Going to the Sun

On Thursday morning, we slept in (until about 6 am or so) and then headed out for Kalispell and Montana, and Glacier National Park. Instead of taking the faster freeway route, we decided to take a longer, scenic drive through Sandpoint and Bonner's Ferry, Idaho. 

At Bonner's Ferry, we turned off on Route 2 and headed into Montana. We've finished Dune, and now we're listening to James Lee Burke's Black Cherry Blues, the first Dave Robicheaux book to take place in Montana. The mob miscreants that Dave is chasing are buying up land in Montana in anticipation of the approval of casino gambling by the legislature. In real life the law must have gone through, because as soon as we crossed the border, it seemed like every block there was a tiny old house that said "casino" in front of it. It was actually surreal.

Between Troy and Libby, we pulled over and hiked down to the river to see Kootenai Falls, the largest un-dammed falls in Montana. The temperature was in the high 90's, and the hike down to the river, at only .8 miles, sure reminded me that I'm not a kid of 60 any longer. (Another hiker we met coming up said that the smoke in the air made the climb much worse.) We decided to skip the swinging bridge over the falls, built in the 1930s, since that was a different trail.

We got into Kalispell before 4 and checked into the My Place hotel for two nights. I'd never heard of the chain before, but the room was very nice and included a small kitchen. We went out to a local chain restaurant, MacKenzie River Pizza and Grill where we shared a small bowl of Bison chili. Kathy had a huckleberry salad and I had a large Bison burger. (So hungry I forgot the pictures.) After dinner we drove the 12 miles to Whitefish, cruised through the quaint town center, and stopped at the lake to take this picture. Then, we went to bed early, for our visit to the park in the morning.

Glacier National Park is so crowded that this year they've instituted a ticketing system. From 6 am to 5 pm you not only need a pass, but a special entry ticket. There are 1,145 tickets sold for entry each day, and they go on sale 60 days before at 8 am. I was online, clicking right at 8 am, but by the time my click went through, there were only 450 tickets left. 

We got to the park entrance by 8 am (since we had to drive from Kalispell). I had to show my ID and the pass (since it's not transferable), and Kathy had to show her ID as well, since our National Parks pass is in her name. Our first stop was the Lake MacDonald lodge, built in the traditional National Parks style.

We used the restroom, walked out and looked at the lake on the veranda, but didn't hang around. Notice the haze in the air from the fires elsewhere in the state. There were no fires in the park itself.

Going to the Sun Road is the only road that goes entirely through the park. It was finished in 1933 and took a decade to complete. It's only 50 miles long, but the speed limit is 25 miles an hour, so it takes two hours to drive from Glacier West to St. Mary's on the east. That's without stopping, which is, of course, impossible.

The first stop we had planned was the Trail of the Cedars at Avalanche Creek. In the guidebook, I looked for trails that were wheelchair accessible, that way I could be sure that we could handle the walk. When we got there, at 8:30, all of the parking was full. 

Later in the afternoon, we met some ladies at the East entrance (who took our picture in front of the Glacier sign). They were staying right across from the park entrance and they told us that those without tickets showed up at around 5 am. So, by the time the park opened for the ticket holders, the parking for the E-ticket attractions, like the Trail of the Cedars and the Logan's pass visitor's center were completely full.

Never the less, the park is extremely well designed, especially for aging automobile tourists like us. There are pullouts for every scenic vista, and I really doubt that the top-ten attractions are any more beautiful, especially when you're sharing them with hordes of other tourists. This picture is of the Jackson Glacier (in the distance). A picture on the sign at the pullout shows the same, but much larger glacier in 1911.

I wanted to put up a sign naming this the Gilbert Glacier, but Kathy demurred. "It's just a patch of snow!" she said.

In a sense, visiting the less-seen sights reminds me of traveling to Europe. Some of the best times we had were in towns that weren't featured in a Rick Steve's guidebook. And, when we did visit a must-see sights, like St. Mark's in Venice, we showed up at 7 am, and had the whole square to ourselves.

The drive was a little hair-raising, with narrow lanes, twists and turns, and steep drop-offs to rivers miles below on the canyon floor. But, the surprising lack of traffic (everyone lined up to hike the major trails), and the slow speeds made it manageable. 

We stopped for lunch at a picnic table at Rising Sun, and then headed out of the park through Babb and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and on to a dirt road into Many Glaciers. On the radio, Dave was making the same trip. We were stuck for almost an hour, as a road construction crew worked on the road.

When we finally got there, it was worth the wait. Many Glaciers Hotel is right on the lake and the view was impressive. Like Switzerland.

 

We visited the restroom, and then had iced coffee on the porch overlooking the lake. I had wanted to stay inside the park, but all of the reservations were sold out online. When Kathy and I went to the front desk, though, the friendly lady said that they had cancellations all of the time, and they actually had openings that day. That would be a real trip.

Because of the road construction, and our long drive back to Kalispell, we didn't stay long. When we got back to the Logan's Pass Visitor's Center, (the continental divide), at 5 pm, the crowd had thinned out and we found a parking space. Then, we followed the path (boardwalk) to the top of the ridge. If you were able to blow this up, you could see the path and the Visitor's Center at the bottom of the picture.

By this time, the winds had blown away much of the smoke, and the views were even more spectacular.

We didn't see any bears, but walking up the trail we did see a mountain goat and her kid, right by the trail.

By 7 pm we were exhausted. Driving back to Kalispell, and once Kathy got reception, she had a message from Pam Rozell saying that she was working all day at MudMan Burgers in Columbia Falls and that they closed at 8 pm. We got there five minutes before closing time and had a great time of fellowship with Pam and her husband Mike.  

As well as some really great burgers. We got back to the hotel a little after 10 pm pretty wiped out and sore. Even the "old people's hikes" are a little too much for me. It's now 10 am and we're getting ready to head out for Missoula on Saturday. Along the way, we want to stop at Polson, at the bottom of Flathead Lake, to get some of their famous cherries.