Oh Canada!

This afternoon we crossed the border into Canada.  We are parked at the Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino in Kananaskis Alberta Canada, at the base of the Canadian Rockies.  But I digress ....

This morning we enjoyed another breakfast buffet at the Best Western Inn.  Fresh cooked waffles, eggs with salsa and jalapenos and link sausage.  YUM!  The hostess let us take some cinnamon buns and muffins for later.  The folks in northern Montana are very hospitable.

Check out time was 11:00, and we were in no hurry to leave.  We were only 35 miles from the border, and did not have a particularly long way to travel today.  However, more trouble!  The front slide out came in smoothly.  That is always a good sign because frequently the front slide motor will trip a resettable breaker.  Not a problem but a minor nuisance.  Apparently the electric motor that drives our front slide out is under-sized and trips the 10A breaker.  The breaker will automatically reset in a few seconds, and will not usually trip again during that cycle.  But when we tried to retract the rear slide nothing happened.  It's never a good sign when you are pulling out and the slide out does not come in.  I replaced the 10A resettable breaker with a conventional 10A fuse, and it blew immediately.  I tried a 15A fuse with the same result.  CRAP!  Was the rear slide motor bad, causing it to blow the fuses? I did not have another 10A breaker, so I moved a 20A breaker from another position and the rear slide retracted normally, and there was no smoke from the motor.  Apparently the 10A breaker had failed.  On the way out of town we stopped at NAPA and bought a replacement.  Upon installation, both slides extended and retracted normally.  Problem solved, hopefully.

We are not alone

We headed north on I-15 and, arrived at Canadian customs about 1/2 hour later.  Preparing to cross the border is always stressful, and Dorcas had prepared a cheat sheet with the answers to all the questions we expected to be asked.  There was only one car ahead of us, and we got to the agent's window pretty quickly.  The border agent asked the usual questions.  No problem.  When he asked if we had any alcohol I answered yes, and then he asked how much.  We always carry way more than the allowable limit without paying a duty.  When I started to read the from the cheat sheet, the agent interrupted me, and asked if we intended to give any away in Canada.  When I answered no (give away my liquor??? No way???) he returned our documents and sent us on our way.  We spent less than a minute (metric time) speaking to the agent.  It was a very smooth crossing.  Why do we always fret so?

Crossing the border

Alberta Welcome Center

We continued northward and made a grocery stop at the Walmart in Lethbridge, buying primarily fresh fruit and vegetables, items that the border agent usually asked about and can be prohibited.  We by-passed downtown Calgary, taking the back roads instead; not the best decision on our trip, and then turned west on Canada Highway 1 towards Banff.  Today is Victoria Day, a Canadian holiday.  That made today the end of a three day holiday weekend.  Traffic in our direction was very light, but eastbound traffic from Banff headed toward Calgary was backed up for miles and miles.  We drove 281 miles today and are now parked at Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino in Kananaskis Alberta Canada.

Bug guts on the windshield and oncoming traffic from Banff

Camp Stoney Lakota Casino

Big Sky Country

It is crunch time.  We are at the point now where we need to head east towards Yellowstone or north to Montana.  The weather has improved in Yellowstone and most of the roads are now open.  However, the forecast shows overnight temperatures in the mid to upper 20's and 30-40% precipitation for the next few days.  It was doable, but would probably not be much fun.  We decided to skip Yellowstone and turn north.

Camp at Sturgis.  Where are the bikers???

Yeah.  Right.

We departed our camp in Sturgis after a night of light rain and a low temperature of 37 degrees.  We left I-90 and headed north on US 85 and US 212 headed towards Billings MT.  We soon cut through the northwest corner of Wyoming and then crossed into Montana.

Montana is very scenic

The drive across southeastern Montana was very scenic and uneventful.  We saw a number of Pronghorns along the road side.  During our drive we crossed a number of historically significant rivers:  the Yellowstone, Little Missouri, Missouri and Little Bighorn.

We arrived in Billings about 4:00.  Sam's Club had a very good price for diesel, so we topped off with about 82 gallons.  Since we were not going to Yellowstone, we found that we had more time in our schedule to cross Canada.  Consequently, we decided to spend the night at the Billings Cabela's store next door to Sam's, rather than continuing to Great Falls.

