Advertisement
Published: September 19th 2006
.
Today we really started our “Glacier National Park Adventure!” We stayed the night in Kalispell at a hotel, then got up early, commenting on how nice it was to have a bathroom attached to the room—even if it was the $67 special. Our destination Glacier National Park!!
Statistics
Starting Destination: Kalispell, Montana
Ending Destination: Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada
Ending Destination GPS: N: 50° 37.631 W: 116° 04.190’ Elev: 2780’
Miles Driven: 387.1
Miles Hiked: Approx. 5
Experienced: Getting into Canada without showing ID…
Best multiple use word: Dam
Hungry Horse, Dam…
In reading the local tourist information, we had noticed that there was a dam along the way to the National Park—at the time Hungry Horse Dam (left) was constructed it was the highest concrete arch dam in the world (564 feet). So we thought we would investigate—we drove up to the top and then across the Dam—it was difficult to get a photograph that would show the magnitude of the sight… It was impressive, however, what was almost more interesting was the signage—from the “do not carry any personal items or take any photographs past this point” sign courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security to the myriad of signs using “Dam” in it’s alternate context (see left).
Glacier National Park
Wow—we are actually at the park, we stop to take a picture at the entrance (to prove that we were there) and then drive up to the entrance gate, whip out the National Park pass and What?... The “Going to the Sun Road” is closed, due to snow; and “no”, the park ranger at the gate has no idea if it will be opened at all today… Talk about a massive disappointment! So we drive into Apgar at the base of Lake McDonald and check at the official Visitor’s center—“no,” we have no idea whether it will be opened today and “no” it was not closed yesterday… So we decide that we are going to drive up as far as we can go and perhaps the gate will be open by the time we get there? No such luck! All we have for our efforts are a few pictures (left).
Now dear reader, don’t worry—we really thought the scenery that we saw was spectacular; Carl is even ready to rearrange his top 3 National Parks!! We made it about half way down to the bottom and decided to follow the trail up to Avalanche Lake—this was about ½ mile of board walk with interpretive trail markers and then another 2.2 miles of marked trail up to the lake. The lake was rather disappointing, but the scenery was not—the steep rock faces, glaciated landscapes and contrast between water, sky, snow and rock…
Does trouble always come in three’s?
We returned to the truck, got in, and Carl turned the key… Only to hear this weird noise—battery problems again?.. We got back out, Carl checked the battery connections—loose and then tried again—no luck! So there we were, angle parked with 2 people on either side of us and no idea when they will return! Thankfully, there was a guy in the parking lot that was waiting for friends to return—he offered to jump start the truck, and when his friends returned we could push the truck out of the parking spot in order to get to the engine with 6’ jumper cables… We only had to wait 30-45 minutes and then we were on our way… Down to the Visitor’s center to check whether the road was open—it was… Now the dilemma, retrace our steps or sprint into Canada?...
Canada here we come!
We decided that even though the road would be closed, we would head towards Canada—the weather forecast had indicated that there would be 2 clear days and we wanted to take advantage of them… So we re-traced our steps (again) and followed highway 93 north up into Canada. We were fully prepared for the border crossing, passports in hand and answers to several “potential” questions decided… So the whole deal was a major let down—the customs agent only asked twice whether we had any firearms (no) and started to get excited when we said we were unemployed but calmed down when we said that we didn’t have all our worldly possessions in the back of the truck and that we were moving to Australia!!
Cars, cars and more cars…
Our destination for the evening was Radium Hot Springs… Along the way, we kept passing all these vintage (and not so vintage) cars… So by the time we got to town and read on the sign “Columbia Valley Car Show,” we knew we were in trouble! After questions at several establishments we decided to “camp,” found a site with electricity and proceeded to execute our routine!! The only problem with the “routine” is that it takes time… so it was late by the time we closed the truck and jumped into bed—thankful that we had brought the cold weather sleeping bags!!
Carl’s Travel Trivia
Yesterday’s Answer: We found 2, but the GM Website says 3!
Today’s Question: What is 5525 miles long and 20 feet wide?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.1s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0656s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
anonymous
non-member comment
5525 miles long and 20 feet wide would be the US-Canadian border clearing. I don't think it stops to many illegal aliens though. In fact during Vietnam I believe they were heading out of the US anyway..... Dan McKenzie