Another busy day was on schedule for us, so we checked out of the Glacier Park Lodge this morning* and said farewell to our elegant home of the last two nights.
Front of the lodge, we were in a room on the third floor with a view of the mountains out the back.
Lobby. Pretty swanky. Yes, that is a taxidermied mountain goat.
We drove to the Two Medicine entrance of the park, and made our way toward Two Medicine Lake, where we had another boat cruise scheduled. Today we got to ride aboard the Sinopah, a boat built in 1926 and listed on the National Registry of Historic Vessels.
Ahoy!
Boat captain Linnea suggested that moose sometimes liked to hang out in the ponds to the south of the lake, so after our cruise was over, Emily and I hiked back along the trail to investigate. Unfortunately the moose must have been elsewhere at the time, but we did get to see this impressive beaver dam on one of the ponds:
Dam photograph.
We had one more short hike planned, so we walked back to the car and drove with Mom to the Running Eagle Falls Nature Trail.
The namesake Running Eagle falls, named after Running Eagle, a female (you go girl!) Blackfeet Indian warrior.
The view in the other direction with the falls behind us. Tough to say goodbye to views like this.
Even though we were leaving Glacier, our adventures were not over yet! Our next destination was Helena, where Emily could cross another capitol off the list, and we could all spend sometime with my wonderful friend and Helena resident/expert, Jen.
Since the Gophers were kicking off their football season with a game this evening, we'd made plans to meet at a sports bar showing the game. And it just so happens that Jen's preferred sports bar is the recently refurbished Windbag Saloon. Which just so happens to be the former home of Big Dorothy's Saloon and Brothel. Yesssssssssss.
Jen had taken me to the Windbag when Sarah and I visited a few years ago. The refurbishment has tragically** removed some of the authentic bordello feel of the old establishment, but the food and drinks were delicious, and this version has TVs on the wall, so overall I must admit it is a good upgrade.
It's not even a selfie, and yet somehow this is truly an unflattering picture of everyone involved, including Big Dorothy, who's mug shot is on the wall behind us.
After dinner Jen took us for a walk along Last Chance Gulch, and led us to Montana's well-known Big Dipper Ice Cream, which was indeed packed, and very tasty.
We said goodnight and, amidst some confusion as to where the car keys were, made plan to meet again in the morning. We got to the hotel just in time to watch the end of the Gopher game, which they won, Ski-U-Mah!
*Not before enjoying the breakfast buffet, of course.
**Perhaps more tragic than the redecorating, we found out that the Big Dorothy company is no longer producing their cherished wine, the- and I am not making this up- "Big Dorothy's Whorehouse Red".
Briefly interrupting the bear blog to write about all of the other lame, non-bear-related things we did today.
(That is false, I'm sneaking some bear stuff in here too.)
We had a busy day planned, so we started early by driving to the Many Glacier area of the park. The guide book suggested that the moose liked to hang out at Fishercap Lake, which was a short walk from the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn parking area and trailhead.
We checked out the lakeshore and didn't see any moose yet, so Mom stayed behind to keep an eye out, and Emily and I continued on the trail.
The trail was beautiful, though not as level as this picture implies.
But we made it! Emily & I at our destination- Red Rock Falls.
Here are the falls without our dopey faces blocking the view.
We hiked back to the trailhead, and, not seeing Mom, looked for her in the restaurant and gift shop at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn. We didn't see her, but we did see a crowd of people gathered across the parking lot, looking up at the mountains behind the lodge. With cameras. Pointing and smiling and... BEARS! Up on the mountain were 3 grizzly bears foraging for berries. They were pretty high up and difficult to see, but awesome nonetheless.
2 of the 3 bears up on the mountain face.
We eventually re-connected with Mom, got back into the Moosefinder 5000, and headed north. We were on our way to Waterton Lakes National Park, in Canada! Waterton and Glacier share a border and are officially known as an International Peace Park, which is pretty cool. It took about an hour and a half to drive to the Canadian entrance to the park in Alberta.
Bear-friendly in English and in French!
There was another wildfire, the Boundary fire, burning along the west side of the park, so we were somewhat limited in the areas we could visit, but to be honest, we had more of an "urban" adventure planned for the afternoon.
Since Emily is legally required to have poutine every time she goes to Canada*, we had predetermined that our best option was Weiners of Waterton, a hot dog shop that sells sides of poutine. We purchased an order to share, drove to the nearby Prince of Wales hotel, dropped Mom off, and sat in the parking lot chowing down on fries with cheese and gravy.
Living our best life.
We were at the Prince of Wales Hotel to indulge in a slightly classier culinary indulgence, afternoon tea!
Full disclosure- I took them off for the picture, but it was so sunny that I drank three cups of very classy tea, and ate all of my very classy snacks, with sunglasses on. Yes, inside.
Can't beat the view. Can't beat the scones.