Camp Cabela's in Billings MT

More dead animals at Cabela's

Neat aquarium!

We visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, which was directly on our route.  The Monument honors the combatants on both sides who died in the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25 and 26, 1876.

They had excellent RV parking next to the Custer National Cemetery, a part of the Memorial

The Memorial on Last Stand Hill

Markers on Last Stand Hill, where many soldiers fell, including General Custer

There are also markers for fallen Native Americans

The Indian Memorial

At Great Falls MT we visited the Lewis & Clark National Historical Interpretive Center, a part of the Lewis & Clark National Forest.  The center has exhibits on much of the explorers travels through Montana, but particularly describes the ordeal of portage the five great falls of the Missouri, where the river drops 500 feet.

The Missouri River at Great Falls

Black Eagle Falls at Great Falls

Your intrepid reporter

The Lewis & Clark party traveled with a Newfoundland dog named Seaman.  A Newfoundland named Buddy was a greeter at the the center.  Buddy was really friendly.  His owner carried a huge slobber cloth.

Buddy the Greeter

Exhibit depicting the portage at Great Falls

Overlooking the Missouri River.  I love coach pictures!

We are camped at Trails West RV Park in Shelby MT, on I-15, just 36 miles from the Canadian border.    This is a very nice park and is actually a part of the Best Western Inn.  We have been on the road for 8 days now and have traveled over 2300 miles.  It's time for a break.  We have decided to lay over a day here in Shelby and cross the border on Monday.   We have a number of chores to perform.  We never really got organized from our hasty departure a week ago.  There is good internet here, and we will plan our itinerary across Alberta and British Columbia, and make reservations for our ferry passage.

Our camp at Trails West RV Park/Best Western Inn

They offer a great buffet breakfast here.  You can even cook your own waffle.

On Monday we will cross the Canadian border and head towards Calgary AB.

Tracing the Yellowstone through Montana

We left Yellowstone and Mammoth CG headed north and east along the Yellowstone River through Montana. We stopped at Chico Hot Springs after about an hour on the road. Chico Hot Springs Resort is a historic resort featuring a natural hot spring pool. Water is funneled into a small swimming pool. From there it empties into a larger pool where cold water is mixed as well. The temperature in the first pool was just barely tolerable, the second pool is more like a typical heated pool, perhaps 90 degrees. We spent an hour or so flipping from one pool to the other and then dried off and head back down the road.

Chico Hot Springs

Our next stop was in Livingston MT. Dorcas wanted to stop at a bead shop there, and we shopped at the Radio Shack to buy a replacement connector for Dorcas' PC. There was an inviting pizza shop, Earth's Crust Pizza, in the strip mall behind the Radio Shack, so we checked it out. We were less than impressed by the buffet which was in an unlighted corner. I couldn't see what was there. There was an item on the menu board that we did not recognize, so we asked what it was. The server didn't know; not a good sign, so we left. The most exciting thing about Livingston was trying to get out of town. We had come into town on I-90 Business from the west, and thought we would continue on I-90B eastbound to return to I-90. It was not to be. We saw a big sign declaring “ROAD CLOSED” and were forced to a side street to the left. Instead of a series of detour signs, the road looped back to the west, with no instruction for the confused traveler. The detour had put us on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, and there was no way to get back to the highway. Still no “DETOUR” signs in sight. We finally wound our way through the suburbs and negotiated a railroad underpass (with whole inches to spare overhead!) and found our way back to I-90B. Unfortunately, the intersection was a very sharp angle, and we could not turn west to get back out of town the way we had come in, so we had to turn east, back toward the unfortunate detour. Then we made a series of UPS turns (right turns) and finally backtracked to I-90 on the west end of town. I don't see any point in ever going back to Livingston.

The mighty free-flowing Yellowstone

A view of the Yellowstone

Once safely back on the road we continued east down the Yellowstone River valley. We stopped in Billings at the Sam's store and bought groceries and fuel. We spent the night at the Walmart in Miles City MT after a 330 mile day.

Oh Canada

On Thursday morning we left Yellowstone National Park and headed north into Montana.  We were bound for Conestoga Campground in White Sulphur Springs MT, only about 130 miles away.  We would like to have gone further this day, but this was a fairly necessary stop.  There were no dump facilities at Mammoth CG, and we had not dumped our waste tanks or taken on fresh water since we left home two weeks ago.  We also needed to do some laundry and take some time to make some plans.  We still had not determined our route across Canada and into Alaska. Being flexible is good, but sooner or later you need to decide where the heck you are going!  

