The long road home

We took three days for the drive home from Many Glacier to Portland. If you're ever passing through East Glacier, we highly recommend a stop at the Whistle Stop for ribs and huckleberry pie. We paused briefly at the Izaak Walton Inn just outside the southern boundary of Glacier Park.The Inn is open year-round and you can stay in one of their caboose cabins.

That night was spent in Whitefish, Montana at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake. The Lodge had all the creature comforts we had done without and we enjoyed our stay. It was a bit jarring to see the lake surrounded by houses and boats after being at Swiftcurrent Lake in Many Glacier the preceding day. Before departing, we strolled around downtown Whitefish and visited the historical society in the train station where we learned that 65,000 passengers a year pass through their lobby!

En route to Spokane just east of Troy, Montana we stopped to walk down to Kootenai Falls. The walk was further than we expected, but worth it. There is a bridge over the train tracks so you can safely watch the trains passing below. In addition to the falls viewpoint, there is a suspension bridge which we, unfortunately, didn't have time for. We spent our final night in Spokane with a high school friend of mine before heading for home. Total trip mileage = 1800 miles! We may fly next time...

You have a visitor

Our final stop in Glacier Park was in the Many Glacier area. Immediately upon our arrival from Waterton we took a historical tour of the Many Glacier Hotel. The hotel is in the midst of a two year renovation so we didn't get to see some things but we got some insights into the renovation.

When we returned to our lodgings at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, we had a visitor waiting for us in the parking lot! This is the closest to a moose that we got on this trip and it was close enough. The hill behind the Swiftcurrent is great for wildlife viewing. We saw Grizzly Bears and Mountain Goats with our binoculars.

The Many Glacier area was an exceptionally beautiful area of the park. Unfortunately it is one of the least accessible from the westside. You either access via the Going to the Sun Road or another very windy road from East Glacier. I wonder how they get the tour buses in there...

Red Rock Parkway and Blakiston Falls

We had a visitor across the lake from our motel. A black bear! We could see him easily with our binoculars and it was fun to watch him go about his business from a safe distance. The bears are very active this time of year filling themselves with berries to prepare for the long winter ahead.

Before leaving Waterton Park we drove up the Red Rock Parkway. Although the red rocks weren't as impressive as they are in the southwest, it was interesting to see them in this setting. At the end of the road we found easy trails to Red Rock Canyon and Blakiston Falls.

Waterton Lakes

Waterton Lakes Park in Alberta, Canada partners with Glacier Park to create the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Waterton is similar to Zion in that there is a village adjacent to the park offering a variety of hotels, restaurants, telephones and other services. After a few days of being off the grid in Apgar, we welcomed the chance to do our laundry and phone home. We started our tour of Waterton with a scenic cruise aboard the M.V. International. The International cruises across the US/Canadian border from the northern to the southern end of Upper

Waterton Lake. The cruise stops at Goat Haunt in Glacier Park for about 25 minutes. There are several hiking trails originating in Goat Haunt. It's possible to disembark here for day or overnight hiking but you have to clear US Customs to do so. This photo shows the customs post at Goat Haunt. Our feet were tired from hiking the previous day so we opted not to hike here. Next time for sure! It's an easy way to get into the backcountry.

Following the cruise we opted for lunch at the historic Prince Of Wales Hotel with a commanding view of Upper and Lower Waterton Lakes and Waterton township. This view from the front lawn of the hotel shows the channel between the two lakes known by locals as the Bosphorus.

St Mary's

We reluctantly loaded the truck and headed across the Going To The Sun Road on our way to Waterton, Alberta. We stopped again at Logan Pass where we found an accessible viewing platform with a commanding view of the valley below. Mr. Purse did a fantastic job driving the challenging route.




We stopped for a few hours on the east side of Logan Pass in the St. Mary's Lake area. We hiked an easy but rewarding trail that follows the St. Mary's River (pictured). The trail takes you past St. Mary's falls (pictured) and Virginia Falls.





The east side of the park is different than the west side. The west side is green and lush, kind of like Oregon, while the East side is much drier. We passed by Triple Divide Peak where water can flow in three different directions: to the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or Hudson Bay. This is of particular interest to me as my current project involves watershed analysis.

Avalanche Lake

We rushed out of Apgar this morning to catch a ranger-led hike to Avalanche Lake. Unfortunately I read the schedule wrong so we were either a day late or a day early. On the bright side, we had an early start for our hike. The trail meanders along Avalanche Creek with a pretty cascade before arriving at Avalanche Lake. One interesting thing is that the lake looks like a completely different body of water depending on which end you are standing at. It's worth your time to walk to the far end.

Avalanche Lake/Creek are glacially fed. As you've probably heard, the glaciers in the park are retreating due to climate change. Sadly, the glacier that sources Avalanche Lake/Creek is also getting smaller and will soon cease to exist. This means that the ecosystem in this area will likely change dramatically.

Speaking of drama, on the way back we saw a black bear about 20 feet from the trail. It was more unsettling than scary as there were several other hikers in the area taking pictures of the bear. But he seemed a little perturbed so we moved along faster than I might have liked. If you look closely at the bottom photo, you can hopefully make out the ears and nose.

Logan Pass and Hidden Lake

It's our first full day in Glacier NPK. We're staying in Apgar Village on the west side of the park. The main attraction in Glacier is the Going To The Sun Road. We're "lucky" to be visiting in the midst of a multi-year construction project to repair and rebuild the road. We are actually lucky because there are free shuttles in service to minimize the number of private automobiles on the road and reduce construction delays.



We had a shuttle bus to ourselves on the trip to Logan Pass. Mr. Purse enjoyed taking in the views as he didn't have to drive. Upon arriving at the Pass, we hiked to the Hidden Lake overview through alpine meadows. We heard and saw this little guy about halfway through. I believe he is a marmot. We also saw a few mountain goats clinging to the surrounding cliffs.



The third photo is an example of the many superb vistas we soaked up on our walk on top of the world. Logan Pass straddles the continental divide.

Our visit to Zoo Town

This morning finds us in Missoula, MT aka Zoo Town. It took us a full day to drive here from Portland, OR. We had the pleasure of spending yesterday with a dear friend of mine from Middle School and her family. To the left, you'll see one of our gracious hosts entertaining us during our visit. We spent much of the day wandering around town and enjoyed a lovely dinner from the CSA produce we picked up earlier that afternoon. Fresh corn! We capped off the night with a visit to Big Dipper for some huckleberry ice cream. A Montana specialty!

Our hosts took us to the Missoula Smokejumper visitor center. This
is forest fire season so we thought we might see a lot of action but it was relatively quiet. The smokejumpers are the first line of defense and are deployed with surgical precision to stop small fires before they become big fires. To the right, is the parachute room where they maintain the quality of the parachutes.

We also got to take a look inside a plane that is used for firefighting. It is normally deployed in Alaska but their fire season is over so it has been re-deployed to Missoula.