August 22, Polson Town Museum

We have been taking it easy during our time in Polson. We did so much exploring while we were in the parks that we have done much more reading during this part of our tripT

Today we did go to the local museum. We had to wait a bit to get in because the volunteer was a little late in getting there. When we got in unfortunately the same volunteer decided to follow me around and give me a guided tour. Len luckily managed to get away but I got cornered. It might have been okay but she kept trashing the local natives and their culture and how the poor natives would have been poor and still living in teepees if it wasn’t for the white man taking over their lives and making it better for them. I finally managed to get away; she was called to take an admission from some other patrons who were coming to see the museum. The museum itself was very interesting. It gave a very good overview of the entire community and its history.

The weirdest thing we saw however was a life size bull that had a history in Polson, he used to be in all the town parades. So when he died they decided to stuff him and put him in the museum.

There was another museum in town but we decided to check it out on our way out of town.

August 21, Polson Montana

Well today we got up to do a day of geocaching. We started off towards the lake and found that they were doing jet boat racing and having a barbeque contest at the Kwataqnuk resort.

The jet boats were really quite neat, the person driving them had to be get into the bottom of the boat and then the top of the boat was put on by a crane, then the whole boat was lifted into the water by the crane. There were two boats and they raced around the buoys about 5 times. They seemed to be doing time trials but the announcer really wasn’t giving us a lot of details.

We watched for a bit then headed off to the barbecue competition. There was probably about 6 or 7 groups cooking everything from chicken, pork and beef. You could buy dishes and some groups were giving away free samples. The group from Les Schwab did a beef brisket with a blue cheese sauce that was to die for. I don’t normally like blue cheese but this was delicious. After doing some sampling we headed out on to the road to do some caches.

The first one we went to involved a long walk down to a view point over a dam. The view was spectacular but we did not have any luck finding the micro. I later found out that it was indeed missing but we got some great pictures. We then did one in a nearby field that was called a hamster cache. Supposedly there are little hamsters hiding out in caches all over the country. So we had a great day of exploring, eating and discovering new sporting activities.

August 20 Polson, Montana

So after our days exploring the Glacier Park, it was time to head onto the next location. The Montana State Fair was going on in Kalispell on the weekend so we couldn’t find a campground in there, and even if we had decided to go we weren’t sure what to do with Lindy. So we stopped in Kalispell to hit Costco, to pick up some vegetables and Len wanted to see if they had any more antigravity chair because he was jealous because I had picked one up earlier in the season and he was making do with his regular camp chair. Alas there were no chairs to be found. We were also going to stop at Fat Boy Burgers for lunch. This is the chain that President Obama eats at in DC and they have a new one in Montana. I guy I work with said that the burgers are actually very good, it is not all hype but when you are driving a motor home, pulling a jeep, there are not a lot of places that you can park, so no burgers for us but we did manage to maneuver ourselves out onto the highway and we headed out of town, South around Flathead Lake and down to Polson.

We had stayed in Polson about four years ago when we were on a trip for the Brewery. We stayed at the local KOA campground which is on the hillside overlooking the lake. When we got there we discovered that they were turning the campground into a luxury motor coach camp. Currently it is still a campground as well, but you can buy a permanent spot for your 40 foot home on wheels, spend the summer in Montana and the winters down south. The lots were very nicely landscaped and almost all of them had outdoor kitchen and living spaces. Very, very fancy spaces that go from $180,000 to $280,000, eventually they will be turning the whole campground into sites; right now however it is a combination of both. Obviously the economy must not be too bad in this area. They were in phase one and there was about 30 sites sold, with more on the way.

We did not stay in the fancy smancy area, however we did splurge and got a spot with a nice deck that we could sit on and look out on the lake and Len could watch the planes landing at the airport. We got all settled in and then sat back on the deck and enjoyed the beautiful view. I had bought a hair colouring and decided that this was the perfect time to get rid of all that grey. The showers at this spot were amazing. All tile, lots of hot water and great shower heads.

We then took Lindy for a walk to the little dog park, it was great for her to do her business but she couldn’t stop sniffing. So we find a better spot for her to learn how to fetch the ball. She still hasn’t quite got the hang of it. She chases the ball and then runs away from you instead of back to you. She thinks it a big game of tag. We finished off the evening with a great meal on the deck, watching the sunset over the lake.

