On to Glacier

We arrived to claim our reservation at San-Suz-Ed RV park, just outside the gates of the Glacier National Park.  This is our northernmost point, and it's getting a bit late, creeping up on Labor Day, so we are prepared for weather that is not as warm as we're used to. Sure enough, the weather turns cool and rainy for awhile, but we are able to get some good days and some good adventures.

We are meeting with friends of long standing, John Bolles and Mary MacGregor, who live in Moscow, Idaho, but have driven over to meet us here and tour the park with us.  They have been here before, years earlier.  So on our first day, we head off along some of the roads on the west side of the park, to get a less crowded view to start with.  We're visiting a short trail to Hidden Meadow, where there are supposed to be wildlife, and then off to Bowman Lake.  Much of the road is outside the western edge of the park, and we pass through a cute little summer settlement just outside the park called Polebridge.

The meadow is lovely, though a bit short on wildlife.  There is a lake in the meadow, hosting an entertaining territorial battle between a falcon and a kingfisher, which goes on for some time.  And we meet a lovely family who bring their two small children all the way up the trail, the youngest in a three wheeled stroller.  The little girl is a chatterbox, and keeps us all entertained most of the way back.  Then it's off to Bowman Lake for a picnic lunch and a short walk.  The scenery is stunning and a great introduction to the park. 

For the next few days, we focused our attention on the famous Going-to-the-Sun road.  That is a truly amazing highway, built during the Depression by public works funding.  What job of work that must have been!!  Miles of narrow road clinging to the side of the mountains, from the Lake MacDonald valley to Logan Pass.  It's still being maintained and upgraded today, but the original work is a real wonder. 

There were stunning views all along the road, so many that we were thankful for the age of digital photography, where you can snap and snap and never run out of film or have to worry about development and printing.  The power of the glaciers can be seen very clearly, and the huge gouges that they tore in this countryside, left some of the most dramatic peaks in the US.

On a little side-adventure, we took a hike along about a 1.5 mile trail to a cirque called Avalanche Lake.  The reason for the name can be seen right away in the steep mountainside drops which have built the lake's reputation over the years.  It was a lovely hike, and on the way back a deer stepped onto the trail behind Mary and Ivy and followed them down for some time.  Eventually the presence of other tourists caused it to wander off. 

Besides the views, there were occasional wildlife sightings to enjoy.  Here's a back view of a black bear that we saw running alongside the road.  And some bighorn sheep were across the road from the visitor center at Logan Pass, posing very elegantly for their portraits as a horde of tourists snapped away. 

Between our first and second visits to Logan Pass, there was a night of rain at the RV park, and when we went up again, the tops of the mountains were covered in snow.  The lower elevations where the road went were still clear, but we took this as a notification that winter is approaching and we need to turn our nose gradually to the ESE.  We'll be heading to Florida for the winter, and we've updated our map of travel, so you should look at that when you can.