Glacier National Park-Revisited

Returning to the States

Our border crossing from Canada back into the US in Montana was uneventful and a short drive took us to the town of St. Mary and our campground at Johnson's RV park. Our site was on top of a bluff with views of Lake St. Mary and the mountain peaks of Glacier National Park.

 

 

 

Driving Going to the Sun Road

 

The Going to the Sun Road opened unseasonably late this year, just the day we arrived in Glacier in mid July! Late snows delayed the annual clearing of this road which travels through Glacier NP and crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass, elevation 6,647 ft. Reopening the road each summer is quite a lengthy and dangerous process, clearing massive amounts of snow and avoiding avalanches. Having seen pictures of the road clearing process and now driving on the road, I am so appreciative of those who spend months of their time to clear this narrow roadway through Glacier NP!

The drive is stunning all the way from East to West Glacier. Turnouts provide opportunities to take in the magnitude of the Glacier carved mountains, snow melting and cascading down the slopes in so many waterfalls, mountain goats high up on the cliffs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite part of the drive was the Weeping Wall, where the snow melt is pouring on the roadway from boulders hanging beside and overhead!

We had gotten on the road about 8:00 a.m. to drive straight through to Logan Pass with the hopes of a hike.  We managed to find a parking spot at Logan Pass, which is the highest point on the road. While we have heard that the spots in the way-too-small parking lot fill very early in the day, many were still available.

However the trail we hoped to hike was still covered in snow and closed part way. We decided to pass on a hike here. Instead we enjoyed the drive over this amazing roadway, savoring the views and some short hikes when parking became available.

 

 

 

 

St. Mary and Virginia Falls Trail

Another early morning drive into the park was rewarded with a parking spot at this very popular trailhead. There are only about 15-20 spots to park here so we were very fortunate to grab a spot for our truck. This was a hike that we did in part last year, but only the portion to St. Mary Falls, the trail leading though a previous wild fire burn. Beyond that the trail leads out of the burned area and follows the creek that soon becomes a series of short falls. Gradually stepping higher on stone ledges, the cascading waters lead to the place where the falls originate high above. We were so glad that we had the time to add the portion of the hike all the way up to Virginia falls to this trip. So beautiful and tranquil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun Point Trail

Ending our drive on Going to the Sun Road, we discovered this little hidden gem, which used to be the site of Sun Point Chalet. Before travel by car was popular, people visited Glacier by horseback, staying at chalets that were spaced a days ride apart from one another. The chalet complex was on top of a promontory with panoramic views of the lake. Today the chalet buildings have been removed and this area is a picnic and day use area.  A hike up the rocky bluff was quite amazing and we could imagine staying in a chalet here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many Glacier Hotel, Boat Tour and Hiking

From the Many Glacier Hotel, we began our boat tour aboard Chief Joseph on Swift Current Lake for a leisurely ride across the lake. We saw a moose and her calf grazing on the plants on the shoreline. At the end of Swift Current Lake we disembarked to hike a short distance over the hill to continue our boat tour on the Morning Eagle on Lake Josephine. Two lakes, one tour!

 

From Lake Josephine, Salamander Glacier, high on the mountain was visible at the end of the valley. The water was a beautiful shade of blue and it was a clear sunny day. At the end of this lake we began the Grinnell Lake Hike.

 

 

Turquoise blue glacial water with towering sheer peaks above met us at the end of the 1.3 mile trail through forest and fern groves, the trail crossing a very bouncy suspension foot bridge over the stream at one point. We enjoyed a little lunch at the lake shore and enjoyed the scenery before us.

We hiked back the way we had come, arriving at the boat dock to wait for the Morning Eagle to pick us up and bring us back to the other boat dock. Both Steve and I feel that this is perhaps the most beautiful hike we have ever done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wanting to enjoy more time hiking we decided to take the forested trail along the shore of Swift Current Lake, rather than the Chief Joseph boat ride back to where we had begun our adventures. This was much less traveled and gave great views of the Many Glacier Hotel. The hotels built by the Railroad in the Glacier National Park have a Swiss Chalet style of architecture. This hotel has a dramatic and beautiful lobby with sweeping lake front views. Very charming!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw a Grizzly in the meadow on our drive out of the Many Glacier area. It was a fabulous day, and a great way to finish up our time here at Glacier National Park! 

Our next 10 days are a bit less planned than the previous portion of our journey. We need to arrive in Salt Lake City for a flight back home for a long weekend on July 28. We are looking forward to joining the Married Couples event on Saturday at Church and Steve will be speaking at church on the last Sunday in July. After that we will return to our trailer in Utah and spend a month of travel through Utah, Colorado and down to visit with our son Brent, his wife Abbie and our two granddaughters in Arizona before heading home.