August 19, Many Glacier

We started the morning off by stopping at the Marias Pass. The pass traverses the continental divide between the Lewis and Clark National Forest and the Flathead National Forest. The pass was charted by John Frank Stevens, principal engineer of the Great Northern Railway, in December 1889. The location of the pass had been rumored for several years beforehand, but it took Stevens and a Blackfoot Indian guide named Coonsah to discover it. A statue of John Frank Stevens stands at the summit of Marias Pass.

We then headed towards Browning, Mt. We decided to visit the Museum of the Plains Indians. This museum dealt with the arts and crafts of the Blackfoot natives. There were numerous displays of all the outfits that were made, hunting artifacts, weapons, baskets and toys. Len and I had to split up to do the tour as there was no place to leave Lindy, so as Len toured the museum, I sat out in the sun in my lawn chain and read my book. After he was done, we switched places. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the museum but we did get some pictures of a metal display of animals outside the museum. We did find that browning did seem a little run down, there did not seem to be much happening in the town, there was a casino in town, where we went to change some American money into smaller bills.

We then headed toward Many Glacier. This was another part of the park that I don’t think many people go to. It seems that everyone heads to the Road to the Sun and don’t really go here, but the views are spectacular. The view as soon as you enter the area is breath taking. We stopped and walked along the lake shore picking up some more rocks to add to our collection. This area is often compared to Switzerland and the Swiss Alps. In fact this is how they first started marketing the area to get people to come here, it was cheaper than taking a trip to Europe.

The Many Glacier Hotel is designed to look like a Swiss-chalet. The Many Glacier Hotel sits on the edge of Swift Current Lake, dwarfed by the spectacular mountain scenery, complete with the many glaciers.

We saw another bunch of mountain goats; in fact they passed so close to Lindy and I that I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough to get an up close picture but we got one of them running away.

We then stopped to take some pictures of waterfall by the hotel. Lindy and I explored the hillside and almost got blown off.

Then as we were headed out of the park Len decided to take some pictures of the river between the two lakes, there were more waterfalls along the river and it was flowing very fast. He walked down to the river’s edge, but I couldn’t watch, the wind was blowing and I had visions of his hat being blown off and as he reached to catch it, him falling into the deep ravine below. However it didn’t happen and he made it safely back up to the top.

August 18, A Day of Rest

Well today we decided to stay in camp for the day, we booked an extra day so that we could explore some more of the area without having to rush. We stayed at the campground doing nothing but reading, napping and catching up on our email. This was the first place that we had wireless but unfortunately it was located over in a small log building that was used for group activities. We had to sit at a picnic table beside a big grey tarp that made the signal come in better. It was not very conducive to doing much on the computer. It however was very nice just sitting around doing nothing for a day.

August 17 Road to the Sun

We were up early again this morning, we have noticed that in the mountains it really cools off at night. We didn’t have an frost but the windows of the vehicles had condensation on them. We packed a lunch and we were on the road by 8 am, it was clouded over, so we left the doors on because it was a little chilly. We headed towards St. Mary’s and the gate to Glacier Park.

The Road to the Sun was open all the way so that was the plan. There was also seven virtual caches along the road so that should take us to a couple of places that we wouldn’t normally see along the road. We made it to the gate at East Glacier, asked the park ranger what the weather was going to be like and she said that the overcast sky was supposed to burn off by about 10 am, so that was good news. The first stop was the seventh virtual; we were doing the road backwards according to the GPS but who cares.

The virtual was called Sun Point. We made it to the parking lot and started off when we discovered that we had to take a trail about ¼ of a mile to the destination. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take dogs on any trails in National Parks; there were signs up all over the place. I guess they don’t have many responsible dog owners down south. We decided that I would stay in the parking lot area and Len would hike the trail and then he would come back and we would switch. While I was waiting for Len, I talked to a tour bus driver and he told me of a couple of museums in the area that we might want to visit. Len came back, took Lindy and I headed out to the point. It was a very pretty view. There was a huge sun dial that also was a compass and gave you the names of the surrounding area, got some very nice view shots with the camera.

