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.