There was a little "excitement" during our journey to Glacier National Park. We were about 20 miles west of Billings, MT when a hail storm came upon us!! The good news is that it was just a little larger than pea size but it was so heavy that we were forced to pull to the side of the road to wait it out. It didn't last long but quickly covered the ground.
The bad news is that when we pulled over to wait, we must have driven onto something on the shoulder that damaged one of our trailer tires. So shortly after taking off again, our tire pressure monitor began alerting us. And wouldn't you know it was the same tire we just replaced 30 days ago when the leaf spring broke!!! Argh!
Well good ole Costco (back in Billings) had a trailer tire in stock!! This was really good news since every other tire place we called closed at 2 pm or earlier and it was close to supper time. So we made the best of it. We had dinner at Costco, stocked up on groceries and Greg replaced the truck battery while we waited on the tire.
We then got back on the road and found a place to boondock for the night.
The next day, we made it to the RV park and began our exploration of the national park!
But before I talk about the park, I want to mention a couple of other things about our time here.
Not too far down the road we saw this pull-out where you could fill up your jugs with mineral water. The kids thought that was awesome and fun. It was cute and funny to hear them repeatedly ask for "More mineral water, please!"
We also took some time to just explore the area outside the park boundaries. During our drive we came up to the Hungry Horse Dam. It looks like most any other dam but the views around it were so pretty.
There was also a great local farmer's market where we found some goodies, including some Huckleberry Bear Claws (appropriate since Huckleberries and Bears are local items Ha ha)
AAANNNNDDDD, we were so inspired by Cousin Trudy's farm and lessons on growing, that we decided to start a little mobile garden ourselves. Jacob and I watched a video on how to construct self-watering containers out of 5-gallon buckets and constructed a 5-gallon one and a smaller one. We then put together our garden and planted strawberries, romaine lettuce, chives, green onions, and a tumbling tom tomato plant that wouldn't require a trellis.
I'll keep you updated on how it goes!
(Jordan is watering the plants with an old spray bottle
bottom that we drilled holes in to make it "rain")
And now on to the best part:
Glacier is one of the most beautiful places that we have been! I can't adequately describe it and the pictures just do not do it justice because of the clouds but it is absolutely breathtaking.
The Going to the Sun Road that traverses through the park had not been fully cleared of snow since it was so early in the season. By car, we were able to make it as far as the Avalanche campground 15 miles in. If traveling by foot or bicycle, you could continue on for as far as you can get. And we did! We rode 7.5 more miles further in (and then back).
(While only trying to make his way through, this little guys got
way too close for comfort! We actually had to try and scare it away!)
I wish we could have gone further but the going was getting tough especially for the kids who don't have as many gears on their bikes. What we saw was so beautiful and I am sure the rest was just as great.
Also in West Glacier, we hiked:
to Rocky Point
(Jordan found some "dancing" caterpillars to sing to along the trail)
the Trail of the Cedars,
(I thought the roots on this fallen tree
were pretty cool looking)
And we went to Goat Lick Overlook. Fortunately, Greg had brought the binoculars because the goats were far away on the slope of the right mountain. Apparently they can often be seen much closer.
After seeing how great West Glacier was, we decided it just wouldn't be fair to leave Glacier without seeing some of the park on the east side. So we made a plan to move to the other side and stay an extra day. And we are so glad we did!
We camped in the St. Mary's Campground. Check out the view we had!
And of course, after driving along the Going to the Sun Road and seeing it's beauty,
we had to take a hike along the St. Mary's Falls trails. Along this trail are four falls area. First, is Baring Falls
where we also had to hunker down under the overhang to wait out some rain
Then, there is St. Mary's Falls
An unnamed falls
and at last Virginia Falls (look closely and you can see Greg at the bottom on a rock)
It was a fairly long hike but we just needed to see more so we drove to the Many Glaciers side of the park to check it out. Again, soooo beautiful!
There was this great lodge right on the lake where we saw a moose swim across. Then we saw a couple more moose along the road.
The next day we headed out and I just had to capture a couple more shots
Definitely on our list of favorites and one of the places we MUST return to. Now moving on to Monroe, WA.
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