Glacier National Park

Travel Day 4 - West Glacier, MT

Because of my plans changing Thursday night, on Friday I was only about 81 miles and 90 minutes from my campsite just outside the Apgar entrance to Glacier National Park. Unfortunately I had to leave by 10 AM Friday morning, and couldn’t check-in to my campsite until 1 PM, so I had some time to kill. Fortunately I happened to stumble upon a scenic turnout with a really nice view and ample parking for a trailer, so I just pulled over and read my book while enjoying this view:

It was an easy and scenic drive all the way to my campground, and I got a nice, fairly secluded campsite that is in the woods:

I did run into an issue though, not troubleshooting the slide out problem further that I had in Sturgis has come back to bite me, as I am not able to get the slide out at all currently, and because it is a holiday weekend, I am not able to get ahold of the manufacturer for support. While I’m once again lucky to have picked a model with two doors, so almost all of the trailer is accessible (basically just can’t open the fridge all the way), it is still a pretty major pain to have to leave the trailer to get to the front or back. I’m hoping Tuesday morning I will be able to get ahold of the manufacturer and get authorization to have a mobile RV tech come look at it under warranty.

Glacier National Park

On Saturday around lunch my parents arrived! The campground I’m staying at has a bed and breakfast that they are staying at for the week. It’s been great to see them, it is rare that I’ve gone six weeks without seeing them in person! Saturday afternoon we went in to Glacier National Park for the first time to get the all important stamps for our passports, find where we were supposed to meet the next morning, and do a first drive of Going-to-the-Sun Road. Glacier had a late snow storm that dropped about two feet of snow in early to mid June, so unfortunately a large part of Going-to-the-Sun Road is not open yet because they are still plowing it. Fortunately, there is still a lot to see in the parts that are open (up to Avalanche currently), it is hard to complain (too much) when this view looking over Lake McDonald is one of the first stops you can make:

It’s only eight miles between the Apgar visitor center and Avalanche campground on Going-to-the-Sun Road, but there are many scenic stops you can make, including many waterfalls:

Mom was practicing with her selfie stick so she could get shots like this:

Red Bus Tour

On Sunday we did a Red Bus tour:

These buses were originally built in the 1930s and restored by Ford in (I think?) the early 2000s. They are pretty neat vehicles because they have a soft roof that can be removed on nice days. Unfortunately for us, Sunday was not a very nice day, it rained almost all day. It was still a very cool experience because we had a knowledgeable driver/guide who was able to share with us info on everything about the area including geology, history, botany, and where to find the best huckleberry pie (according to our driver Marv it is at Glacier Highland, right by the Apgar entrance to Glacier National Park).

Since Logan Pass isn’t open yet, the drivers get a lot of freedom to put together their own itinerary for the day. One of the first things we did was drive to Avalanche Campground and walked to Avalanche Falls (hopefully a better picture coming later this week):

Next we went back out through West Glacier and started heading towards East Glacier, making a stop at Goat’s Lick on the way, where there were a handful of goat hanging out:

We had lunch at Glacier Park Lodge, and then headed towards Two Medicine, stopping by Running Eagle Falls on the way:

Once at Two Medicine we stopped at the General Store, where FDR once gave a fire side chat:

After that we headed back to West Glacier, stopping at Memorial Square at Marias (pronounced Mariahs) Pass, which crosses the Continental Divide: The Washington Monument look-a-like is for Teddy Roosevelt, commemorating his leadership in forest conservation. The statue is of John F Stevens, who was a civil engineer for the Great Northern Railroad and named the pass.

We finished up by driving through Apgar Village, and making a quick stop to see part of the forest that had burned down in 2019, but is starting to make a recovery:

It was a long day (I don’t recommended sitting in the back seat of the Red Bus if you are over six feet tall), but it was a lot of fun and very informative!