Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park is located in Montana and actually borders Canada, so this is the longest road trip we’ve taken, so far. We drove 16 hours all in one day from Texas to Steamboat Springs and then spent a few days recovering. We quickly followed that roadtrip with another 16 hour drive through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana on our way to Glacier NP which also happened to coincide with our 42nd Wedding Anniversary. Montie’s sister and brother-in-law, Kay and Randy, joined us for the adventure. Glacier NP was the 8th national park and opened in 1910. We spent three days fishing, biking and hiking, and we were always on the lookout for bears. That part of the country has a sizable population of Grizzly Bears which are more aggressive than the Black Bears that we frequently see in Steamboat Springs. We were strongly encouraged to carry bear spray everywhere we went, but luckily we never had to remove the safety.
Lake McDonald Lodge
We were able to get rooms inside the park at the historic Lake McDonald Lodge which was built in 1913. Lake McDonald Lodge is one of two historic lodges in Glacier and is on the west side of the national park. The lodge is rustic with huge wooden beams, an enormous fireplace, nice rooms, two restaurants, very little Wifi, no cell coverage, no TVs…and beautiful views of Lake McDonald. The lake was carved out by an eroding glacier thousands of years ago and is fed by the snow melt from McDonald Creek. The lake is 10 miles long and about a mile and half wide. We ate most of our meals at the lodge and sat in the cozy lobby when we needed Wifi. One evening after dinner, we took a lake cruise and enjoyed the views of the lake surrounded by snow capped mountains.
Day 1 - Fishing and Hiking
Randy, Don, and I fly fished on upper McDonald Creek. The creek was so clear and looked perfect, but we did not catch a thing…not even a nibble. Randy is the angler in the family and he thought the water was “too big”. Meaning the water was running very fast due to the spring snow melt. We tromped all over the creek both in and out of the water. The setting was so pretty that I didn’t mind not catching anything, but Randy was always looking for the next “big fish”. After a nice trout dinner at the lodge, we hiked about 2 miles from the Sacred Dancing Cascade lookout almost to the McDonald Falls lookout. It doesn’t get fully dark this far north until nearly 10:00 pm, so we made the most of the long days. Unfortunately, the bridge for McDonald Falls was under construction, so we missed seeing that popular waterfall.
Day 2 - Biking and Hiking
This was my favorite day. Like a lot of national parks, Glacier NP has a scenic drive which is called Going-to-the-Sun and it connects the west side to the east side of the park. The total distance is about 50 miles and it crosses the Continental Divide. In most places, the Continental Divide means that if you pour a cup of water on top of the mountain, half will go to the Pacific Ocean and half will go to the Atlantic Ocean, However, in Glacier the water will split into three parts with the third part going to the Arctic Ocean.
The Going-to-the-Sun road is one of the most famous scenic drives in the country, but it is only open to cars from about July to October each year due to snow. However, from the end of May until July, the road is open solely for biking and hiking up to whatever point where the crews have plowed the snow. So, we all rented Peddle Assist eBikes and rode as far as allowed. We rode about 14 miles while climbing 2500 feet for about 3 hours. We saw snow covered mountains, lots of waterfalls, and wildlife. At the road block, we ate a bite of lunch and marveled at the views. We added a few layers and began the 14 mile downhill trek which only took about an hour. Our fingers and faces were numb by the time we reached the bottom, but what a feeling of accomplishment for all of us. 28 total miles is pretty good for us old folks!
After the bike ride, we hiked a two mile loop called Trail of the Cedars and were treated with a view of a beautiful small waterfall.
Day 3 - Hiking (and attempting to fish again)
We hiked a little everyday, but the third day was only hiking. We hiked the five mile round-trip Avalanche Lake Trail. This trail is very popular and a little crowded, but for good reason. Avalanche Lake is a crystal clear alpine lake surrounded by snow covered mountains. The water was perfectly still and gave us some beautiful mountain reflections. Randy packed his fishing rod, but once again not even a bite. We ate our lunch at the rock beach while Randy fished. We saw a deer and a bear family playing up high in the snow. They were tiny and we were using binoculars, but it still counts! We wouldn’t have even noticed them if it weren’t for two NPS volunteers who were observing / counting: goats, sheep, bears, and loons. After the Avalanche Lake hike, we hiked a two mile loop called John’s Lake Trail. It was a nice little hike, but we were disappointed that the trail didn’t really go to John’s Lake…only near it, so no fishing for Randy.
