June 13 Back to Montana, Glacier & south

Wednesday, June 13

We wake to a beautiful clear morning, 40 degrees and barely a breeze!   The air is crystal clear as we have hot oatmeal for breakfast.  We re-cross the border and are back in Montana.  The Chief Highway is another one of those roads with vehicle length limits – another challenging drive as we pass Chief Mountain again.

  A few times we see cattle and horses along the roadway, as it is open range.  Sometimes they are behind a fence, sometimes not.

 Greg notes that Texans aren't the only ones who like their guns.

We take the road into Many Glaciers, which is part of Glacier but away from the main part of the park.  This road is horrible too for about 7 miles, until we officially enter Glacier National Park property, then it is still a little rough but much better.  We think the first part is on Blackfeet Indian property and they probably can’t afford repairs – just a guess.  Or maybe don’t want to appease the tourists.  There are mixed feelings among the Indians, many of whom depend on tourist dollars, but many who are resentful and angry over past and present grievances.  At least three tribes lay claim to parts of Glacier National Park.  From what I have read, they are pleased that it is being maintained and protected, but also resentful that they do not have claim to its usage for ceremonies, hunting, etc.

The scenery here is just awesome! Breathtaking, heartstopping at times. 

 Beautiful blue lakes, snow capped mountains and lush green trees (no fire here).  Plus the roadsides are sprinkled with wild flowers of blue, yellow, white, purple, and occasional red or orange.  And the fresh pine scent when you get out of the car is sweet.

The wind has picked up again, making  the 50-ish temp feel much colder. The mountains and streams and waterfalls are gorgeous.

  There is a post card picture everywhere you turn!  But it is impossible to capture the majesty and overwhelming beauty of the area seen as a whole.  (Doesn’t stop us from trying, though.)  We find a parking space at the Many Glacier Lodge, and explore a bit.  We can see several glaciers  from here but are sad to learn about their dwindling numbers.  They are expected to be gone by 2030!  Then we drive to the end of the road, at Swiftcurrent Lake.  

We spot this duck with ducklings at a small lake along the way. 

We make our way back to the main road and at St. Mary’s (small town with expensive gas, a few hotels, restaurants and shops) take the main entrance to Glacier.  We stop at their Welcome center where we check out maps, talk with rangers and watch a 15 minute film on Glacier. We learn of the struggle to handle 2 million visitors per year, 700 miles of trails. We learn that a Grizzly can eat 100,000 huckleberries a day!  Huckleberry items are for sale everywhere, from huckleberry pie and shakes, to jams and muffin mix, to soaps, clothing, etc. They are still working on the Going to the Sun Road

We exit the park and continue south, going in another road to Two Medicine Lake named because of the two medicine lodges that the Blackfeet had here. 

 Another gorgeous area, but it has begun to rain and the area is very crowded.  We take a few photos and head back to the main road where we find a space at Devil’s Creek National Forest Campground.   We find a nice site and then wander through the woods to find the creek.  Very stony creekbed and we find a few stones to take home.

  Most campgrounds have one camper who acts as Camp Host, making sure fees are collected and amenities maintained.  A few minutes after we arrive, the Camp Host (hostess?), Sandi, arrives to give us the usual bear safety talk. 

 We chat for a while and she is a hoot!  Says she is 27 with 77 years experience.  She has been a horse trainer most of her life, and also is a sharpshooter (Won Grand Dame honors in Quickdraw competition several years.) and also headed the first all female trail crew in the 60’s when Glacier was being developed.  She used to have a ranch, but now full times in a mid-size rv with her husband and two dogs. She also does a lot of art – painting, woodworking, etc.  Moves to Arizona in the Winter.

 

Our neighbor at the campsite is from Katy, Texas (about an hour from us), but now lives near Dallas and spends Summers in Montana.  He is at this campground for a few days due to some scheduling delay, so while he was waiting he went and cut a lot of firewood and left some at each site (about a dozen)!  So we have to have a campfire, of course.

Nice evening.  Glad we’ll be getting the Trek looked at in a few days (that’s why we are heading back towards the west side of Glacier).