13 July 2019 West Side of Glacier

Anticipating big crowds in the park for the weekend, we decided to explore the western edge of the park. We got a late start but once in the park, we drove to the trailhead for Rocky Point. The hike to Rocky Point (1.9 miles, 243 feet elevation gain, 469 calories) took us through some old growth forest before we came to where the 2003 forest fire had burned through. The young trees were growing back in very thick and were 6-8 feet tall. we don’t think you could have cut your way through they are so tightly packed together. Rocky Point looks out over Lake McDonald and provides some wonderful views of the lake. Because of that, it is also a very popular trail. We ran into dozens of people on the way out and the way back. We hiked the full loop before returning to the truck. It felt great to stretch our legs out again after the last two weeks of no hiking.

From the trailhead parking area, we drove the Inside North Fork gravel road for 6 miles before it was closed off due to landslides beyond Camas Creek. After returning to Camas Road, we followed it to the point where it leaves exits the park on the west side. At that point, the road turns into a state maintained North Fork gravel road for about 15 miles to Polebridge. The tiny town of Polebridge is named after a bridge over the North Fork of the Flathead River that was built in the 1930s out of telephone poles by the CCC. That bridge has since been replaced after being damaged in floods. We had heard from locals that there was a great bakery in Polebridge, and sure enough, as we pulled into town on the dusty dirt road, was the Polebridge Mercantile! We stopped and went in to the mercantile and sure enough, there was a bakery. Even though it was nearly 5PM, there was still an enticing selection of baked goods. After picking up some Savory Jalapeño rolls, Huckleberry Bear Claws, chocolate cookies and a loaf of fresh baked bread, we followed the dirt and gravel Glacier Road back into the park and up to Bowman Lake. Bowman Lake, in the north west corner of the park (only 15 miles from the Canadian border) is in the bottom of a glacier carved valley and is fed by glacier runoff and melting snow. There is a small campground and boat launch at the western end of the lake. It was simply beautiful! Tall rocky peaks close on each side with the lake stretching into the distance. There were a few hearty souls in the campground, and a couple loading up their inflatable raft from a day of fishing. But it was serene, beautiful, and very calming. We vowed to return and maybe kayak the lake in the following weeks.

After reluctantly climbing back in the truck, we headed back to the Wanderer so we could feed Etta before she was too mad at us for leaving her behind (No dogs allowed on any of the hiking trails) and being late to serve her dinner.

Lake McDonald from Rocky Point

Polebridge Mercantile

Lake Bowman

12 July 2019 Where the Rubber Meets the Road

We drove into Kalispell to get new tires put on the truck at Discount Tire. They were getting close to needing replacing, and David did not want to get on the west coast and need to replace them there (tires are more expensive and disposal fees are massively higher on the west coast). We only had 39,962 miles on them, but being all terrain tires, they were not the best tires for towing.  We replaced all six tires with Michelin Defenders, which are better road tires for towing but still can get us around off pavement. They promised that it would only take an hour to replace the tires since we had made an appointment in advance. So, of course it took two hours. We took the opportunity to do some local shopping (David picked up bear spray, just in case). 

11 July 2019 Glacier National Park

David worked most of the morning. But in the afternoon we drove into the park and went to the Apgar Visitor Center. There we collected our collected our 43rd Passport Stamp,explored the exhibits, shopped in the gift store, and talked with the rangers to figure out the hiking options. We were a little surprised to find out the park movie is only shown at the east entrance visitor center in St. Mary. We learned from the exhibits that about 12,000 years ago, the area was covered by 5000 feet of ice in the last big ice age. The glaciers have been mostly retreating ever since. The last significant growth of glaciers in the park occurred during the little Ice Age (1300 to 1850) and they have retreated since then. In 1850 there was over three hundred glaciers in Glacier National Park but there are only 30 left today with five of those no longer “active” (ie moving). They estimate that they will all be gone by 2030 at current rates of shrinkage. 

We left the Apgar Visitor Centerdrove along Lake McDonald on the Going To The Sun Scenic Byway. The views across the lake were beautiful. The far side of the lake experienced a fire in 2003 and the trees are growing back quickly. We pulled into the Lake McDonald Lodge and were surprised to see the 1934 red busses. We thought they had gone out of service. So we went into the lodge to find out about their schedule of service. Then we went down to the lake. In the early 1900s, guests would arrive at the lodge by boat, so the front of the lodge actually faces the lake. It reminded us of hotels in Bavaria. We then went to the lounge and enjoyed some drinks and a Charcuterie Board, which just reinforced our feeling of being back in Germany looking out over an alpine lake. 

Glacier Entrance Sign

Red Bus

Lake McDonald Lodge

Chandeler in Lake MeDonald Lodge

Lake McDonald from the lodge

10 July 2019 Missoula to Hungry Horse, Montana

The drive to Hungry Horse was beautiful. Flathead Lake is just gorgeous! We had a couple of mild climbs that barely slowed down the truck. We took MT2 around the east side of the lake. We are staying at Timber Wolf Resort ($64 per night), which is about 10 miles outside the western gate to Glacier National Park. The resort is built on a hillside and the sites step up the hill. It was a bit steep and a bit tight getting into our assigned site. We had to jockey back and forth a bit to get center in the tight spot and have room for the slide outs without hitting a tree. There are trees close on both sides of the site, the site is barely wide enough for the Wanderer, the neighbors are close, the sewer connection is up hill, the water pressure barely adequate and the trees are blocking the satellite signal (the only local channel is PBS which drops out frequently). But, it is close to the park and the small town of Hungry Horse is just down the road.