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park, established in 1910, was nicknamed the Crown of the Continent, by the co-founder of the Audubon Society, George Grinell. Glacier National Park in America, and Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, connect together at the 49th parallel, the border of the US and Canada, to form the first International Peace Park World Heritage Site. This is also a geographical point of interest as the park is split East and West by the Continental Divide. Waters from here flow to the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson Bay. In a few miles you can travel from lush cedar/hemlock forest through alpine meadows to the edge of western prairies.

The park planners devised for one main road to travel from East to West through the park, leaving vast untouched wilderness areas. The Going to the Sun Road was completed on July 15, 1933, after more than two decades of planning and construction. We had been looking forward to driving this historic roadway, but it was not completely plowed and opened yet for the 2021 Season. Because of the Alpine section of the road being buried every year by massive amounts of snow, the work required to reopen the road is enormous. Snow plows work for months to clear the road and cranes are brought in to reinstall the guard rails which are removed each year to avoid avalanche damage.  We were only able to access short stretches of the park from the west and east sides of the park.  Driving around the park to the east side, made for a really long day. Even driving to the west side was a long day due to staying about an hour away from the west park entrance.

West Entrance

Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake

 Our first day to visit Glacier, we awoke about 4:30 am to be on the road by about 5:00 am. We hoped to arrive at the park by about 6:30 to avoid some crowds.  We got through the gates without much traffic as planned, and headed out toward Avalanche Lake, which has limited parking.  Due to the fact that the road was closed at Avalanche Campground because of the snow plowing activity further on, the campground was closed and they were using it as overflow day use parking. This was the most popular trailhead open from the west gate, so the crowds were already large.

Trail of the Cedars is an easy loop trail on a boardwalk, which leads to the trailhead for Avalanche Lake Trail. The trail follows the course of the Avalanche Creek through beautiful dense forests with fern and moss growing along trickling water courses at the base of the trees. Suddenly we came to an area where there were many hundreds of trees downed. We learned that this was the result of an avalanche years ago.  We could see how new growth was slowly filling in the devastated area. It was quite amazing to see that all these large trees had been uprooted so easily.

Avalanche Lake

As we came close to our destination of Avalanche Lake the forest had given way to tropical looking plants, it looked like we had suddenly arrived in Hawaii! As we rounded another turn in the trail the  lakeshore opened before us! Stunning!

 

A little surprise at the shore of Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park! Play the video above to see this deer come to within a few feet of Lori!

 

 

Lake MacDonald Lodge

The view of Lake McDonald from the Apgar harbor at the south west end of the lake provided views of beautiful distant mountains and reflections in the lake bordered by smooth colorful stones.

 

East Side: St. Mary and Two Medicines

On our second day-trip to Glacier we drove all the way around the south side of the park via Highway 2, and then up the east side to the St Mary entrance. Here the Going the Sun Road was open to Jackson Glacier overlook. We took a hike to St. Mary Falls, with views of St. Mary Lake opening below us as we descended from the roadway.

 

We walked through the charred skeletons of still standing trees which had been destroyed by the Reynolds Creek fire in 2015; the fallen logs surrounding us were silvery and black reminders of the fire that consumed this area. The stream side valley is now filled with huckleberry plants and wildflowers and new trees growing up around their charred ancestors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a mile and a half hike we arrived at a log bridge which crossed in front of the St. Mary Falls. The power of this great amount of water flowing through a boulder lined drop of about 35 feet was like a physical force around us as it passed below our feet. The water flowing down stream was a beautiful glacial blue hue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our hike we drove to a scheduled boat tour at Two Medicine Lake, arriving just in time to board the historic boat, Sinopah, which had a full restoration last year when the park was closed. We enjoyed a narrated cruise to the opposite end of the lake where we began another hike to a waterfall...actually to Twin Falls, where the water course is divided by a stack of boulders so that two waterfalls come crashing down side by side at the trail's end! 

 

 

 

Someday we will have to return to Glacier National Park to see the parts that were not open to us now! You may remember from our previous post that we said that years ago about Yellowstone! These National Parks are hard to see completely in one visit, even when you plan several days. But, what we did see was amazing!

A special thanks to our friends Bob and Kelly, who allowed us to stay at their beautiful Amen Ranch in Lakeside Montana during this week! 

We finished out our week in Montana by attending Calvary Chapel Kalispell, where we had a great Father's Day service. Levi Lusko and his wife did a great team teaching from the book of Micah, "Walk Humbly with Your God", a great lesson in how to live life!
 

We will be heading out to Idaho this next week, visiting our friends Duff and Bonita. We will fly home on the 25th of June and be home for five days before resuming our Adventures on the Road! Hope to see you soon!