June 14 Western Glacier, Kalispell

Thursday, June 14

47 degrees this morning at 7 AM.   We decide to go see the Western part of Glacier.

First stop, though, is a tumbling waterfall just 2 miles down the road.  Even this early there are two other photographers there, one with tripod, huge lenses, etc. and one lady with a phone.  Both will no doubt take precious memories with them.

 Lots of low clouds again this morning.

16 miles of Going to the Sun Road are open from the west.  Not a whole lot of traffic this morning as we begin.

 We see a few deer near the road. 

 The forest is cool and dripping.  Montana has been getting a lot of snow and rain this year and the streams and falls are full to bursting, sometimes overrunning banks.  It is still very cloudy but no rain thusfar.

We travel alongside beautiful MacDonald Lake. This lone fisherman is up early.

 Not only are they working on Going to the Sun Road at higher elevations, there is also construction going on on the pull-outs for parking at various scenic areas and trailheads.  We pull out at one that is open and walk a short boardwalk to view the river thundering by. 

 There are three cars here, all from Texas!  A motorcyclist arrives and has a go-pro camera attached to his helmet.  He carries his helmet with him to the river and “points” his helmet to get shots.

A few more stops and we reach the full parking area at the furtherest point we can go  - for St. Mary’s Falls, a hike we did a number of years ago.  So we turn around and head slowly back and decide to stop at Lake MacDonald Lodge for breakfast.  The Lodge is quite old and what I think of when I hear “lodge”, with huge wooden beams, stone fireplaces and mounted moose heads.  We enjoy a good breakfast with flapjacks and eggs, then walk the grounds a bit.

Interesting light fixtures.

There are many ground squirrels/gophers in the area, chirping and whistling.  Our waitress told us they call them “whistle pigs”.  

The red tour cars are ready for the day.  These are totally refurbished cars that have been running since the early 1900’s. Most of the drivers we see are in period garb with mustaches, pipes and jaunty hats. They are red here in Glacier, yellow in Yellowstone.

There is a shuttle system in place here to cut down on traffic, but it doesn't begin until July. 

From here we head to Kalispell and the Hockaday Museum of Art.  It is in a neat old Carnegie building which once housed the library.  When we go to pay admission we are told it’s our lucky day again, as today is free for seniors – along with tea and cookies! 

The main exhibit today is a collection by Fitz Maurice, a woman who is painting in all the National Parks of America. 

 No photos allowed.  Many of the sights are recognizable to us, like half dome from Yosemite, Joshua trees from Joshua Tree, and such.  Some are a more modern take which could be most anything to our untrained eyes. There is a room of Montana artists’ work, and downstairs “The Surging, Thunder Herd”, vintage bison engravings from 1758-1910 when engravings gave the world pictures of what America’s west and bison looked like.  Interesting to read the descriptions and see some of the engravings, which ranged from authentic to outrageous and even demonic.

Across the street is the modern library, where we stop for a while to use their wi-fi. Greg reads that the deepest drifts on Going to the Sun Road this year were 40’ to 45’. They use removable guardrails now, so it is labor intensive to clear all the snow and then replace all the guardrails and signs.  

The Imperial Laundramat is our next highlight!  With the large washers and dryers it doesn’t take long to do all of our laundry.  Two ladies from a boarding school come in with laundry for 70 students so many of the washers and dryers are reserved for them. They are amazingly efficient!

We are staying at Walmart tonight since we have an early appointment at Creston RV/also known as Van City.  We have dinner at a Dickie’s BBQ – Texas-style barbque which tastes pretty darn good to us!