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Glacier
Lake MacDonald(Comments welcome and enjoyed to any and all entries!)
Well, I did make it to Glacier National Park and as I’m writing this, I’m CAMPING! I guess if you call backing up the Suburban into a campsite camping, then I’m camping. I’m currently at a campsite in Glacier called Sprague Creek right on Lake MacDonald. It really is cool with the sun about to set just across the lake from my campsite. I decided not to pitch the tent, knowing how easily I get aggravated. So, I’ll spend my first night sleeping in the back of Old Gray.
I had enough aggravation getting here today from Missoula. There was about 20 miles of road construction on Highway 93 heading up here. I guess Chicago isn’t the only place with 2 seasons: winter & construction. But, I’m here and it’s a beautiful evening; 60’s and clear.
Two campsites down from me are three Aussies currently living in BC. Ya gotta love the Aussies. I think they are amongst the most gregarious people and best partiers in the world. We’ve already agreed on listening to old Stones songs from my Ipod, so they’re good mates in my book. As
Glacier
Yeah, baby. That's camping. No bear is getting my tasty ass tonight. I write this, they are about 50 feet away about to watch the sunset and I’m about to join them. Their names are Rob, Simon and Zoe. They currently live in Fernie, BC. Rob is a chef and recently opened a new Thai restaurant in Fernie. Zoe is a server and Simon a bartender. For all of you skiers, They told me that Fernie is one of the best, somewhat unknown ski areas. Steep & Deep. They said that in the peak of the season you might have a 5 minute wait for a lift. Zoe has promised to email me a picture from the campfire, so I'll add that to the blog when I receive it. I got busted by the campsite host for having the Stones playing too loud, so I turned it down. An hour or so later, a very nice woman, who said she was from the East Coast asked us to turn the music down further, so I turned it off.
Charlie, a guy around my age hailing from Big Sky, MT, was camped next to me and he was the campfire party organizer. He invited 3 more young folks to join us: Toby,
The Aussies
Rob, Zoe, Simon--Cheers! Brian and Isabel. Brian is from Westchester, NY and Isi (eezee) is from Stuttgart, Germany and a first year teacher who speaks impeccable English. (I promise not to go on my rant about how poorly most Americans are educated) I didn't catch where Toby was from. Brian brought over his guitar and started playing and I guess we were still a little loud because the East Coast couple jumped in their car and roared off, yelling something as they left. I think all of this was around 11:00 PM. It may have something to do with the comsumption of the Aussies' beer, Charlie's Evan Wiliams(?) bourbon, my Jack Daniels and Isi's wine consumption. I guess I need to work on my reverence for the solemnity of camping in a National Park!
We finally crashed around 1-1:30 AM. What an excellent evening. Fun, friendly people, beautiful place, great music and lovely weather. I think I've seen this in a movie!?!
The biggest attraction to Glacier for mere touring mortals not into mountain climbing, long distance hiking or biking is to drive the road that goes right through the middle of the park. It's called the "Going to the
Glacier Friends
Rob, Zoe, Simon, me, Isi & Brian Sun Road." It winds for 50 miles through the mountains from east to west. Unfortunately, It wasn't open all the way through. Tons of snow and snow plowing operations in the middle 20 miles or so. A ranger said there is up to 80 feet of snow in places up there! I guess it's a double edged sword going to these places at this time. The traffic is light and the volume of people is low, but not everything can be seen. The road should be open around June 14th.
So, the next morning I drove as far east as I could go, turned around and drove 100 miles to the east entrance at a town called St. Mary. I then drove the road into the park to the west. This part of the park is really more spectacular than the west end. I can only imagine what that middle 25 miles is like.
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