Mary's, at Kat's recommendation, we stopped at Sun Point along Saint Mary Lake for a picnic lunch. We found a picnic table in the shade with a view of the lake and a nice breeze blowing (see picture on right). Melinda and I have eaten picnic lunches at a lot of rest stops and national parks on this trip, but this was for sure the best place we've eaten.
On Wednesday, August 16 we parted ways with Michael and Kat, and they went west while we went east. We drove around Glacier on Highway 2 rather than through it again. Our goal was to go to Many Glacier which is a lodge on the east side of the park (see picture at left). Unfortunately, when we woke up on Wednesday morning a lot of smoke from several fires covered the park. We had been to Many Glacier back in 2015 and the smoke was worse then, but not by much.
We arrived at the Many Glacier lodge in the afternoon to make a boat trip from the lodge up two lakes - Swift Current and Josephine. This takes you up a valley whose head is the Grinnell Glacier. The two lakes are not connected so you take one boat then walk a quarter mile (up and down a hill) and then take another boat. On arriving at the head of Josephine Lake, we hiked a bit over a mile up to Grinnell Lake which is fed directly by the glacier. It was hot so I joined the little kids in the chilly water (see right). Melinda wisely stayed on shore and took pictures. Then we hiked back down and took two more boat rides back to the lodge. We were bummed that there was so much smoke and that we could not see the mountains and glaciers in their full glory. But we still had a great time and explored new territory.
We spent Wednesday night in Shelby, Montana and on Thursday plan to drive from Shelby to Williston, North Dakota ending our great time in Montana.
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