Conestoga Campground was very nice.  It had long pull-through sites with 50A electrical service and full hook ups, meaning water and sewer.  It was on the edge of town, two blocks from main street (it's a small town), but also on the edge of the cattle district.  Our hosts were super folks.  Conestoga Campground is a Passport America park, meaning we score half price camping. Cool!

Dorcas and I discussed our options for getting to Alaska.  We had once considered taking the Alaska Marine Highway up the inside passage, but had resisted that plan because we knew it would be very expensive.  However, on this day we were feeling extravagant.  Dorcas went on the web, researched some routes, estimated the fares for our coach, car w/canoe, passengers and the pup, and we made a plan.  We would sail from Prince Rupert, BC and de-boat at Ketchikan AK, Juneau AK and Petersburg AK, for 1-3 nights at each stop.  We would then end our cruise at Haines AK.  We could not make our reservations online, due to the complexity of our caravan, so Dorcas made the call and booked our passage on the phone.  I won't say what the cost of this excursion is, but it is cheaper than the comparable cruise .... maybe.

We also made plans to cross the border.  We inventoried all our meats, produce, alcoholic beverages and other items of concern.  We got all our papers together, including passports, vehicle registrations, insurance documents and puppy papers. The idea of crossing the border had been really terrorizing Dorcas for months, and we were both anxious to get it behind us.  We called Verizon and switched our cell plan to a Nationwide Plus Canada plan.  It's only about $30 extra per month, and we can switch back and forth to our original US plan at will and the charges are prorated.  Unfortunately, Verizon could not offer a reasonable plan for our internet air card.  This means that while traveling in Canada we would be dependent on public wi-fi resources.  Bummer.  Faithful readers will know that I am sometimes a bit slow posting to this blog; my posting rate may be "glacial" for the next few weeks.

Thursday night it rained at White Sulphur Springs.  We learned that it had snowed on the pass northward to Great Falls.  Our campground hosts helped us check the road conditions over the pass, and we found reports of only some soft slush, so we took off.  We safely cleared the pass and rolled into Great Falls where we bought groceries and topped off our fuel and headed north for Canada.

We arrived at the border at Sweetgrass MT on I-15 about 6:00 PM, and there was not another vehicle in
sight.  There was only one lane open; I pulled up and shut down the engine.  The Canadian border agent asked for our passports, asked a few obvious questions, including those about weapons and ammunition.  She asked if we had any alcoholic beverages, and we showed her our list, which indicated about 4 times the amount of beer and liquor we could legally carry across the border without paying duties.  She handed our papers back to us and told us to have a nice trip.  No questions about a pet or pet food, plants, or meats. No mention of paying duties on our excess liquor.  It took all of two minutes!  We never left our seats and she never left her booth.  All that worry for nothing.  Well, at least until next time.

We had no planned destination for that evening, so Dorcas spotted us a Walmart Supercentre in Okotoks AB about 20 miles south of Calgary.  We arrived about 11:30 PM and the store had closed, but Dorcas found an employee walking to her car and asked if it was alright to park overnight.  She said it was OK, but to park on the right side of the lot, because workers were sweeping the parking lot that night.  Sure enough there was a large street sweeper and several guys with backpack blowers patrolling the lot.  No sooner had I parked on the right side of the lot when a guy with a blower asked us to move to the left side of the parking lot, where they had already cleaned.  Fine.  I moved and parked on the left side of the lot and the guy driving the sweeper said not to park there, because he hadn't cleaned there yet.  Fine.  We finally got parked in a mutally agreeable spot about midnight, but slept poorly.  The sweeper and the blowers went on all night.  Welcome to Canada.

Idiot of the Week

Faithful readers may remember that this trip was dedicated to Izaak and was named the "Izaak Memorial Westward Ho Summer Adventure 2007" in his honor. Accordingly I have been collecting mementos along the way to place on his grave when we return. We have collected many interesting and beautiful rocks from the best places we have been (none are from the national parks, of course; I know that that is illegal!), including a nice red sandstone slab in Utah on which I will carve a message and make a headstone. The red heart-shaped rock pictured here was found just under the water on the banks of Camp Izaak and just had to be a part of the collection of Izaak mementos. The problem was that we were more than 10 miles from the car and had severely overloaded packs to begin with. Fortunately I found a sucker, who wishes to remain anonymous, to haul the heart rock out in his pack. For this kind service this fool is honored as "Idiot of the Week".

