WEEK FIVE: HELENA , MT, GLACIER NP, CHOTEAU , MT Tuesday, June 23 We have been on the road now for four weeks and it has been too rainy, cold and buggy to drag out our tent and camping gear. But no matter, our next destination is Jen’s house in Choteau. Before descending on Jen we took the Gates of the Mountains boat excursion from Holter Dam up the Missouri River and into the towering white Madison limestone canyon to retrace a small piece of the journey of Lewis and Clark. The boat stopped near Meriwether’s chosen campsite on one of [View Full Entry]

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I have had a couple of laid back days in the area. Just took it easy Tuesday still recovering from my run. Wednesday, I decided to go back into Glacier and do another hike. I decided to hike Otokiimo Lake. It is 5.2 miles one way and gains about 1,900 feet up the trail. It was a tough hike and I was really working to cover the distance. The clear blue green water of the lake made the tough walk up well worth it. The water was really cold. I decided to wade in and cool my feet after the long [View Full Entry]

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I am pretty sore from my run yesterday. I hung around the place for a while and finally decided to go back to Glacier and go for a hike. I went to the Many Glacier area of the park and decided to do the Iceburg Lake hike. It is five miles one way I was a bit concerned going out by myself after all the bear warnings. I was very aware of every noise around me. While I was walking, two birds walked out in front of me. When the third walked out in between my feet, I just about jumped [View Full Entry]

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Glad to be in one place for several days. All of the driving in the last week has been rough. From the parking area at my condo, I can see several of the ski runs at the Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort. I got up and drove over to Glacier National Park. The natural beauty hits you as soon as you drive in the park and gets better as you drive. The park is crossed from west to east by one main road called the Going-to-the-Sun Road. That is an experience to drive across this road. I drove to the high point [View Full Entry]

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My dear friend, Robin, and I both took our first trip to Montana to hike around Glacier National Park over the Labor Day holiday. It's both stunning and breathtaking, just to pick a couple of words to describe the majesty of the park. We arrived late Thursday and took a quick trip into the West Glacier entrance driving for a little bit along Lake McDonald. We had rented a timber frame cottage on the east side of the park though, so before long we exited the park taking the drive along Route 2 to East Glacier. Passing through Essex, we stopped [View Full Entry]

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We spent the day today crossing Glacier National park via the famous Going to the Sun Highway. Thanks to all of you who recommended that we drive it from east to west - the views were amazing. However, the weather wasn't. When we left this morning it was in the mid-40's - with the raging wind, it felt more like the 30's. However, your intrepid travelers soldiered on - we weren't going to be deterred from our hiking and touring plans - or at least so we thought. Going in the eastern entrance of Glacier from St. Mary's you quickly get [View Full Entry]

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We had a great weekend with the Dehlendorf’s and all the Lincoln boys. All the guys went out fishing yesterday…with the results not subject for public discussion. When Scott caught a fish and took a photo he had to put it next to his foot so we even had some sense of how big…or little…it was. Lots of laughs, lots of fun. Sunday, Sept. 6 We started out from Bozeman on our continuing tour of Montana, on our way to Glacier National Park. Up through Helena to Great Falls, then north on a two lane road through the most god-forsaken country [View Full Entry]

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Many Glacier Inn, Glacier National Park Thursday September 3, 2009 Thursday Karen and I pack up and again head over the “Road to The Sun” to the town of St. Mary on eastern entrance of the park. This side of the park is the Blackfoot Native American Reservation. After a great bowl of beef chili and a slice of pie at the Park Café we head north through to the town of Babb and the eastern and only entrance to the Many Glaciers area of the park. Many Glacier Hotel is another hundred-year old inn that was built for tourist by [View Full Entry]

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Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park Tuesday September 1, 2009 On Tuesday Karen and I moved from the motel in Kalispell to the Lake McDonald Lodge that’s inside Glacier National Park. What an improvement this is over the roadside Econo Lodge. The McDonald Lodge is a small lakeside inn that was privately built here almost a hundred years ago. It’s now owned by the National Park and operated by a private vender. The building has been recently updated and is the nicest Inn we’ve stayed in at a National Park. Our first floor room is large, clean and has a nicely [View Full Entry]

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After Grand Teton National park we headed north to Montana and visited Glacier National Park. The park is on the border with Canada where it becomes Waterton Lakes National Park. The park is big and everything there is remote; bears are everywhere. From the park newspaper: “In 1850, there were an estimated 150 glaciers in the park. By 1968, the number was reduced to around 50. Today only 26 glaciers remain in the park, many of which are mere remnants of what they once were. Scientists predict all glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone by the year 2030”. The [View Full Entry]

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