Sadly, we couldn't stay too long in Waterton, because we had tickets on the 4:30 boat cruise back at Many Glacier. So we bid farewell to Canada and drove the hour and a half back south. The cruise left from the Many Glacier Hotel and first toured Swiftcurrent Lake.
View of Many Glacier Lodge from aboard the Chief Two Guns boat.
At the far end of the lake, we disembarked and hiked a quarter mile through the woods to Lake Josephine***. It was on the boat on Lake Josephine that things really started to get awesome:
More bears!!!
Moose! This lovely lady was dipping in and out of the water, munching on some aquatic plants.
Sunshine! Locals said this was the clearest day they'd had in the last 6 weeks.
Mountain goats! We saw about 10 in total, waaaaaaaaaaaay up high on the mountains.
So all in all, the day was busy and tremendously successful. We saw lots of wildlife, Emily got poutine, Mom did a great job on the steep hike between the boats, and the weather cooperated better than we had even hoped for.
We were on our way out of the park when Emily, who was driving, noticed two more bears in a valley off to the right. I told her to stop the car and she protested, something about "we're not allowed to park here", but I was already opening the car door and rushing out.
Look at these gigantic bears!
I could have stood there forever taking pictures, well technically, sat there- it was very windy and hard to stabilize the camera and zoom while standing. So I found a big rock and was just getting settled in when I heard an angry voice hissing, "Beth! Beth! Get back in the car!!!" The angry voice belonged to Emily, and as I turned to roll my eyes at her, I saw a Park Ranger truck driving toward us WITH ITS LIGHTS FLASHING. No siren, but I assume that was only so as not to disturb the animals. We were getting pulled over by the Park Ranger (for, ironically, being pulled over). The ranger didn't get out of her truck, but she did glare at me and literally didn't take her eyes off of me until I was back in the car and we were back on the road.
There may have been an I-told-you-so involved in this story but honestly I wasn't listening because did you see the amazing bear pictures???
Great day.
*Seriously**, Customs and Border Patrol won't let her back in unless she provides a detailed review of her poutine experience(s).
**Okay, not seriously, but here's what seriously did happen at the border on our way back in:
Customs Agent: What are your names, where are you from, etc., etc.
Beth, Mom & Emily: Blah, blah, blah.
Customs Agent: Do you have any produce with you?
Beth: No.
Customs Agent: Open the trunk please.
Beth: Okay.
Customs Agent: Open the cooler please.
Beth: Uh...okay.
Mom: We have carrot sticks.
Customs Agent: Do you have any weapons with you, any firearms?
Beth: No.
Customs Agent: Really, three women traveling alone?
Beth: ???
Customs Agent: Have a nice day.
***Named (according to Jared the raft guide) after Glacier's famous bootlegger, Josephine, who would listen for the horn blasts of the train in the night, and would roll down the hill with as many barrels of moonshine as the train horn had blasted to request.
Sorry if you were expecting more mildly amusing tales of travel and adventure*.
This is a bear blog now. All bears**, all the time.
Today was such a great day. We saw 9 different bears! Well actually, we saw 12 different bears, but I was only able to photograph 9 of them. Please allow me to introduce you to my new buddies.
Bears 1 & 2. These are grizzly bears! I don't know if they are friends but they didn't appear to be rivals.
Bear 3. I know it looks a lot like Bears 1 & 2, but I promise it is a separate bear.
Bear 4, swimming.
Still Bear 4, crawling out of the lake.
Bear 4 with Bears 5 & 6- cubs!!!
And another one! Gah, how cute is Bear 7?!?!
I thought at first that Bears 4-7 were grizzlies too, but this closer look at Mama Bear in profile shows that they are in fact black bears.
Finally, Bears 8 & 9. Can you spot them, like Eagle-Eye Emily did?
There they are! Hi guys!
Bears 8 & 9 were also black bears, and BIG black bears at that.
Bears 10, 11 & 12 were sort of nearby Bears 8 & 9, but I wasn't able to get any pictures of them (shakes fist and mumbles "that meddling Park Ranger" under my breath...).
All bears were sadly much too far away to hug, but I know they felt my love.
Our day started early today, as we said goodbye to the Kabin around 7am so we could drive to the east side of Glacier.
The plan had been to drive from west to east across the park on Going to the Sun Road, the iconic road built in 1932 that stretches across the mid-section of the park. Unfortunately, the west half of the road was still closed due to the wildfire, so instead we had to drive on Highway 2 along the southern edge of the park, then turn back up north and enter the park from the east end of Going to the Sun Road.
We were able to drive west as far as Logan Pass, which was convenient since it was our main hiking destination for the day. Logan Pass is located on the Continental Divide at an elevation of 6646 feet. The national park Visitor Center has a bathroom but- it should be noted- no sinks, only hand sanitizer dispensing stations*.
Though it was sunny elsewhere, here on the Pass it was cold, cloudy and windy, and the smoke smell was noticeable in the air. Mom parked the car and got comfortable; she wisely declared that she wasn't going anywhere.