Next on the trip was Baring Falls. This was quite a hike, so Len went on this one and Lindy and I stayed and explored the falls by the road. The river went under the road, got some very cool pictures of the running water. The rocks here also included the red argillite just like in Waterton Park. Technically Lindy and I weren’t even supposed to be on these small trails but I had her on the leash and we decided to risk it. Len got a very nice picture of the falls, another geocache bites the dust. We then continued up the road to the top. We stopped and took a picture of the one many disappearing glaciers in the park. This was the location that we had to stop in June as we could not go any further, but today is another day. Back in the Jeep and up we headed.

We hit two road stoppages as they are fixing the road. They are rebuilding the walls that are all along the side of the road, we had to stop twice to wait for the traffic, no problem, it gave us enough time to get out and take pictures. When we got to the top we tried to find a parking spot but everything was full, so we decided to continue on to the bottom and the west gate.

The drive down to the bottom was great; we didn’t stop until we made it to the Lodge at Lake MacDonald. There were not very many places to park, so Len drove around while I ran into the Lodge to do the cache. This lodge was set up exactly like the Prince of Wale Hotel in Waterton, very rustic with a touch of class. I also got a cool picture of the red buses that they use for tours throughout the park. They look just like the ones that they used over 50 years ago. After we did the cache at the lodge we decided to head back up the mountain rather than go to West Glacier.

The next stop along the route was a virtual cache called the swim hole. It was a bit of a climb down to the area, but was absolutely beautiful. Len and Lindy stayed in the Jeep while I made my way down to the river. There was a large number of people taking advantage of the weather and I am sure the very cold water, considering it is a glacier fed river, hence the colour of the river.

After the swimming hole we continued on toward the summit. There was a cache at a location called the weeping wall, I guess all summer this section of the highway is constantly raining. Unfortunately we couldn’t stop to get a good picture because of the traffic stoppage for the road work. We did get some cool pictures of one of the archways that they are working on and some of the wall work they are doing

The next stop was supposed to be back at the top but just as we were coming up to a very neat waterfall and the Top of the Pass, we were stopped by a mother goat and her kid. Luckily we found a parking spot so that we could get some great pictures of the family.

The pictures look like their close ups but I was actually only standing about five feet away from the baby. Good thing mom could careless that we were there because she just took off without paying any attention to us. However, the father goat was keeping a close watch on the whole event. Traffic got a bit backed up as the mama and baby came back. Finally a park ranger came by and shooed all the goats away so that the traffic could continue on. Lindy was very good, she just sat on the Jeep seat and didn’t bark or even growl. We managed to get some good pictures of the goats and the waterfalls in the area.

After the traffic had passed we jumped back into the Jeep and headed up to the information centre. We found a parking lot and went exploring. There really wasn’t much to see at the booth, there was garden out back but again we weren’t allowed to take the dog with us, so we headed back to the parking lot. This time we saw a bunch of Big Horn Sheep, munching away on some grass just over the wall from the lot.

We then headed back down the mountain and a nice leisurely drive back to the campground.

August 16, 2010 Chief Mountain

So after a great weekend in Waterton we got up early on Monday morning to head to Montana and Glacier National Park. We headed up the summit with me driving the Jeep and Len the motor home. We thought that it would be easier on the motor home not having to pull the Jeep up over the mountain pass. We have found that the motor home is not very powerful and that if we are going to look for a new one we will probably have to get something with a diesel engine. So when we reached the summit we reattached the Jeep and headed towards the border.

The Chief Mountain crossing is only open from spring to fall. Neither crossing was very busy. The Canadian office looked quite nice. The area wasn’t as nice as Rykerts, but it wasn’t too bad. I was a little nervous crossing over into the US, because I realized that I had forgotten to bring Lindy’s rabies certificate but it turned out they didn’t even ask, all they took from us was our yellow peppers.

So after clearing customs we headed down the road towards St. Mary’s and our campground
at Glacier Meadows. We did stop a couple of times to take pictures of Chief Mountain from a number of angles. We got to our campground, it was located at the bottom half of the Road to The Sun Loop. It was a very nice campground and the people who were running it were very friendly. In hindsight though it would have been better to stay in St. Mary’s as that is where we basically drove to each day to start our adventure.

After getting set up we drove into town to get some groceries. We hadn’t take many vegetables with us because of having to cross the border. We have decided that we wouldn’t really do much touring on our travel days. Len is still getting used to driving with the Jeep on and it stresses him out a bit, so it is nice just to get to the campground and then relax.