Enter the Heart Rock Sweepstakes. Send your guess for the weight of the heart rock. I will weigh it when I get home and post the weight and name the winner. Post your guess, in pounds and ounces, to this blog or send me an e-mail by Monday August 13. The decision of the judge is final.

Travel Day into Wyoming

Sunday August 5

Today would be a long travel day. We ate breakfast with our friends at a quaint log cabin restaurant in Columbia Falls. We had planned to eat at the Blue Moon casino, but it turned out that the casino, or at least the casino restaurant, opened late on Sunday mornings. Montana is loaded with small casinos. There is one on about every other corner. No crazy rules here about letting the Native Americans get all the tourist's $$$. After breakfast we made our goodbyes, broke camp and hit the road about 10:00. As we drove south and east towards Missoula, the smoke and haze from the fires got even worse. We saw some evidence of recent burn along I-90 east of Missoula. As we continued eastward, the skies began to clear, and we actually saw some mountain vistas fairly clearly. We had hoped to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, but it was after dark when we passed there so we kept going. We drove until about 11:00 PM and camped at the Wal-Mart in Sheridan, WY, where we did spend $27 on groceries. We made almost 600 miles today.

Bob Marshall Wilderness, Flathead National Forest, MT

July 30 - August 4

There have been fires all over northwestern Montana. Everywhere we have been people have told us that the place, campground, road, etc, we were just at had just been closed or evacuated because of fires. One might have thought that the Whitleys were leaving a trail of sparks and fires and trying to burn down Montana singlehandedly. Later we heard that the governor had declared the whole state a disaster area. Fortunately we were never directly affected. Several areas of the "Bob" were closed due to fires. We stopped at the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and confirmed that the area we planned to backpack in was not yet ablaze. So far so good.. From there we proceeded south about 65 miles along a gravel forest service road that follows the Hungry Horse Reservoir and the South Fork Flathead River to the Meadow Creek Gorge trailhead, our put-in point. There the campground host advised us to raise the hoods on our cars so the pack rats wouldn't move in. About 11:00 we set off on our 6-day adventure in the "Bob". Our plan was to hike pretty hard for the first day and then look for a place to base camp. From there we would hike and fish and loaf as we saw fit. We had been told that the trail followed the South Fork and was flat. For that reason we weren't quite prepared for the steady rise of the trail and the short, but fairly steep, descents and then ascents as we passed side creeks. We also weren't prepared for the heat which peaked in the mid 90s. We hiked about 10 miles and made camp on a large gravel bar on river right near Black Bear Creek. There was an excellent fishing hole just downstream where several cutthroat trouts were caught and released.

The next morning there was a moose in camp, but Dorcas and I missed it. Today we had a choice of fording the river and saving a few miles by shortcutting a large bend in the river or continuing on the same side, climb a bluff and enjoy some views of the river. The group chose, you guessed it, the scenic, but harder and longer route. I think I may have found some potential new inductees into the "Dumb But Tough" club. We hiked about three miles, where we came to the Pack Bridge and a Forest Service work camp and began to look for a good base camp. We ate lunch in a shady spot near the corral while various members of our party set off in different directions at different times looking for a potential base camp. Finally we found a prime site on a bend on river left, about a half mile below the bridge. We christened it "Camp Izaak". During the four nights we spent there, at least a half dozen float parties told us that this was their favorite spot, and that they were disappointed when they came by and it was occupied. It was also an excellent fishing spot. We fished this section of river and had excellent results every day.