So Emily and I bravely struck out on the Hidden Lake Overlook trail. I was hoping to hike to the overlook, then down toward the lake itself, but Mother Nature and the park rangers had other plans for us.
Emily could bearly contain her excitement- the hike's length was just cut in half!
See, clearly thrilled about hiking.
Even with the clouds**, we got to see some cool views along the way.
Alpine stream. Stopped solely to take the beautiful picture and not at all because we needed a few minutes to catch our breaths.
Wildlife! Hoary Marmot
More wildlife! Columbian Ground Squirrel
Then we got to see some more clouds.
Where did the other mountains go?
We finally got to the end of the trail, the aforementioned Hidden Lake Overlook. And as advertised, the lake was indeed hidden:
Across the lake is Bearhat Mountain, which was massive but only briefly visible behind the clouds.
Since the bear activity had closed down the remainder of the trail, we turned around and headed back to the Visitor Center, where we wolfed down lunch and caught up with Mom.
Why do I even bother?
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Going to the Sun Road and the St. Mary entrance area of the park.
Along the Sun Point Nature Trail.
Wild Goose Island viewpoint.
Brief hike to St. Mary Lake.
St. Mary Lake shoreline.
By this time we had worked up quite an appetite, so we were thankful that our dinner destination, Johnson's Cafe of St. Mary, was nearby. Johnson's is a family-owned restaurant that's been in business since the late 1940s. They are known for their eclectic decor (think rifles and animal heads), their homemade bread and complimentary soup, and best of all, their Huckleberry Ice Cream Pie.
Those beauties to the right of the pie are Ruth and Lester Johnson, the original Johnsons.
It was a long day, and now that are tummies were full we made our way to the Glacier Park Lodge, our accommodations for the next two nights. I logged 15,954 steps today... think I can beat that tomorrow?
*Which I assume is because of running water limitations at the elevation, but then riddle me this... how did the toilets flush???
**And wind. And cold. And smoke. And elevation. And...
This is the reason I can't quit my job and become a full time travel blogger.
I would love to blame my lack of posts about this trip on a lack of functional wifi, but that would be a cop-out. Yes, the wifi was weak at the KOA, but we left the KOA almost a week ago. And weak wifi wasn't what was stopping me from writing the posts ahead of time and just posting them later.
The problem really is that I packed so much into each day of the vacation, that by the time we got back "home" each night, I was exhausted. Taking a shower and going immediately to bed proved more appealing than writing every single night. Maybe next vacation I will need to build in some writing time each day*.
For now, all I can do is get back on the horse and attempt to catch up. So here we go, back at it...
After breakfast on Monday morning we made our way to Glacier Guides for our rafting trips. Rain was in the forecast and it was chilly, but we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. And luckily for us, the day turned out great! Emily and I headed out on a "sport raft" trip with guide Jared, while Mom enjoyed the "scenic float" with guide Paige. Being late in the season, the water level was low so both rides were pretty tame, although Emily still managed to get soaked on almost every rapid.
What a pair of doofs.
Afterwards** we drove to the west entrance of Glacier Park, at Apgar Village.
In the other picture I am blocking the L in National instead of the P in Park, sigh...
Much of the west side of the park is closed due to the Howe Ridge Wildfire, which is burning on the north side of Lake McDonald. Our plans for a hike along Avalanche Creek and dinner at the Lake McDonald Lodge will both have to wait until our next visit to Glacier. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find out we could still drive to the shore of Lake McDonald, which we happily checked out. The rain and cold front that had come through the night before had cleared out most of the smoke, and the views were better than we had hoped to expect.
View of Lake McDonald looking northeast. The fire was burning along the ridge, although we couldn't see or smell it.
Oh, and it was windy.
Next on our list of things to check out was the scenic lift at Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort. We drove back into town and up "big mountain" to the ski resort, and bought tickets to ride the lift up to the scenic viewpoint. The lift had both enclosed gondolas and open air ski chairs, and in one of the worst decisions I've made in quite some time, I rode the open air ski chair.
Turns out, riding a ski lift without the accompanying ski coat, ski hat, ski scarf and ski gloves is very, verrrrrrrry cold.
View from the top of the mountain. Flathead Lake is visible in the distance.
On the way down I wised up and rode in the gondola.
Dinner tonight was at the Great Northern Brewing Company Draught House.
Central Avenue in Whitefish, with the Great Northern Bar & Grill on the left.
This is not the Great Northern Brewing Company Draught House.
In what must be a trick the locals play on tourists, the Great Northern Brewing Company Draught House is located at 2 Central Avenue, and the Great Northern Bar & Grill is located at 27 Central Avenue.
Once we discovered our error, we went to the Draught House, sipped Wild Huckleberry Wheat Lager, and argued with each other for the rest of the night.
Back at it again tomorrow...
*Or maybe next vacation, I will just be smarter and not plan to blog about it in the first place.
**Okay technically speaking, afterwards we drove to lunch at the Wandering Gringo food truck, recommended by Jared for a delicious burrito that was so large I could not finish it.
