Wednesday July 16, 2008 Glacier National Park

Wednesday July 16, 2008 Glacier National Park

After a few morning sprinkles Bruce and I decided to spend the day in Glacier National Park. What a beautiful area and a beautiful day.

My Dad and Mom had taken our family of seven camping there in the 1960's. We had a 16 foot green and white Santa Fe trailer pulled by our lavender metallic ’57 Chevy station wagon.

I remember my Dad having a sleepless night before we were going to drive up "the Road to the Sun." It was the shortest route for us to get up into Canada. Then and now it is a two lane, very steep road. Bruce and I had heard that because of heavy snow fall and winter damage to the road, the road had just recently been cleared and opened over July 4th weekend.

I packed a picnic and we took off mid morning. West Glacier was where we paid our $25 entrance fee for a seven day pass. Lake MacDonald was our first turnout. There we had a spectacular view of the mountains across the lake that we would later climb with our truck. The water was crystal clear and calm. The road followed the shoreline giving breath taking views between the evergreens. A pullout a few miles down had an informational plaque of the 2003 forest fires in the park. Dead trees stood as silent reminders of the lightening strike and thousands of acres of charred devastation.

The climb up Logan Pass (the “Road to the Sun”) was exactly as I remembered, except that they now forbid trailers, motor homes or bicycles of any kind on the road. The sheer drop off our right side of the road was bordered by a low rock wall (like that would help!?) and the view to the valley below was not something for the faint-of-heart to see!

As we continued to climb, the paved road suddenly turned to gravel, then to one lane and then to a stop! Although I had pictured a picnic along some quiet mountain stream, we ended up having lunch in the truck while waiting for our turn to move forward.

The Logan Pass summit was phenomenal and still had some snowy glaciers. There were people carrying snow shoes and cross country skis up into the back country for a days outing. One pullout allowed for us to walk up to a scenic lookout. We took our dog with us to inspect the snow which was quite foreign and different from the sands of Florida beaches! Right along the walkway to the lookout there was a mother and baby mountain goat grazing on some grass. They seemed unusually tame to allow people to quietly watch them so close.


Dark afternoon clouds rolled up over the peaks, so we finished our summit visit and moved on. With summer arriving late in the altitudes, the alpine meadows were filled with every color of wild flowers imaginable. I had to stop several times to take pictures.

Nature is so full of life, excitement and positive energy. I just feel alive being surrounded by it.


Rather than backtrack, we chose to take the longer route back to our campground through the East Glacier side and the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. The landscape of the east side was open range and rolling prairie land.















We had been told by a former camping neighbor that we had to stop in the town of Browning to try the “best huckleberry pie” in the world! We needed to stretch our legs by that point and went into the bakery to buy a slice to share. Bruce and I took one bite and knew that we had been misinformed!!! It tasted like a combination of red Jell-O mixed with sour huckleberries and then dumped into a tough pie shell. We paid $4.75 for the slice!!! I should have been tipped off when a woman from the adjoining restaurant came into the bakery in a panic, saying that she needed to locate a dishwasher immediately…Good help and talented cooks in remote areas must be hard to find!