We toyed with the idea of returning to Glacier for some time. We had visited there in 2003 with our youngest son, Tony. We flew to Missoula and rented an RV and spent a week touring the park. We were fascinated with the park then. It is an awesome place. However, we have found few places in the past that we enjoyed as much the second time around. We thought Glacier would fall into that category.
As we drove up Rt 287 and Rt 89, the Flathead Range was off to the west all the way. It makes up what is Glacier NP. Their snow capped peaks were wrapped in shrouds of clouds and mist. It is very cold up here this year. Unusually cold, according to locals. The last time we were here we came at the same time of year. We wore shorts and tee shirts. We are bundled up today.
We stopped in the little town of Choteau (Cho to) to look at a museum they had there. It is a small frontier village dating back to the mid 1800s. They had old covered wagons without the covers, buckboards, and even a horse drawn snowplow. We spent an hour or so browsing around the exhibits.
To our east lie big sky country. Vast open rolling hills of green that stretch into infinity.
My mind wandered to thoughts of those first pioneers who crossed this land. The sight of those mountains in the distance had to produce groans as well as doubts. They appear to be an impassible barrier.
They also had to face one of the fiercest Indian tribes in the west, the mighty Blackfeet.
Known for their fierce defense of their territory, they were feared by neighboring tribes as well. Today the Blackfeet, like so many other tribes. rely on income from a casino to help fund their lifestyle. The casino was new since our last visit to the area. From appearances, it seems to have helped the local economy. There were subdivisions of new homes and other thriving businesses.
Early RV
Old covered wagon/new covered wagon.
Rt 89 out of Browning is not the best route to Babb, MT. It twists and winds as it climbs into the mountains. It is a long arduous drive in a motorhome. Some of the area we passed through had suffered a very large forest fire since our last visit. Some of the mountain vistas we had photographed on the last trip were less appealing this time.
We arrived at Many Glacier campground by mid-afternoon. The place was packed with tent campers. The campsites at Many are small. Few will handle a rig as large as ours. We were successful in wedging our way into a sight across from a creek which had a clear view of Mt. Gould. We took it for two nights.
It was very cool and spitting rain. We felt sorry for the tent campers. They sat out around tables chatting completely ignoring the showers. They are made of better metal than I. I would have packed up and headed for a motel.
The front of the bread truck faced the mountain. Our large windshield offered an excellent place to sit in comfort and scan the mountain for mountain goats. As evening approached, several goats appeared on the slopes and ledges of the mountain. Watching them leap from rock to rock on the shear cliff face is amazing. They have no fear standing at the very edge of a drop off of hundreds of feet. The slopes are greener than normal due to heavy spring rains. The peaks still carry a very heavy snowpack, much more than on our previous visit.
Three young guys are camped in a tent next to us. We visited with them for a few minutes as they were setting up their tent. They slopped around barefoot. One was in his sopping wet socks. They have been hiking the park for several days. They came here from Louisiana to escape the heat. They have managed that okay. I don’t know what they eat. It is too wet to start a fire. If we had some hot soup I would take it over to them. Maybe we can fix them a hot breakfast.
Morning was cold and damp. We watched the boys next door trying to cook some pancakes on a propane bottle fired contraption. We decided to take them some hot food. They devoured the food in no time.
Darlie and I hiked the Swiftcurrent Trail. We only went the first 1.5 miles of its 15 mile length. There is a beautiful red rock falls at that point making it a nice spot for lunch and a turn around. The trail was lined with wild flowers of all kinds. We were a bit disappointed to have missed the bear grass bloom. The blossom resembles a large vanilla ice cream cone. Darlie took hundreds of flower photos. We hit the peak for many of the wildflowers.
At red rock falls we met a couple of guys who had been fishing below the falls where it drains into a large lake. They had four nice brook trout in their creel. They said it took only about eight cast to catch them. That is my kind of fishing.
Red Rock Falls
Traffic on the trail was very heavy this morning. Hikers of all ages were trotting along coming and going. Many of them have cameras with lenses that are over a foot long. I am not exaggerating. I can’t imagine why anyone needs a lens that big unless they intend to photograph microbes. I found it all a bit humorous.
Beargrass Flowers
Both of us were worn out after our hike. We were over four hours on the trail. We crashed for the rest of the day when we got back in mid afternoon.
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