August 10 and 11--Glacier National Park, Montana

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August 10th, 2011 Wednesday Apgar Campground, Glacier National Park, MT 9:30 it is 53 degrees and overcast but blue sky to the west. Don’t plan to drive out of campground today so ending mileage is 14838 from yesterday’s driving.

When we arrived at the camping spot where Bobbi and Carl were parked, the spot right next to them was empty. Valerie drove into that spot and soon Jim, Dianne, and Rocky arrived and parked in back of Bobbi and Carl’s RT. They came out and we all chatted for a good while. Mostly talking about experiences since we saw them last at the Arctic Circle and then what everyone’s plans were from this point onward. After they left heading for Great Falls, we all decide to walk to the visitors’ center and look around. We looked in several shops in the Apgar Village and then all went to lunch in a restaurant there. All of us ordered buffalo burgers—Valerie and I split one with some fries. Lunch was very slow in getting to us. The burgers were all right as far as I was concerned, but just all right and nothing to “write home about”---just put in a blog.

After finishing lunch, we walked over to check out the prices to rent a boat. Since we were in a National Park, no fishing license is required to fish. However, no one seemed to be catching any fish out of McDonald Lake. People were renting canoes and rowboats instead. Watched for a bit and then walked back to camp. On the way back we spotted a large reddish colored doe near the path we were walking on.

Back at camp, we relaxed for the rest of the day. Went over to Jim and Dianne’s site after dinner and talked until time for bed. We made plans to meet and take the shuttle bus from the campground at 7:20 to go up to Logan Pass on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

August 11th, 2011 Thursday Apgar Campground, Glacier National Park, MT Blue sky. Don’t plan to drive out of campground today so mileage is the same at 14838.

We all walked to the campground shuttle bus stop by 7:30. When the bus arrived the driver said she had only 2 seats and so we told Dianne and Jim to go on without us as we knew they wanted to hike some of the trails. Valerie and I waited then another hour for the next bus which was supposed to come in the next 15 minutes according to the bus driver. We first drove through the woods along the long McDonald Lake. The bus stopped at a resort community at the end of the lake to pick up other passengers. It continued along McDonald creek which was full and moving fairly swiftly. At this point then the bus started the very steep climb up toward Logan Pass.

All kinds of wildflowers were blooming, snow could be seen on some of the mountain peaks, and the views were fantastic looking down into the valley. As we neared the top of the pass, which is at 6,646 feet, we were above the tree line and the environment was alpine in nature. Very different flowers were blooming in the meadows around the Visitors’ Center---yellow small glacier lilies completely covered the meadow, and others growing here and there were unknown to us.

As we got off our bus, another large bus was waiting to head down the other side of the Logan’s pass to St. Mary. We said let’s get on this one and as we did, there was Jim and Dianne already on this bus. As we started down the mountain side, Dianne showed us pictures she took of the Rocky Mountain Rams on the other side of the visitors’ center. We were too late to get off the bus at this point. Rode down to St Mary and then toured the Visitors’ Center there. The center primarily explained the Native American’s point of view on Glacier National Park’s mountains that are important to them and how the land was taken from them.

After looking around, we all waited for the next bus and caught it back up to Logan Pass. Part way up to the pass, Jim and Dianne got off to hike one of the trails. When we got to the top of the pass. the rams were not to be seen, of course not---they knew we were coming!!! We did wander around and looked at the lilies and other flowers up close.

The wind was really blowing now and it was cold so we caught a bus back down! At this time of day, the shuttle buses are not express, but take you down to a transfer point at Avalanche Creek where you wait to take another bus back to the campground. There were lots of people waiting for the bus by this time in the day, but the bus was a large one and not the small touring buses that go up the narrow road.
Got back to camp later than we expected. Tired from the bouncing bus ride. Called it a day.

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