http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States , Montana en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:20:30 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:20:30 BST Today we were able to take advantage of the park buses to drive to Logan Pass so we could hike from the pass to Hidden Lake. Not having to drive on Going to the Sun Road with the construction was very welcomed. With water and sweatshirts we ventured up to Logan Pass. It was a good thing Amy reminded the girls to take their sweatshirts since there were still acres of snow several feet thick in m http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-303841.html HejVi er nu ankommet til Yellowstone og har efter en halv dags koeren rundt fundet en campingplads. Vi haaber dog at finde en bedre campingplads i morgen da den nuvaerende ikke har andet end et hul i jorden at skide i... det ville vaere ok hvis der var rindende vand til at vaske haender i. Desuden maa man ikke haelde opvaskevand ud andre steder end ned i lortehullet...for saa bliver man spist http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/blog-303814.html Avalanche Lake hikeWhat we thought was going to be a short hike turned into an all day affair. Our hike stared at the trail of the red cedars then we decided to go on to Avalanche Lake. It was a great hike through the woods and we were able to see so great views of the Rockies. The hike took longer than expected due to the girls stopping and playing in the water but who could blame them. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-303430.html Because we haven't been in a car enough yet we decided to pay extra for a day long tour with the old people Actually it was a great day...we got to see so much of the park and Shawn didn't have to drive We traveled in a 1936 open roofed 17 passenger bus. It gave us incredible views of the mountains. The tour went across Going to the Sun Road which is truly the most beautiful thing we've http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-302965.html Hi everyoneJust when you think you have seen all there is to see in scenery and wild motorcycle riding along comes Glacier National Park It was not disappointing to say the least. As my title suggests it was breathtaking spectacular inspiring nervewracking and at times I was questioning my reason for taking the Glacier National Park Going To The Sun road. I will get to that in a min http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-302837.html We made it We got here at about 200 on Saturday. It is absolutely amazing. Our campground is very nice with a view of the mountains right from our site. We've had some trouble with our internet connection so we're a little behind posting.We are about 3 miles from the West enterance to Glacier National Park. We went to the park for a quick hike around McDonald Lake which was beautiful. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-302540.html We got a call from the dealership at 845 am that our car was done We were quite excited because they initially told us it wouldn't be done until 200. The service manager and technicians were great...if you are ever in Fargo with a Chevy problem we highly recommend Gateway ChevroletToday was nothing but driving. We discovered shortly after leaving Fargo that we were very lucky it broke dow http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/blog-302533.html Great sleep last night.Yet another nice sunny day.Got away at a reasonable time as didn't want to be too late and start running into the day visitors.It was supprisingly quiet out on the road a pleasant supprise.made the best of it for some photo shoots along the way it was good being able to just stop where I wanted within reason and not have to worry about other traffic.One thing that was qu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-301648.html Survived the night without being eaten by a bear.It was a bit chilly though only 5 degrees this morning when I got up.Glad that I now have a car that can tell me things.I was on the road not much after 7am adding an bit more mud and dust to the Murano.Had a good drive for the 130ish km to Glacier national park.The Montana country side is a pleasure to drive through even the open country side an http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-301630.html No bears in camp last night.I set off at 8am hoping to aviod the days rush of new tourists.For the first half of the trip out of the park as was reasonably quiet but this soon changed and soon became an almost constant stream of traffic into the park.Luckilly I was going the other way.I had a brief stop at the first town out of the park now in Montana for a coffee that I felt that I needed.As us http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/blog-301618.html We made the trip up to Great Falls from Grand Teton. We planned this so we did not have to spend too much time in the car prior to getting to Glacier national Park. We were staying in a small cabin shed at a campsite just outside of Great Falls. Too far to walk for a beer so we had to bring it in along with a local delicacy take away pizza. There was entertainment at the campsite well two l http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-301561.html After having a blast at the family reunion we left Flat Head Lake on Monday and headed towards Glacier National Park in northern Montana with Bird and Bob and the Tabor family Patty's sister. We traveled on the highway to the sun which just opened a few weeks ago because of snow through the park and we stopped at Logan Pass for a hike. The hike was 90 on the snow and we saw some great wi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-301254.html Yesterday we traveled the Cooke City Highway. Driving south from Billings and through Red Lodge we made a 54 mile loop through the Bear Tooth Mountains. We went through Bear Tooth Pass at 10 497 ft. elevation and then down into a beautiful mountain valley and then through Dead Indian Pass at 8048 ft elevation. The drive up to the first pass was a little scary approximately the last 10 miles http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Billings/blog-300694.html July 14thA long travel day. Started early heading for Glacier National Park via Missoula Polson and Flat head Lake. Followed the 'Road to the Sun' across the Park. Fantastic road and scenery. No Glacier thanks to global warming. Lake upon lake waterfalls by the score so beautiful. Mountain goats Brown Bears and lots of deer. Sometimes too close. Arrived late at Kimberley British Colum http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-300111.html The last