#10 Glacier National Park

On Our Way to Glacier NP

We have a quick overnight in Great Falls, Montana and then our group will make a beeline to Glacier. Are you ready for the trip. Wait until you see the sights along the way. Ready? Hop aboard.

30 minutes outside of Great Falls and the landscape is flat and unremarkable. There are probably some happy prairie dogs out in the fields but I don’t see them. In fact, I don’t see much. Text me if you see anything worth describing.

This was our view 1 hour into our travels from Great Falls. If you look real close…you still won’t see anything.

We are sailing along now. This is two hours into our drive. Can you see the distinct change in the landscape? No. Me neither. But thanks for keeping me company on the drive.

3 hours into our trek across Montana. The speed limit is 80. People pass us like we are the grass mowing crew. I’m not sure what residents do out here except maybe grow wheat. I hope they have a helicopter to get to the store. Our friend, Mike, says he absolutely loves this view. Huh? What view?

Views Coming Up So Stick Around

About 3/4 of the way through our drive we all decided to make a rest stop. It’s not that easy with big rigs and one dinky trailer. Don’t get me wrong, we’re I love our little home away from home. It suits us.

We arrived at a wonderful West Glacier RV Resort just outside of Glacier National Park. I know we should be roughing it cause we’re out here in the west camping and all that baloney. After a few roughing it campgrounds it is really nice to have elbow room, fewer bugs, a restaurant, bar, big laundry, a bike path to the park. Those are all luxuries that bring a big smile to my face.

Our First Expedition In Glacier

Once we all arrived and set up camp, we were off to our first entrance to Glacier National Park. It was a 7:00 boat ride across Lake McDonald. I had to get out my America the Beautiful Pass and everything. We parked at the Lake McDonald Lodge. It is quite old and lovely. But look at those women brightening up the front of that historic building.

It’s a great evening for a boat ride. All aboard.

Wow! Right? Those mountains hovering over the lake are gorgeous and ominous. The lake was formed about 9000 years ago and it was discovered 6000 years ago. Don’t ask me who made the discovery cause I wasn’t around. Our group all sat together in the back of the boat. The ranger, who guided us on the boat trip, came back to help us sing happy birthday to Dave. Yes, we are still annoying him by singing. Our guide shared with us that his nickname is Davie gravy. We’re not supposed to share that but it’s just between us.

We rocked the boat for an hour and a half. I think most of us were pretty darn tired after our long Montana car ride. The boat was a great way to relieve a little driving stress and introduce us to the park without having to be too active. It was sort of meditative.

On the way to the truck Pam had to stop at the local phone booth to call her mom. She didn’t have enough quarters to make the call but Lilyan know that she was thinking about you. And how bout that phone booth?

After the boat ride and the short ride back to the RV park, there was no partying. It was an early night to prep for an early morning. Our itinerary said, touring the Going To The Sun Road tomorrow. It is the must do activity when you make a trip to Glacier National Park. Can’t pass up a “Must do”.

Going To The Sun By Antique Car

Here we are the next morning all loaded up on the Big Red Bus which as you can see isn’t a bus at all. The “bus” debuted in Glacier National Park in the 1930’s. The drivers are called jammers. Why you ask… because way back in the early days the drivers drove manual buses and and they would jam them into gear getting around the curvy, windy roads.

There are 33 buses in the Glacier fleet. There were 34 but apparently back in the 70’s some wayward staff took one of the cars for a joy ride. The joy and the staff both left abruptly after they missed a turn and smashed the car. The totaled bus is displayed within the park.

Each bus seats 16 people. Believe me, they will be your buddies by the time you’re done with the tour of Going To The Sun Road. You’ll hear more about this famous road in a future blog.

We all climbed into the bus and crammed into the seats. There were four large seats and 4 large blankets. That’s funny, our row didn’t have a blanket. I wonder where our blanket went. Did these culprits have anything to do with it? Those faces say it all. Guilty as charged!!!

Scenes From the Red Bus Tour

It is a far piece to get up to Logans Pass from the west entrance to Glacier. Expect lots of hairpin turns and nail biting close to the edge moments. We weren’t driving so we put our faith in our jammer. Because of construction, Logans Pass is about as far as you can drive heading east on Going to The Sun Road. You can come around from the east side and go all the way but it takes about 2.5 hours to get to the east entrance from the west entrance. Is it worth it? Our group took that route the next day so you will need to track them down and ask. Pam and I did not take the plunge to the east side.

Below are some sights at Logans Pass.

We had our 30 minute break from the red bus. It is a long drive and a longer walk so get on the bus. Time to make the twisty, turny journey back to the village where our vehicles were parked.

Oh look, a blanket mysteriously appeared on our seat. Did I mention that the bus had the top rolled back and it was freezing? I thought I dressed for cold. I was wrong.

Pam, Susie and Dave may look warm enough but trust me their teeth were chattering. Well not Dave, he wore shorts and felt perfectly comfortable. Okay, let’s get going back down to 3000 feet from 6600.

That’s the railing next to the red bus as we were driving by. Do they really expect that railing to stop a big red out of control bus from visiting that stream below? I think not…

There’s the back of our jammer’s head as he drove us through a cool tunnel in the park.

We all made it back just a little frostier than when we left. It gets cold in them thar hills. Don’t let Dave tell you any differently.

It was a full day and Lucca was none too happy with our shenanigans. Legs crossed, ears out… “Where have you two been? I have been guarding this camper all alone.”

A Fun Evening

After the red bus tour, we had a delicious dinner together. Thanks to those who thought ahead and prepared some crock pot cookin’.

You probably can’t see inside those pots but we had a smorgasbord of chili, goulash and chicken pot pie. What a delicious way to cap off the day with good friends and good food. But wait, there’s more.

Remember that bar I mentioned earlier? If you follow your eyes to the pink flowers on the right you will see a silver Airstream (That’s a travel trailer for those who don’t RV). Well that is no Airstream. That’s the RV Resort Bar. They will make whatever you want from liquors that are produced at a distillery down the street. To the left of the bar is a yellow tent where the resort provides live music every night. Now that’s the way to cap off the night.

Well there are Pam and Mike sitting by the fire pit guzzling, I mean having a night cap. I think Pam is having the all famous huckleberry white russian. Mike is partaking in an old fashion and sitting on the fire pit is a huckleberry margarita. This is huckleberry season so if you can make it, you can add huckleberries to it. Did you know that huckleberries cost from $80 to $100 a gallon? Apparently, they are very tiny berries and can only be picked by hand.

That’s just about enough big doin’s for a couple days. There is more Glacier National Park to come but you will need to wait for blog #11. If you think rafting down a glacial river might be fun, you will want to come along…