From Libby to West Glacier was 120 miles of pretty scenery, along Route 2, between mountain folds, along several rivers, and occasional peek-a-boo glimpses of a couple of lakes.
As we drive along, we often listen to audio books. Alexander McCall Smith entertained us today with his Bertie Project.
This corner of Montana is majestic and grand, layered mountain peaks and forested slopes as far as the eye can see. It's remote and vast.
Once we arrived at San-Suz-Ed RV Park outside West Glacier, set up and grabbed a quick bite (with a cup of tea!), we were off to the Apgar Visitor Center in Glacier National Park. The RV park is a convenient 5 miles away.
We picked up the park map and park magazine to plan which areas we would explore over the next three days. Tucked into the map was this brochure and warning:
This of course put me into an immediate panic about a possible bear encounter along a hiking trail that my boy scout hubby might venture along with me in tow..... These alerts seem to be of less concern to him. If I am lucky enough to see a bear, I plan to be safely protected inside our Jeep.
Fires have been burning in one section of the park since early August. We saw the smoke plume rising on the approach to the park.
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| rising smoke plume inside Glacier NP |
On our way back home, we stopped off at Lake Five just down the road from the RV park. Several lucky folks have homes hugging the lake shore with their own private docks.
The scene was tranquil and pretty with mountains all around. The water is so clear that we were able to see schools of small fish.
The scene was tranquil and pretty with mountains all around. The water is so clear that we were able to see schools of small fish.
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| The smoke plume is visible here too, just above the center hill |
Because of the fires, some of the roads, including Going-To-Sun Road, are closed to private vehicles. We have driven that road a couple of times in past years and decided to focus on the western side of the park since we had not seen that. Thursday morning we set off along the Camas Loop scenic route. We were able to view the fire in the distance. At one of the roadside exhibits a park ranger and fire crew answered questions. Fires are an important aspect of nature's re-generation of trees. Typically lightning strikes ignite the fires and the debris from previous fires provides a good source of tinder. Historically there have been numerous fires here, the last major ones in 2001, 2003, and 2007. In some ways, fires are nature's way of downsizing. And in the case of lodgepole pines that are prolific here, these trees are dependent on fires that melt the pitch of their cones, releasing the seeds inside. It certainly gave me a new perspective to be visiting this wilderness area during a fire and learn to see it as a positive event.
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| area of current Howe Ridge fire |
There is a crew of 400 from various parts of the country and Canada monitoring and controlling the current fire situation. We discovered that 16 South Africans from Cape Town ranging in age from 16 through 39 are also part of the crew.
https://missoulian.com/news/local/from-cape-town-with-joy-south-african-fire-crew-lit/article_0a7f3496-1506-5f75-96e7-637a6472fed3.html
The general practice is to let nature take its course unless the fire begins to encroach on roadways, rail lines, and homes. And in this case also the park buildings and hotels.
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| further along the Camas Loop Road |
We continued north to Polebridge and on the way got lured by a sign advertising huckleberry pie and ice-cream. We had read an information board in the park about the importance of huckleberries to bears who will eat thousands of the sweet berries daily as they fatten up in preparation for hibernation. The Camas Loop Road faces the Apgar Range which is a great huckleberry habitat because of its fire history. As fire clears the canopy, more sunlight reaches the forest floor, benefiting smaller plants. Huckleberries thrive in the ashy soil left behind by fire. In Glacier visitors can pick a quart of berries per day for personal use. However it is well known that where there are huckleberries there are bears!
We turned in at Home Ranch Bottoms, a bar and small restaurant with many quaint sayings displayed inside and outside. We treated ourselves to a huckleberry milkshake on this hot 80F-degree day. The story behind the name of this establishment is that the original owner, a rancher by the name of Tom Ladenburg, built this store and named it Home Ranch Store. After Ladenburg died, new owners turned the store into a tavern and named it The Bottoms. Today, the establishment is called Home Ranch Bottoms, a blending of the original name with the new one.