9 July 2019 Safelite Replace

The Safelite technician, Ivan, finally showed up at 3 in the afternoon to replace our windshield. It took him about 2 hours to remove and replace the windshield and drive the truck to recalibrate the lane keeping system. I was surprised to see that there were two sensors in the mirror mount with a defroster heater. Ivan was able to remove the toll sticker and registration sticker and reglue them to the new windshield with no problems. David asked Ivan (actually David pestered Ivan with a lot of questions) what the winters in Missoula were like. He said last winter they had 30 straight days below zero and over five feet of snow in the city! Leslie and I agree, we do not want to be up here for the winters, no mater how beautiful it is in the summer. 

7 July 2019 National Bison Range

It was a beautiful day here in Missoula today. After watching the streaming church service on YouTube, and driving into Missoula to get our Mexican Food Sunday fix, we drove up to the National Bison Range about an hour north of us. The National Bison Range was initiated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. It is one of 566 national wildlife refuges across the US managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and one of 6 refuges dedicated to Bison. Created to save the American Bison from extinction, it works with the other 5 Bison refuges, national park system and BLM to maintain, improve and manage a public herd of over 2000 bison. The American Bison is also called a buffalo, but in reality it is not really part of the buffalo species, but is a popular name given to them that has stuck. The National Bison Range had a herd of between 325 and 350 bison at any one time. They exchange bison with other refuges and the national park system to maintain the gene diversity. They estimate that prior to the coming of the Europeans to the west, there had been over 30 million Bison. By 1900 there were less than 1000 in public and private hands. The herd in the National Bison Range was started from private herds here in Montana and eventually cross bred with Bison from other refuges and the NPS. They estimate that the current Bison population is over 250,000 but not all are true Bison since some were crossbred with cattle. 

We drove the Red Sleep Mountain Drive, an 18 mile loop through the refuge. The first 5 miles we did not see any wildlife. But then we started running into individual male Bison that were close enough to the road to see. They don’t want you to exit your vehicle, and hiking in the park is limited to only a couple short hikes. We ended up seeing a few dozen Bison. Most were so far away from the road that you needed binoculars to see them but there were a few that were close enough to get some good pictures. One of the more interesting aspects is this area was once a huge lake, caused by glaciers cutting off the natural drainage through three canyons to the southwest. The water would build up, flooding the area under hundreds of feet of water until it would break through the glacier cause a massive flash flood through the canyons all the way to the pacific ocean. Apparently this happen multiple times during the last ice age, the last time being around 15,000 years ago.

National Bison Range Entrance Sign

Bison #1

Bison #2

1 July 2019 Arco Idaho to Missoula Montana

The drive from Arco to Missoula on the Salmon River Scenic Byway (US93) is beautiful! The route takes you between two beautiful mountain ranges along the course of the Salmon River for the first half. We had one hard climb, through Lost Trails Pass, right at the Idaho and Montana line, that the truck did just fine on. We have learned that if we don’t try to hold the speed limit and accept climbing at a lower speed, the truck does not get as hot. At the top of the pass was a rest stop so we decided to stop there for lunch. There is also a ski resort, Lost Trails Ski Resort, that David had not heard of before. It, of course, was closed for the season. Coming down the pass, you drop into another valley between mountain ranges.

We are staying a Jim and Mary’s RV Park ($42 per night with GSC) just out side Missoula Montana. It’s a beautiful RV park with mature trees, spacious sites and lots of beautiful landscaping. The owners are gardeners and they show it with lots of flowers and landscapes through out the park. The site was gravel, but fairly level. Full utilities, good water pressure, strong and fast WiFi, local cable TV. The staff was very nice and they bring in local musicians every Wednesday.

Wanderer in Jim and Mary's RV Park

Some of the landscaping in Jim and Mary's RV Park

When we were planning this portion of our summer itinerary, we decided to stay here for ten days for a number of reasons. First we figured we could use a break from the constant hustle and bustle of visiting parks. Second, we wanted to hold up for the fourth of July weekend away from the national parks, figuring they would be packed (as it was we could not find an RV site near Glacier over the holiday weekend). Last, we thought it might be a needed time for maintenance and repairs. On that last point we were more right than we expected. The truck needs new tires (before we hit the west coast with their higher costs of tires and tire disposal fees), and coming out of West Yellowstone, we got hit by a couple of rocks from passing trucks and now need to replace the windshield due to cracks. There were some things we needed to do to the Wanderer as well. We are expecting to receive a new window for the Wanderer from New Horizons, as well as some other parts,  while we are here. We also had a number of mail order shipments sent here as well to stock up. What we did not expect was how much we needed to be by a major city to do some shopping and take care of personal stuff (David’s hair was looking like a wild man’s) after being out in the boonies for so long.  One of the major purchases was a new grill. We have run into 5-6 RV parks in the last three months that do not allow charcoal grills. Seems idiots pour their hot coals into the dumpsters and ignite trash fire. So we researched propane grills and bought a Colman Roadtrip 225 propane stove. We used it for the first time on the fourth of July for hamburgers and hot dogs. It works pretty well. But we do miss that wood smoke flavor. We will be here till the tenth and then head for Glacier National Park.