We spent two nights in Great Falls, MT at an RV park. We
needed to do laundry and shopping and staying another
day seemed like the right thing to do.
From Great
Falls
we headed north toward Glacier NP on the east
side. We did a drive-by
on the easy scenic things and then
headed to our camp at Many Glacier.
The wind was wailing and it was starting
to rain which put a damper on outdoor
activities. So, we hunkered
down in the camper and watched movies
from our hard drive.
The photos below are what we saw.
At the end of
a rain squall,
we had a brief sunset with a rainbow from our space at the RV
park.
Next morning we headed north from Great Falls passing
farms with
substantial capital investments in infrastructure.
Wheat is big in this area and if you grow wheat, you must have
grain elevators
to store your
harvest.
Usually the capital costs are shared in the form of a co-op.
Our path north took us along the front range of the
Rocky Mountains
providing awesome
views of the fields and mountains.
When we arrived at St. Mary we got a view of
the Glacier Buses. These have been in service since
the 1930s but have recently been refurbished with new
chassis and motors. These rigs are now based on
propane-powered Ford truck frames.
We turned into the park at St. Mary and heading into
the canyon. The wind was howling and driving the rain from the
mountains
to the plains below.
Note the white caps on St. Mary's Lake.
The south-facing cliffs were free of snow.
The north-facing cliffs still
had snow.
We stopped at an overlook point to get
this shot. The wind was blowing so hard that Kathleen
had to brace me to keep me from
losing my balance due to the gusts.
The upper end of the cascade was quite
violent.
Despite the howling wind and blowing rain, having
the sun behind
us provided a
rainbow in the valley below.
It rained off and on all night. We hunkered down in
the camper and when morning broke, most of the rain was
gone. The wind was still strong, but absent the rain
it was less annoying. From our camp, this was the
cliff to our north.
To the south of our camp at Many Glaciers was this
huge escarpment.
We pulled out of our camp and rolled into
a parking lot close-by
and spotted this
Amish gal taking photos. Despite the frumpy dress, she
is only about 18.
From the parking lot, we could see some cloud-covered peaks further up the valley.
The road ends in this parking area.
We drove down the canyon to the Many Glacier Lodge and
from the bridge
that crosses the river we got a great view of the peaks up the canyon.
The rooms at the Many Glaciers Lodge had spectacular
views of the lake and the peaks beyond. The lodge
reminded me of The Prince of Wales Lodge at Waterton,
Canada which is just a few miles to the north across the border.
The cliffs and cirques in the distance
were truly daunting.
Our exit from Many Glaciers gave us a
good view of the south-facing
cliffs.
On another trip here, we will stay at the Many Glaciers
lodge. It would not suck to wake up with this
view.
A parting shot of the waterfalls at Many Glaciers.
Thor looked wimpy against the huge cliffs.
The south-facing portion of the canyon
had massive cliffs.
We went south along the mountains and
just north of St. Mary we got nice views of the peaks.
We had lunch at a cafe at St. Mary and on our exit from the parking
lot we spotted this fellow in search of a snack.
South near Two Medicine the cliffs were
still snow covered. I think that the dead trees are due to bark
beatles.
The needle-less trees and snowy cliffs left an
otherworldly feeling.
Further south the trees returned.
We continued south to East Glacier, MT, then turned west
and crossed
over the mountains to West Glacier. We took on
diesel, ice and limes for our cocktails and headed
north again toward the Canadian border. Following a fork of the
Flathead River we passed expansive meadows
with great mountain views in the distance.
Our destination for the night was Bowman
Lake inside the park boundaries. Both Kathleen and I
were astounded at the amount of oncoming traffic we
encountered on the narrow dirt roads. Bowman Lake,
as it turns out, is a popular picnic destination and around sundown the
folks return to their camps or hotels. We setup camp and then walked to
the lake shore to see what was there. The view
looking east was dramatic.
The peaks in the distance were still covered with
snow. It would have been fun to take a kayak across
the lake to a truly remote camp.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2013,
all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.