two weeks have been busy. On June 28 David met our daughter Sarah in Billings for a week at a dinosaur dig north of Billings. They had a great time with lots of hard work but they both found a bone. This is Sarahrsquos second time at a dig in Montana and Davidrsquos first but probably not his last. While they were digging in the dirt I stayed in Great Falls to visit with high s http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Billings/blog-300045.html What's hot The Eye Symphonymdashbeauty unbroken as the Floonian Roadster rolls on Also hot Paulrsquos driving 90 m.p.h. on unpopulated mountain prairie roads. What's not Paulrsquos first speeding ticket courtesy of the Wyoming State Police The road Clear hot dry little traffic and now passing by us at a tame 75 m.p.h. Miles so far About 2600. Travel lesson of the dayOne person's http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/West-Yellowstone/blog-299634.html What a reunion You can tell by the video that these people know how to party We have had a blast over the past two days with Patty's mom's family the Liebhardts. It the first time in a long time that the 11 first cousins and all their kids were all together. Big Sky dave hosted on his awesome house on Flat Head Lake in MT. He had all of the toys boat wave runner skis tubes. There http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Kalispell/blog-299383.html It has been very difficult the last few days to have internet access available. That is why when I post these I will be posting several days at a time. Hopefully nobody is worried about my safety and wellbeing. I suppose if anyone was really worried they would just call me. But cell phone service seems to be in and out and sometimes when I am in it is still in roaming. I think when I am in http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Billings/blog-299202.html Last night was pretty fun. I hung out at the Kauffmanrsquos and they have 2 boys at home that are close to my age. We share a lot in common in that we like to wrench on things and ride fast machines. They are all pretty laid back and it was nice to relax for the evening.I left this morning to go drive around Glacier National Park and I spent about 9 hours on the road. The scenery in the p http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Kalispell/blog-299200.html We reach the RV destinationOn Wednesday we made the 11 hour trek out of Yellowstone National Park to Clarkston WA. remind us to tell you about the ldquoshower incidentrdquo when we return. On the trip we went through Montana Idaho and into Washington. We had a great time that evening at Steve Pattyrsquos 1st cousin and Stephanie Heflinrsquos house in Clarkston where we had col http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Big-Sky/blog-298831.html Billings MT July 6 2008Mike and Judy leave today to fly back home to Paris KY. We get them off and turn back to town sad at losing our travdelling companions and excited by the plans for the rest of our trip.We have decided to lay over in Billings today and tomorrow to get some chores done laundry getting the truck cleaned up. Oh And some shoppng and repacking are in order before we take http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Billings/blog-298827.html Billings MT Saturday July 5 2008This morningrsquos breakfast at the Canyon Creek Ranch Lodge is a little sad for us since we are leaving soon. Karen has prepared another delicious meal and we relax and spend some time over coffee saying our goodbyes.After our ride to Melrose over the Forest Service road we turn to another 17 mile long dirt washboard for Twin Bridges. It is really rough and http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Billings/blog-298781.html Happy Fourth of July Shorts are in order for summer has finally arrived us. Itrsquos good to be back in the states we have phone service and can talk with family and friends which we quickly took advantage of and now we donrsquot have to convert kilometers and centigrade. We had great views of the eastern most mountains of Glacier National Park before we turned east toward Browning M http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/blog-296738.html July 1 5 2008Canyon Creek Ranch Melrose MontanaMike Judy Donna and I drove to Canyon Creek Ranch from Billings on June 30th. The ride continued to afford us incredible vistas of country side none of us had seen before. We arrived at Canyon Creek Ranch for dinner and the week was off to a running start.We Michael and I are here for the July session of The School of Fly Fishing. This http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/blog-296648.html We took the Kings Hill Scenic Byway Hwy 89 south from Belt through a beautiful valley alongside Belt Creek into Lewis and Clarke NF. It's a lovely drive through the Little Belt Mountains over Kings Hill Pass el 7393 past Showdown ski area to White Sulphur Springs where we turn east on Hwy 12. As we head east it becomes drier less green more sage. We've only gone about 14 of this t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Little-Bighorn-Battlefield/blog-296271.html 6508 Our journey included a visit to West Yellowstone and fortunately a visit to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in the town of West Yellowstone. The scenery I include here is also from the long drive it took to get here including scenes from the Badlands in North Dakota and the splendid Alpine views of Wyoming. I had mixed feelings about the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center it was g http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/West-Yellowstone/blog-295889.html We decided last night to forgo Canada so we're heading east to Billings MT and then down into NE Wyoming to Devils Tower. We'll see from there we have ideas but they may change. We hate to leave Glacier NP. Scientists say by 2030 all the glaciers will be gone that means our greatgrandchildren will not get to see Glacier NP as we have. Just east of East Glacier Park it suddenly turns i http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/blog-295841.html We headed east on US Hwy 2 which skirts the southern part of Glacier National Park. We stopped at Goat Lick Overlook which was recommended by more than one person. We actually did see several mountain goats big and small. We crossed the continental divide again at Marias Pass elevation 5220'. I think before this trip is over I'm going to have to sit down and count how many times we c http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-295481.html Photos only http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-295109.html