One thing we learned on this trip was that we, as hikers, were a very small minority of the area users. Before putting in, Dorcas was in an outfitter store and told the clerk we were hiking into the "Bob". She responded "Are you taking a mule or a horse?" meaning which of the two we intended to use. Hiking and carrying the gear was not a consideration for her. By far the majority of the folks who use this area have their gear hauled in via horse or mule and then float out in rafts. While hiking in and out, we must have met or been passed by a half dozen pack strings each way. These animals apparently need a lot of room to pass, much more room than the mules in the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon. The wranglers continued to advise us they needed more room to pass, which was a problem on the narrow trail. A few of the wranglers were not particularly polite, resulting in the temptation to startle their animals and watch the stampede. While fishing in front of Camp Izaak, we frequently had to stop fishing and retrieve our lines as float trips drifted by. Most of the guides asked permission before crossing and apologized, but the clients wouldn't make eye contact and kept right on fishing. Low-life bastards. If you didn't duck you were likely to take a hook in the ear. Unfortunately, many caught fish in our hole, which added insult to more insult.

On the last day we hiked out via the shortcut across the large bend and forded the river, a total distance of about 11.5 miles. On the drive out the smoke and haze was so thick you could barely see across Hungry Horse Reservoir, only a mile or so. Dorcas and I returned to the coach in Kalispell were we discovered that we had tripped the breaker in our external power supply, forcing the generator to cycle on and off as the battery discharged. I had set my coach charger to charge at a lower rate specifically to keep that from happening, but I had forgotten to turn off the air conditioners. Duh! No harm. We were down a little diesel, but the fridge was still cold. We showered and dressed and drove to Whitefish to meet our friends and feast on pizza and beer at the Mackenzie River Pizza Company.

Photo of the Week

NW Montana has been enjoying record high temperatures, as has many of the places we have visited this summer. This bin contains firewood for sale, but the sign conveys an unintended, but equally relevant message

Down By the River, Kalispell MT

Thursday July 26

Today we puttered around the camp for most of the day. We went into West Glacier to visit some gift shops. We also went to the Alberta Province Visitor's Center. That made us wish we had another month so we could go up to Waterton, Jasper and Banff National Parks in Alberta Canada. Maybe next time.

Friday July 27

Today we hiked from Siyeh Bend over Siyeh Pass and down to the Sunrift Gorge. This 11.5 mile trail circles Going-to-the-Sun Mountain and offers good looks at Piegan Glacier and Sexton Glacier. It climbs almost 2400' feet to the the pass. The trail starts in sub-alpine forest with spruce and fir and climbs above tree line into the tundra before descending back into the sub-alpine zone. At the pass we saw a large heard of 24 bighorn sheep. It is unusual to see such a large heard. It was also unusual because they were chasing each other and playing in a snowfield. They were much more active than any we we had seen them before.

After the hike we enjoyed another event in the Native America Speaks series in the park. Someone had told us about Jack Gladstone, a Blackfeet tribe member, who sings and tells stories, and who is an outstanding entertainer. We weren't disappointed. Actually, he looks a little like Chevy Chase with a ponytail. We were lucky and got seats on front row center and had a grand time.

Saturday July 28 - Another Big Move: 35 miles, Kalispell MT

Today we moved to Spruce Park-on-the-River, a private campground on the Flathead River in Kalispell. We will stay here two nights, then they will store the coach here until we come off our backpack trip. $1.00/day for storage, including electric to keep the batteries charged is a great deal. Our friends from home flew in today, and we ate dinner in town with them

Sunday July 29 - Packing day
Today was a packing day. Tomorrow we will put on in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area for a 6-day backpacking and fishing adventure. The cushy camping is over, at least for a while. We dragged out all the backpacking gear and flyfishing tackle that we have been hauling around for the last 11 weeks. After all that time we couldn't remember what we had packed and what we may have forgotten. Thankfully, it looks like we had most everything we really needed. We went to town the get a fishing license and the last of our groceries. In the evening our friends came over and we grilled steaks and had a big time watching the rafts and float tubes come down the river by our campsite. We got everything packed up and got the coach ready to roll. We will leave here about 7:00 to go to the Meadow Creek access in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area.

No more updates here for at least a week. Signing off!

Long Travel Day: 2 miles, Glacier NP

Wednesday July 25

We have stayed the maximum seven days at Fish Creek CG, so we packed up and moved to Apgar CG for three more nights, a distance of about 2.5 miles. On Saturday we will move to Kalispell to meet our friends. We have made reservations at Spruce Park on the River and will stay there until Monday when we leave for our backpacking trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. They will store our coach until we come out. This afternoon we drove to the Two Medicine area of the park. Two Medicine Campground looked very inviting. It is in a relatively remote area of the park on Two Medicine Lake, an intimate little lake that looked awfully fun to paddle. We caught an evening program "Native America Speaks" celebrating the Native American heritage in the park. Kenny Eagle Speak told Native American stories and gave some history of the Blackfeet nation.

