Glacier NP and Canadian Rockies

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Planning this trip was a whirlwind; whether or not we were going anywhere was uncertain until about 3 weeks before today, but after quickly renewing Swathi's passport and booking some last-second flights, hotels, and campgrounds, we made it happen. The first leg of the journey was an early morning flight from Cleveland which landed at Glacier Park Airport (probably the smallest airport I've ever visited) in beautiful Kalispell, MT just before noon. Immediately, we headed to the local Walmart to stock up for the 6 nights of camping ahead of us. Just a few hours in Montana was enough to validate some stereotypes about rural Western America - we passed multiple trucks with the word "Jesus" or the Ten Commandments proudly displayed, and I counted at least four people, two of whom had young children with them, exercising their Concealed Carry right inside Walmart (they seemed to forget the "concealed" part of the law...).

With our rental Kia Sorento fully packed, we headed to our hotel, the Travel Inn Glacier, in nearby Columbia Falls, to check in before spending the rest of the day in the park. On the way to Glacier, we were accompanied by a whole lot of road signs - some warning of the imminent return of Christ, many advertising the Flathead Valley's signature Huckleberry flavor of products from ice cream to chapstick, and a few campaign signs for Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester, which is a good sign in a ruby red state. We even passed a giant mural with "TRUMP" crossed out and replaced with "traitor"; foreshadowing for a Blue Wave, I hope?

Entering the park was quick and easy, since it was about 5 PM at this point and most people were heading in the other direction. While our plans originally ambitiously called for hiking the 2 mile one-way trail to Avalanche Lake, we opted for the easier 1.8 mile Johns Lake Loop, which took us through an old-growth coniferous forest right to the shore of the lake, and then to McDonald Falls and the Sacred Dancing Cascade. While Johns Lake was a nice introduction to Glacier, what made this trail unique was a particularly brazen deer who appeared on the trail and started following it about 20-30 meters ahead of us, as if to lead us on the path. The deer even looked back a few times to see if we were still following, and continued on its way. At one point, we stopped at a scenic view of the Cascade to take pictures, expecting the deer to continue along without us; instead, it had waited for us and stopped to eat, and started walking the trail again once we approached. At this point, a few more hikers had joined us in watching the deer with amazement. This escapade continued until nearly the end of the trail, when our guide joined with two other equally unafraid deer and rested for a while.

For dinner, we stopped at Mudman Burgers in Columbia Falls, whose delicious specialty "mud burgers" featured chili and a special chipotle sauce atop the patty. Swathi and I split a huckleberry milkshake, of course. This would be the only night save for the last before the flight back that we would be sleeping in a hotel, so after satisfyingly hopping right into a hike during our half day in Montana with a unique introduction to the park, we savored our sleep.

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