Friday, 12 Aug, Glacier National Park

It was pretty and sunny when we got up.  Bella and I found the doggy park.  It is all grassed and I could let her off the leash which is nice.  This place is all gravel with concrete pads.  That's kind of nice actually.  The last place was all grass which they overwatered and so it was always wet and mushy.
We sat outside enjoying our coffee for a little while and then got ready for today's adventure."Going-To-The-Sun Road - Glacier National Park

It was about 50 miles to the West Entrance of Glacier Nat'l Park.  We journeyed up the road to Lake McDonald.

In 2003 a forest fire charred most of the trees on the opposite side of the lake.  We followed the lake for 10 miles and then the road tunneled through a forest of mountain hemlocks and red cedars where it started to climb along McDonald Creek.

As we continued to climb the cedars and hemlocks gave way to scattered stands of spruces and firs.      Once past Red Rock Point we caught our first glimpse to the Garden Wall

It is a sheer ridge cresting thousands of feet above and it's spine makes up part of the Continental Divide. Water falling to the west of the divide drains toward the Pacific; to the east it flows toward the Atlantic.

We continued up to amazing scenery.  There are many pull outs where you can catch the views. Often, however; these turnouts were full and we were not able to stop.  But where we could, we did and we were rewarded with awesome views.  

It is beautiful up here.  There were tons of wild flowers and green grass. It was sad to see the destruction of several wildfires over the past years.  

I took this one through my sun roof

As we climbed ever higher we arrived at a landscape of waterfalls peaks, and plunging valleys. The pictures above are of Birdwoman Falls.  Further along we drove by weeping wall which is a wall along side the road with water seeping and falling out of it for about a quarter mile.  It is too close for a decent picture, but the views continued to get glorious.

We continued up to Logan Pass where the drive pinnacled at 6,646 feet. 

There is a Visitor Center up there but it was to crowded to stop.  

Bella is a very helpful driver!

We continued on, enjoying the views of massive domes and spine-like ridges which loomed boldly above the alpine wilds.  there were more wild flowers up here, Yellow glacier lilies, shooting stars, Indian paintbrushes and stately wands of beargrass. There are several trails that begin and end at the Visitor center, but maybe we will be able to stop on the way back.

We continued on until we came to the frozen, gray-blue mass of Jackson Glacier.

Jackson, like the 50 or so other glaciers in the park, is but a feeble reminder of the stupendous ice-age glaciers that shaped so much of this region's stunning scenery many years ago.

We continued on to where the Aspens, alders, and birches line the road as we descended toward St. Mary Valley and it's namesake lake.  

There are beautiful mile-high peaks surrounding the lake

At this point we turned around and drove back along the road we had already traveled.  We caught more beautiful scenery and stopped in at the McDonald Lake Lodge.

We left the park and drove into Whitefish.  It is a really cute little town.  I have no idea why I don't have any pictures of it.  

We went there because it has a Huckleberry Festival going on now through the weekend.  

Did I tell you that huckleberries are sort of like blueberries?  They grow on bushes (I posted pictures of them on our bike ride up on Schweitzer) like blueberries, but I think they taste  better.  

Anyway, it is a big crafts fair with a bunch of venders.

We arrived in Whitefish and went directly to the Visitor's Center/Chamber of Commerce.  We pretty much always start with visitor centers when we arrive at a new place.  there we can always find the cool things to do, the bike shops, maps, golf courses, etc.

We left the car there and walked through town. We of course stopped in at a bike shop and found out where the cool rides are. We walked to the Depot Park where the festival was going on and in the process past the Northwest Mountain Brewery. Rob and I wandered part way through the crafts before he left me for the brewery to go taste.  I continue to peruse and then walked over and joined him.  He had 6 samples in front of him and I got a sample of their Huckleberry brew which was really good.  I helped him taste a couple of his yummy samples.

We met a nice couple who had been there for a week hiking around.  They told us of some really good hikes we need to do, as well as a couple places in Nevada and Utah that we much visit.

We said our good byes.  Rob and I ran into Drew from the bike shop on our walk back to the car.  We asked him about places to paddle board and he told us about a friend of his at Public Beach who rents boards and knows all the cool places. We got to the car and drove out to public beach.  Whitefish really is a cool little town.

We drove back to the rig.  We fixed some dinner, sat outside for a bit and then went to bed.

Another awesome, adventurous day!