8/26, Day 8—The Grandeur of Glacier Park

Today dawned another cloudy and rainy one in Kalispell so we made the decision to pull out for Glacier anyway. My thinking was that with all the rain many visitors might have left the park and if we caught it before the next sunny day rush, we might snag a good spot. As luck would have it, our karma must have been the only thing shining today since in Apgar Campground—the only one that really advertises taking “big rigs”-- there are but few spots large enough for our length without having to break apart. Number C-137 was the one suggested by kind campground hosts who explained that someone else our length was just leaving and pointed out that we needed to drive in backwards down the one way loop to make the swing into the spot. As you can see from the picture Marc did an admiral job of snaking the rig in to a very tight spot. It is long enough to even park the Saturn however, so we won’t quibble.

By the way, if you own a large fifth wheel and MDT or larger truck, don’t believe it when they say there are something like 40 spaces taking 40’ trailers. Yes, some of the spaces are probably 60-70 feet in length, but with all the trees, twisting lanes, and articulated half circle spaces it’s downright ridiculous they put out that hokey. You’d be wise to do a visit or walk-in first before coming in with your rig. The host indicated he rarely has seen anyone here with Marc’s backing ability and that many drivers get their rigs in here and end up banging them up terribly before getting them back out again. In other words, it’s a typical national park campground!

Ten days of continuous rain have driven all but the hard core from the park. Sun is called for over the weekend and early next week so we expect lots of company soon. Apparently, lots of locals use the park and the campground is often full with them, leaving other RVers who drive cross country out of luck. No sites are assigned in this campground either, meaning that this largest of spots might be taken by a tenter. Not to adopt a better than thou attitude, but that always just chaps our hide—the #@&* tenters taking the largest spaces so the RVers can’t also enjoy the park. Don’t they think about these things? Is it so much “I’ve got mine, to hell with you?” that they can’t see that big rig owners don’t have always have choices?

8/27, day 9, still raining

Today wasn’t particularly exciting with one exception. I did the obligatory gift shopping then we decided to drive to the Lake MacDonald Lodge just to get out of the rig. We walked around and took pictures for awhile and then hastened back to our car. When we had pulled in we had parked next to a Class 8 truck (semi tractor) modified for RV hauling. Knowing that a fellow Escapee whom we’ve never met but have corresponded with is supposed to also be in the park at this time, I made the comment to Marc that I bet that was their rig. So, we quickly scribbled a note on the windshield and drove away.

A few hours later, the big truck came rumbling to a stop next to us and out jump the Mayers! It was fantastic that they took the time to drop by and get acquainted and we only wish they would have had more time to visit. They have workamping jobs to return to tomorrow and will be done with that and headed towards Utah after Labor Day, so maybe we will catch up with them again this fall.

One thing nice about this campground is all the deer around. We’ve spotted several mamas with spotted fawns and this one big buck. All the deer appear really well fed! There’s also an occasional bear that wanders through like this black mama and her two cubs. We caught this very early in the morning so the lighting for a digital camera was terrible. She’s the black blob in the middle of the picture.

8-28, day 10--more rain, but we’ll be dammed if we’ll sit inside!

We decided to go ahead and tour today, hoping the clouds would scatter a little later. We started by driving towards the small outpost of Polebridge but only got about three or four miles down the dirt road outside the park. It was pretty muddy and things were looking really desolate from the 2003 fires so we turned around.

Then and there Marc decided we’d go on the Going to the Sun Road across to the other side of the park despite the lack of views. I drove; cliffs are not my idea of fun, especially sitting on the outside, so I regulated Marc as the photographer. The highway climbs gradually at first from the west side, with ample pull offs, such as the one to view MacDonald Creek which feeds the mighty glacial lake we’ve been camped on. This side of the park is lush with thick forest growth and dripping moss. Today of course, there’s also mountain mist and gentle rain.

I was faked out by the first twisting turns and real climb in having my side be the uphill side. One stop for highway repair and we did one of those hairpin turns and I was on the drop-off side for the rest of the way! Oh God! Actually, it was probably a blessing the rain and fog obscured the view since I can’t take drop-offs. I’m not going to give a blow by blow description of the next 50 miles except to say “look at the pictures”. Imagine if you will as you look at the fog photo of having a small rock retaining wall as the only thing between you and infinity in this soup! That yellow line is my only tether from eternity. We reached the visitor center at Logan Pass (ele 6646) amidst this wisping pea soup fog, gale force winds, and icy rain. The photos of the parking lot show how quickly the fog came and went.

Like a veil lifted off a Muslin woman, the fog parted soon thereafter and we saw much more spectacular scenery open up on the eastern side. We stopped at a grouping of cars and signs denoting Sunrift Gorge and took a short walk to a spectacular cleft in the rock through which the raging creek roared. It was beautiful and worth the entire drive in itself. Another highlight of the east side is Saint Mary Lake with famous Goose Island in its middle.

Soon after Saint Mary Lake we were outside the eastern park boundary, deciding to do the loop tour. Atop the hill we caught a cell phone signal, our first in days, so Marc stopped to make some calls. The scenery here is equally as impressive as the park as the small two lane highway winds up and down the hills and through the aspen groves.

The final highlight arose after passing Two Medicine Lake area sitting within the park (we overview it), to East Glacier. Here is the mighty lodge built in the golden, touring-by-railroad age; directly across the highway from the lodge sits the original depot, now a stop on the Great Western National Parks Tour on the American Orient Express of Amtrak. 

If you’re going: apparently it rains a lot here, all the time, so expect it. The eastern half of the park is far superior to the western half for scenery. Yes, there are bears in the campgrounds, so keep your food put away. It’s a hefty fine for leaving anything sitting out. It takes a long time to drive through the park since much of the trip will be at 25-40 mph. If you have a fear of heights and drop-offs, you will find Going to the Sun Road absolutely harrowing! Did we like it? Mixed reviews on this. Better weather would have opened up the views—the primary purpose of any visit to Glacier. Just the thick woods alone kept us feeling very hemmed in on the west side. Since hiking with bears about isn’t our thing and the trails were a muddy mess anyway, there really wasn’t much for us to do. There are not a lot of roads or activities. Even the tour boats weren’t running during our visit. For our money, the national parks in Utah have this one beat hands down. To be fair however, these are some of the grandest mountains we have seen outside of our trip to Alaska.