Hidden Lake??? Logan Pass, Glacier NP

Tuesday July 24 Hidden Lake???

Today we took the shuttle to Logan Pass and hiked to Hidden Lake. Actually they didn't hide it well enough, because way too many tourists found it. Logan Pass is at the top of the Going-to-the Sun Road and the most popular destination in the park. Many folks hike up the boardwalk and gravel trail 1.5 miles through the meadow to the Hidden Lake overlook. Fewer folks actually continue down the other side of the pass another 1.5 miles to Hidden Lake. Along the way we got many good looks at hoary marmots, ground squirrels, mountain goats and big horn sheep. We ate lunch at a rocky point 1/2 mile around the lake. I fished a bit but didn't catch anything. I was at a good place; the fish were here. One 20" cutthroat trout kept swimming by me, but he wasn't interested in anything I had to offer. I could have dropped a rock on him or grabbed him with my hands, but that didn't seem very sporting.

Tuesday evening we grilled steaks for some folks we met hiking. This was our first attempt at entertaining on the road, and I think it went OK.

Photo of the Week

We were watching this marmot watch the tourists watch the bighorn sheep. "What's all the fuss about?" he said.

Montana Update, Glacier National Park

After almost a week without internet I find myself in the position of making another massive update. We have seen and done a lot of exciting things in the park so far, but I will be as brief as possible. Our decision to by-pass Wyoming and spend more time in Montana was a good one.

Wednesday July 18 - Finally Arrived
We pulled into Glacier National Park late on Wednesday afternoon and made camp at Fish Creek CG, near West Glacier. There are a very limited number of RV-sized sites in the park, but we squeezed into a pretty nice one near the banks of Fish Creek. We can only stay here 7 nights before we have to move, so we signed up for the max. Next Wednesday morning we will move, probably to Apgar CG, about 2 miles away. It was a long travel day and we were bushed, so we didn't try to do anything in the park. Eat, drink and crash.

Thursday July 19 - Glacier NP Orientation
Today we began exploring the park.
We visited the Apgar Visitor Center to get oriented and poked around Apgar Village. We went just outside the park to West Glacier to look for internet access. No luck. Actually we did find one place that offered two hours of wireless access for three dollars. We didn't bite. It's not the money, it's the principle. Right. Then we began working our way up the Going-to-the-Sun Road. We stopped at all the overlooks and exhibits. We didn't get past the Lake McDonald Lodge, not far at all, before we called it a day.

Friday July 20 - Pizza and Brew
Today we struck out with the objective of hiking to Avalanche Lake. The trailhead starts at the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail, a very pretty short trail through a grove of old growth western red cedars. We continued on through Avalanche Creek gorge and on about two miles to Avalanche Lake. A ranger had said there was good fishing there, so I carried my spinning rod. I was rewarded by catching a very nice 12" cutthroat trout. Dorcas was happy because I caught it on a purple lure. We did a little wading and the water is COLD!!! After about 30 seconds my feet were numb from the meltwater from the remnants of Sperry Glacier. We hiked all the way around the lake, about two miles, before we realized there was no good way to cross the outlet of the lake to get back to the trail. A-wading we went again. We saw several white tail deer along the trail back to the car.

Our camp host had told us about Polebridge, a tiny community on the North Fork of the Flathead River, just outside the NW corner of the park. At Polebridge is a general store that has a bakery and the Northern Lights Saloon, which has good draft beer and makes pizzas on Friday nights. That sounded good to us, so away we went up 25 miles of gravel Forest Service roads. When we arrived we found a pretty happening place. Everyone was sitting outside at picnic tables drinking beer and waiting for their pizzas. The crowd seemed to be mostly locals who all knew each other. They ranged from scientists employed by the NPS or the NFS doing various research products (they kept asking one guy about his woodpeckers; I assumed they were talking about birds), to dried up hippies and flower children who just wanted to be as far away from civilization as they could get. Everyone had a dog. If you didn't bring your own dog, they loaned you one when you came in. We drew a huge sad-faced black and tan mutt I called Butch. They had a band warming up at a makeshift concert hall out back. There was one old guy playing an antique silver accordion on the porch who was very good, playing Mozart and show tunes. One of the band members joined him with his toy squeezebox. It was a grand time. After the pizza, we hit the bakery and had a huckleberry bearclaw and a cinnamon twist.

