May 25: Well I’ve been off the blog post routine for a bit. Our trip to Glacier was an easy and relatively short drive from Phil and Gail’s. We made it to the West Glacier RV resort and checked in to an almost empty campground. It is a newish campground built in 2019.
And our site #1 was very spacious with a large lawn, fire ring and picnic table. 50 amp service and new bathrooms and laundry nearby. It is also located adjacent to the park which was a 2 minute drive away. We knew that on a normal year the entire going to the sun road isn’t usually open til mid July so with all the snow this year figured much of the road would be closed. I was actually happy that the road was open all the way to Avalanche and the trail to Avalanche lake.
The stay at Glacier was a 5 day four night stay so one of the longest ones. This gave us time to relax as well as tour versus the need to see it all in a day or two. One of our trips was to a nearby restaurant that friends recommended. While the food there was ok the waitress recommended we go to another restaurant down the street for dessert. Turns out a woman there makes all the pies including Huckleberry Cream Pie. We had a piece of that pie as well as a piece of raspberry rhubarb pie. The Huckleberry pie won by a landslide (by the way there was an avalanche of whipped cream on the Huckleberry pie). We would need to do some walking to get rid of those calories for sure.
As part of our relaxed pace we headed to Costco and. A godzillion dispensaries and stores. Costco for some folding wooden chairs for the Lakehouse first four then two more (we didnt already have enough stuff to cram into small spaces) annnnnd the endless quest for CBD oil. Maddie seems to be doing better as far as her hind end giving out and her appetite. After much driving and searching we found yet another version of pet CBD oil at a health food store. We will see. Once we are home in Maine we can have it mailed to us but not while on the road back and guarantee we will be where we think we will be when the shipment arrives. Dogs!!!!…
We also had time to take a surprise horseback ride our friends helped me arrange. Lovely scenery with a great person Vangie who gave us riding pointers and took us around some beautiful trails and took pictures for us of us.
We took a ride toward east Glacier (we were at West Glacier) and made it to the Isaac Walton Inn where there is still an active train depot. The Inn was built by the railroad back in the day to have extra engines idling waiting for trains that needed a push over the Continental Divide. The trains out here are plentiful and massively long so much so I thought one train must have been two trains before I realized we were passing the same one. No wonder the trains need a push. The trains go along some amazing cliffs and tunnels beside rivers that are an engineering feet. The pass they and RTE 2 go through was a pass that was discovered by John F. Steven’s age 36 from Gardiner, Maine. The Marias Pass had long been known to the Blackfoot Indians and white men were afraid to venture into their territory for years. Stevens braved snow, cold and the unknown following the Marias River until he found the low point known as the Marias Pass. At 5213 ft above sea level it wasnt all that low but lower than others and was selected to be the route for the Great Northern railroad and later Rt 2 that goes from the west coast to Maine through Canada at times making it an “International” road. No wonder they needed to build an Inn and switching RR yard to house extra engines not needed for all the trip but needed just to push trains over the divide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marias_Pass. You will see a statue of William “Slippery Bill” Morrison was a prospector and woodsman who had squatters rights at the summit of Marias Pass. When he heard that the Great Northern RR was planning a track through his land he opened a bar in his shack on 160 acres. He was a Forest Ranger and at one point before or after this he was reportedly losing at cards and excusing himself from the table never returned. Another quote attributed to him was from a time when a visiting woman from away asked him what people did for a living in this God forsaken place. His response was “most of us make a comfortable living minding our own business” I am honored to share his name lol. Look him up. https://foresthistory.org/research-explore/us-forest-service-history/u-s-forest-service-publications/region-1-northern/the-flathead-story/table-of-contents/chapters/early-history-flathead-national-forest/
The last full day we decided to go as far as the going to the sun road was open. We made it to the Avalanche Lake part of the road and hiked 2 miles up (500 ft increase in elevation) to Avalanche Lake. Two miles seemed longer in the West than at home but was worth the hike. Cant imagine what Logan’s Pass and the even higher parts of the road must be like. Beautiful scenery.
We had beautiful weather while at GNP and packed up without incident to finally start the trek back to Maine. First stop Butte, Montana. Oh and we stocked up on some Huckleberry Jam. The truck and trailer are getting full lol.
Bill and Jo’s Road Trip 