Huckleberry shakes consumed, we continued on to Polebridge, a tiny community that still exists in this remote spot a matter of 22 miles from the Canadian border. It's a colorful tourist trap, enticing folks to the Polebridge Mercantile still in operation and known for its pastries that include huckleberry bear claws. Drawn by the remote wilderness where a man could live by his own rules, Bill Adair came to this corner of northwestern Montana in 1904. He and his wife built a log mercantile on the east side of the North Fork of the Flathead River, supplying goods to the few settlers in this sparsely populated area. In 1910, after the establishment of Glacier NP eliminated homesteading on that side of the river, Adair filed a land claim across the river and built a cabin that today is a bar restaurant. The false-fronted mercantile was completed two years later. From 1913 to 1920, Adair continued as the only general store in the area and even today, Polebridge Mercantile serves its few North Fork residents. And a lot more tourists!
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| Adair's log home, now a bar |
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| if I had fallen in love with a cowboy he would surely have looked like this |
There is a meadow with an Interpretive Trail across from the mercantile that meanders through old growth along the river. We walked along, reading the various information boards explaining the role of fires in rejuvenating 25% of the valley floor; about Canada and Montana's cooperative partnership that put an end to Canadian coal mining in order to preserve the pristine wilderness of the Flathead River; and about protecting the international wildlife corridor stretching between Glacier Park and Canada's Banff National Park. Wildlife here is abundant (elk, moose, wolverine, mountain goat, lynx), the animals criss-crossing the international border in search of food. More grizzlies than people live in the North Fork River Valley with wolf numbers not far behind. Grizzlies, though protected in Montana, are still hunted in Canada. In fact, along this trail you are standing closer to a grizzly bear than a Starbucks, according to the information board!
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| beyond the smoky veil, the peaks of the Whitefish Range were faintly visible |
Our final stop was at Apgar Village to take a peek at Lake McDonald. Another worthy stop. The morning's smoky haze had cleared sufficiently to view the lake and distant peaks, as well as the fire on the ridge.
Lake MacDonald is the largest of the many glacially carved lakes in this park. It is ten miles long and nearly 500 feet deep, the result of a glacier that once filled the valley and carved out the lake that is now filled with water.
The following day, Friday, we explored the east side of the park. Because Going-To-The-Sun Road is still closed to visitor cars, we drove the long way around on route 2 then north on route 49 and 89 to the Saint Mary Visitor Center and then further north to reach Many Glacier. It was a long day of driving but worth it.
The scenery continues to be riveting, the layers of mountains mesmerizing, the forests thick, and the lakes vast and wondrous considering that glaciers scooped them out over time. And enfolding us throughout the journey, the various peaks with their sharp folds and ridges continued for as far as we could see. It was hazy, probably from the smoke, but still beautiful.
We pulled over to gaze at Two Medicine Lake below the road.
Lake Sherburne was a striking turquoise color.
Lake Swiftcurrent at Many Glacier was choppy but beautiful.
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| remnants of ancient glaciers still visible |
On the way back, we stopped at the Swiftcurrent Falls.
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| the falls flow down and through the canyon |
The best part was seeing a large black mama bear and her grown cubs in the meadow as we were leaving. The clue was the line of cars at the side of the road with people gazing intently at something, holding up phones and cameras.
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| the black shape on the right is mama bear |
We watched the bears for several minutes until they moved on.
At Maria's Pass (5220 ft) there is an obelisk marking a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt but it also marks the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains.
With a large section of the west side of the park and trails still closed, we opted to stay in today and worked on admin and home stuff, the kind that never goes away no matter where you call home.
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| Susan, Mark, Larry, Ron and Bonnie, our Washington SKP friends |
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| Spit and Whittle dudes - Larry, Michael, Ron and Mark with their mascot, Alton |
And then, poor Michael got stung by a yellow jacket.... ouch! The darned creature climbed inside his beer bottle and as he took a swig it stung him. A bit of a stinging ending to Happy Hour and our stay here!
Tomorrow we move on, overnight in Butte Montana, and then continue on to the Grand Tetons for a few days. Despite the fires raging in Glacier NP, it was still a good visit. We were here in 2002 and then 2005. This time we scouted out new areas. And there is still so much more to see that we know we will return. At different times of the year, there will be different views and pictures to take.
Glacier NP is known as the Crown of the Continent, a name given by George Grinnell in 1908, co-founder of the Audubon Society and advocate for preserving this corner of Montana as a national park. It's sad that the glaciers are slowly vanishing and according to the movie we watched at the St Mary visitor center, they will all be gone by 2030. However, the name Glacier remains apt for a landscape that was chiseled out and created by the ancient glaciers that have left us a legacy we are still enjoying today.