Private Concert

The previous owner and builder of Loren and Karen’s home came by, and were treated to an impromptu concert, with the whole family contributing to the beautiful music!

 

A little while later, we were on the road again – this time headed for Glacier National Park.

 

We made our first stop in Kalispell, Montana.

 

Kids and grandkids spent the night in their tent.

 

The grandkids made breakfast for us all one morning!

 

Glacier National Park

This is such a beautiful park that I think half the country was here to enjoy it!  Ok, the only crowded parts were parking areas.  Once you could leave your car, no place felt crowded.  But everywhere is gorgeous!  (I’ve put up far too many pictures, but if you persevere to the end, you may find a video recap of frozen fun in Glacier water.)

 

This is Redrocks… a great place to swim in recently melted snow!

 

 

Driving to the Sun Road

Yes, that’s the real name of a VERY narrow road connecting the West and East sides of the park.  It was closed near the top, but you could still drive a lot of it.  When we were in the East side of Glacier a couple of decades ago, I saw the signs that said vehicles over 21 feet long, 8 feet wide, or 10 feet tall were not allowed on this road.  We were in a motorhome then, and like almost any motorhome, we were not able to drive it.  Since then I’ve always wondered how bad could it be… Maybe a good driver, on an uncrowded day?…  Well, I must admit, the Suburban felt like as big a vehicle as I’d ever want to take on that road!  Breathtakingly beautiful, breathtakingly narrow with steep drop-offs down 20,000 feet or so. (You realize I NEVER exaggerate!) You will see no pictures of the road itself, because I was hanging tightly onto the wheel!

 

 

 

 

 

Logan Pass is as far as we could drive… but a pretty nice view!

 

They had some cut-out animals at the Visitor Center, which didn’t seem to mind masked bipeds.

 

Glacier is the only park that we share with Canada – the Canadian portion is called Wheaton.  We didn’t make it to Canada, but we got to see their striking flag flying.

 

Hike to Avalanche Lake

A few mile hike to Avalanche Lake would be worth the trip even if there was no lake at the top!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw an amazing demonstration of animal cooperation.  This spunky chipmunk found a bag of shelled peanuts on a bench near somebody’s backpack.  He tipped it over, and scattered peanuts everywhere.  Then this beautiful little deer came to feast on this bonus treat, and the chipmunk was happy to share.  They both came within 10 – 12 feet from people, and happily feasted away.

 

For some strange reason, the hike down was just as pretty as it was on the way up!

 

Another day ending in the park…

 

Hungry Horse Dam

At 564 feet, this is the 10th deepest dam in the U.S.  It was built between 1948 and 1953.

The story has it that this area got the “Hungry Horse” name from two big strong work horses that wandered off and got caught in a huge blizzard in 1901.  A month later they were found in chest-deep snow, weak and emaciated.  They were slowly nursed back to health, and the area’s name memorializes these stout, but hungry, horses.

We drove up to see the dam, and caught a glimpse of Hungry Horse Reservoir, but the ticking clock forced us to turn back. I determined that we would visit this lake soon on our kayak… come back next week!

 

Hungry Horse Reservoir

 

NEWS FLASH! Masked bandits startled by uniformed bear in a Huckleberry Pie place!

 

Campground in the Evening

 

And Finally – here is the Highlight Video!