Saturday July 21 - A Wild Mother's Day in July
Today we hit the road and drove to the east side of the park. We left the park at St. Mary and re-entered at Many Glacier. Many Glacier is said to be the heart of Glacier NP, with the many glacial valleys that converge there and the Many Glacier Hotel with its Old World Swiss charm. Unfortunately, most of the best trails in the area were closed due to high bear activity. We did hike up to Red Rock Lake and Bullhead Lake, an easy walk of about 6 miles.

Today was a day of extraordinary wildlife sightings, particularly of mother and baby. In a field we saw a whitetail deer with two spotted fawns. At Logan Pass we saw a mountain goat nannie and kid and a bighorn sheep ewe and lamb. We later realized that both were very common in that area. At the St. Mary Visitor Center we saw an osprey on her nest with at least two chicks. On Swiftcurrent Lake at Many Glacier we saw a moose cow and calf running along the edge of the lake, before turning up a creek into the woods. Dorcas saw a merganser hen and chicks on Swiftcurrent Lake. After our hike we saw a grizzly sow and cub on a hillside near the Swiftcurrent Motor Lodge. In addition to these family sightings, we also saw tons of mountain goats and bighorn sheep. As we were leaving the Many Glacier area, we saw a solo male grizzly coming down the hill, foraging for berries. As we watched him, he actually came pretty close, probably less than 50 yards from us. We probably should have been concerned that he was coming so close, but we weren't. First, there was a road and about a dozen cars between us and him. Second, and more important, there were about a half dozen squealing, excited kids between him and us, who I figured he would find more interesting and appetizing than us. We watched this big guy for almost an hour before we left. Later we learned that a ranger had been dispatched who would shoot him with bean bags and rubber bullets, "spanking" him to discourage him from coming so close to the road. Finally a black bear crossed the road in front of us near the Avalanche Creek CG. A rewarding wildlife day indeed.

Sunday July 22 - THE HIKE
Today we did perhaps our most challenging hike since we left the Grand Canyon. We hiked the Highline Trail to the Loop Trailhead, a distance of about 13 miles, with a side trip. This trail starts at Logan pass and traverses some very narrow ledges cut into rock cliffs, before passing though some meadow valleys. This was a naturalist-led hike with about 24 participants. With the number in our group and the high number of other hikers on this very popular trail, there was some interesting passing encounters. We saw many mountain goats, hoary marmots and ground squirrels and a few bighorn and ptarmigans. At one point two ground squirrels playing in the bushes fell out and bounced off Dorcas' and my boots. It was a little startling until we realized what they were. We passed a wolverine den, but there was no activity.
Shortly before reaching Granite Park Chalet, there was a spur trail to a pass and the Grinnell Glacier overlook. Since the only other trail to Grinnell Glacier from Many Glacier area was closed, this overlook provided the only opportunity to view Grinnell Glacier, and the best chance to see a glacier so close. The trail was 0.6 mile one-way and 1000' gain. I took it, but Dorcas decided to continue to the chalet. It was a tough hike, but I had no regrets. The view of the glacier and its lake and icebergs was spectacular. We met again at the Granite Park Chalet, a rustic stone inn, not unlike the Mt. LeConte Lodge in the Smokies. The Chalet and a nearby backcountry campsite was the the site of two fatal bear incidents 40 years ago, made famous by the book "Night of the Grizzlies". We descended the remaining 4 miles to the Loop trailhead. This last stretch was through a burn area and was prime bear habitat, but we had no encounter. Dang.

Monday July 23 - Going to Town
Today went to town to get some groceries, gas up the car, use the internet and research some motorhome storage options. We ate lunch at a nice little deli, Gresko's, that also had internet access. They were great folks. We stayed there for about four hours answering e-mails, paying bills and researching the future campgrounds. On the way back to camp there was a tremendous thunderstorm. The rain was refreshing; unfortunately we had left the windows open in the coach. Luckily it hadn't rained very hard at camp and there was little damage.