Blogs from West Glacier, Montana, United States, North America

After an all-night trip from Anchorage AK to Calgary AB and only piecemeal naps on two flights, the drive to Glacier Meadow RV Park in Essex MT on Tuesday, September 11, 2018, albeit short in miles, was onerous and wearisome. The drive and clearing U.S. customs went as smoothly as can be expected, and our post-sunset arrival at the RV park found us assigned to a site long enough to require only minimal set-up in the darkness – i.e., the electrical tether. We immediately settled in for a welcomed good night’s rest. Since I had given all the ketchup, mustard, etc. to our friends in Calgary before I placed the Bighorn in storage for six weeks, Wednesday found cousin Marilyn and me headed to the store for supplies as well as unpacking the suitcases and getting ... read more

Returning via Route 2 around the lower edge of the park, we returned to West Glacier, the Apgar area and to our campsite in the Fish Creek campground on Lake McDonald. The weather was perfect the day we arrived so after setting up the tent, we drove the 10 mile available distance on the Going-to-the-Sun Road and took the hike to Avalanche Lake where it ended. We later learned visitors were allowed to walk or ride bikes a further 10 miles on the road and one of our big regrets was learning too late we could have ridden our bikes along that legendary road without sharing it with cars. The 5.2 mile roundtrip Avalanche Lake hike is one of the steep uphill types with a reward only at the end, but what a great payoff. The ... read more

Hungry Horse Dam & Reservoir, Canoeing on Lake McDonald and checking out Lake McDonald Hotel - this was our agenda for the day. We had a great time learning all about Hungry Horse Dam and it's power sources for the states of Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and parts of California. The reservoir is 35 miles long and they say the trout fishing on the lake is wonderful. After a quick lunch back at the rigs we headed for Lake McDonald in hopes of renting canoes for an hour or so. We spend about an hour on the lake and battled the wind back to the shore. I think my arms might be a little sore tomorrow. After we safely got back to shore we all agreed we deserved some Huckleberry ice cream and yogurt. Did you ... read more

We were out of the rig at 8:30 this morning heading to Glacier National Park. Our destination was the top of Logan Pass. We boarded the park bus for an hour and half ride up to the base of Logan Pass. The ride up was very beautiful and interesting. There were points on the drive where we could see straight down the side of the cliff. Man we were high up! We were told the hike up to the top (Hidden Lake viewpoint) was well worth the mile and a half climb. The climb was a 460 foot increase in elevation, so we would definitely feel it. Yesterday I made probably the best purchase of this trip, a pair of hiking poles. They were definitely what I needed to make it to the top. We did ... read more

Hi everyone, today was a defcon 4 day for terror. We did the going to the sun road. While climbing it started to rain, of course. Combine rainy narrow mountain roads, steep drops ,6700 ft ,idiot tourist tailgaters and then visibility of less than 10' we were in clouds of rain. I had to talk myself down from the ledge many times. I will end with a quote from John Muir”fear not to try the mountain. They kill care, save you from deadly apathy and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic existence.” No S**t! Well, she left out the road construction. The road just opened Friday and they are busy repairing the damages from the winter. We came back the long way, cutting thru from 89 to 49 to 2. 49 is a great little ... read more