Glacier National Park

22nd trip – days 105-122 July 16-Aug 1, 2021 VACATION Glacier National Park, Montana, Idaho, and Washington

Sunday 07/18/21 We sure didn’t want to leave Jim & Mary’s RV Park. So far, it is our favorite campground. The tall pine trees made a nice canopy all around. Kevin spoke with a gardner this morning and he said they water every flower and plant every single day. We headed north on Hwy 93. We drove through several Native American Reservations. At one point, I looked up the elevation on my app. It should 3200 and I didn’t believe it. I looked at Kevin’s phone and it said the same thing. I said Apple must be messed up so Kevin asked Siri. Sure enough! This is very low. We looked up West Glacier and it is only 3300 and the highest road in Glacier NP as 6100! What?! The funny thing is, Kevin said from the time we left home that he thought we were continually climbing. Goes to show how parents say they went up hill, both ways, in the snow, going to school. HAHAHA  We saw Flathead Lake and it is very big. Lots of nice areas to boat with several marinas all around. There are quite a few little towns and shopping areas and campgrounds. The whole way up this road, we can’t tell if there are mountains around us. This is due to smoke from the Oregon fire.Next we drove to our campground in West Glacier. West Glacier is a tiny “town” with a gas station, bar, gift store, and a deli. There are a few more buildings but not many.

We got to our campground where at check in we were told there is no water. But they are working to fix it. Oh boy. This campground has no tall trees, dry grass but it all nice long pull through 60 ft sites. We are on the end and have a “back yard” and a “front yard”. HAHA Kevin would later say, “meet me in the back yard” because there was shade from HOWE (our Home On WhEels), or “meet me in the front yard, at the table, for card game.”

The campground is surrounded by thick forest. We got set up, drove to West Glacier to use the bathroom (since campground didn’t have water) and then drove into the park. The road goes through very thick forest and you can’t see anything.

We stopped at Apgar Visitor Center. Sadly, there isn’t a place to learn about the park. I think it is due to covid. There were Rangers behind shields outside where you could ask them questions. We have seen this at other national parks.

From there we drove more into the park. We could get tiny glimpses of Lake McDonald. We drove through Apgar, a tiny “town” in the park. No places to park so we kept going.

We saw the amphitheater and there was a sign saying “worship service” tonight at 5:30. Other days they have Ranger talks and star information at night. After driving around but only seeing trees, we went back for the worship service.

It is ministry called ParkLife Ministry. It is a Christian Ministry in the National Parks and has been serving in the since 1951. It is an interdenominational ministry and doesn’t receive federal funds. One lady lead the music with a guitar and then later gave her testimony. Kevin enjoyed it (I am deaf). There were probably 20 people there. I liked watching the lake behind them and seeing people kayak and boat past on the water and others just walking a trail. By the time we got back to HOWE, our water still wasn’t there. We walked to the office and they said we had to turn some valve. Glad we asked! We had a little water this evening.

Tuesday 07/20/21 Today was on our own. Bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. We got on our way at 8:00. We drove the Going-to-the-Sun road from west to east.

It is a little clearer and we could see some rocky areas on the mountains. A lot of the pull offs were completely full. The view is nice once you start up the side of the mountains. However, the smoke makes everything mainly just an outline of mountain tops. Got to Logan Pass and Rangers had the parking lot blocked because it was full. We learned later at St Mary’s Visitor Center that Logan Pass had filled up completely at 6:30 AM that morning. Crazy!!! Tried several other pull offs but all were full.

Going down the east side and the landscape changes somewhat. There was a fire through here so you see tall posts of former trees. The nice thing is you can see through them and to the views. Besides the smoke. Stopped at St Mary’s Visitor Center where it was extremely windy. Very desolate looking. People here call it the plains. We saw an eagle carrying a fish to a nest. That was really neat to see. Kevin got out his binoculars and saw some “poop” go flying out of the nest and arched all the way down. 🙂

Continuing on, we drove to Swiftcurrent Lake. This is on the east side of the park. The smoke was still thick but it looks like a neat place to come back to for a visit.

Of course, Kevin saw this at a shop and got a great laugh out of it. 🙂

Next time you will read about our hike, boat ride, and yummy Huckleberries.