Leslie seemed to be over her cold so we decided to try and get some more things in Glacier accomplished. One was to hike the Hidden lake trail. We heard the views were gorgeous and there have been a lot of animal sights from this trail. The trail starts at the Logan Pass Visitor Center and we had been advised we needed to be there by 9am to get a parking space. We also wanted to kayak in a glacier fed lake in the park. We would need to get the kayaks inspected for “contaminants” (Zebra Mussel) before we could put in. We also wanted one last lunch at Lake McDonald Lodge. So we loaded up the kayaks on the new wooden standoffs over the bed of the truck, got up early and headed up the Going-to-the-Sun road to Logan Pass. We arrived just before 9am to find the parking lot already full. We circled around the parking lot, along with dozens of other cars, for 45 minutes hoping to get lucky and have someone back out in front of us and that the parking spot would be big enough for the behemoth. We were not lucky. So we headed back down the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The majority of the traffic was headed up toward the pass, so we kept having to stop because the oncoming traffic was not leaving enough room for the Behemoth to squeeze between them and the rock wall since they were hugging the center line. We kept thinking of what Amy, our Red Bus driver and said about how they had a evening patrol that would go down the Going-to-the-Sun road to clean up the broken plastic and glass from cars that hit the wall or slapped mirrors as they pass oncoming traffic.
We made it down without incident and stopped at Lake McDonald Lodge. The lounge was not open for lunch yet so we hung out on the back porch of the lodge and people watched. Following another delicious lunch, we headed for Apgar Village to get the kayaks inspected. After passing the inspection and changing cloths, we headed for the nearby picnic area to launch. Once on the water of Lake McDonald it was just magical. Gliding through a glacier fed lake, in beautiful clear water (we could see the bottom 30 feet down and fish swimming by), with the mountains (snow still on the tops) and glaciers around you was amazing! It was so relaxing and calm. We kayaked for two hours before heading back to shore. After loading up the kayaks we headed back to Hungry Horse. It was with great reluctance that we passed through the exit of Glacier National Park. We could feel it calling us back!
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| Kayaking on Lake McDonald in Glacier NP |
We went into Columbia Falls and took care of some tasks to get ready to pull out in the morning (Washed the truck and kayaks, grocery shopping, fill up on fuel) and headed back to the Wanderer. David backed in to line up the Behemoth with the hitch to make it easier to hook up in the morning when there was a LOUD CRASH!. The rear window on the Behemoth had shattered into a thousand pieces and the kayaks were poking into the rear seats. David had forgotten the back of the kayaks extend a couple feet beyond the back of the truck and they hit the nose cap of the Wander and pushed into the rear window. CRAP!!!! It was after 5 on a Friday Night in small town USA. After checking the window damage, and determining the Wander and kayaks were undamaged, we tried to call the local glass shops and got voice mail. We left messages and hoped one of them would be open on Saturday. Meantime we checked with the RV Park to see if we would be able to stay longer. The site we were in was booked for the weekend. But the spot directly in front of us was open since they had left it open for us to pull through when we left Saturday. So we booked it for Saturday nigh and hoped we could get the window repaired on Saturday in Kalispell. Then we cleaned up glass.
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| Kayak Torpedoes |
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