GREETINGS FROM GLACIER National Park,
Many Glacier Hotel, Montana (MT), USA
A short drive today in terms of distance but with so much to see it took us nearly all day !
We had bought fruit, muffins and juice at the store for our breakfast so sat on the verandah taking in the morning vista. It was even more hazy this morning – there is still a wild fire burning at the southern part of the park which had closed part of highway 2 in the area and the smoke had been drifting north.
It was after 9 when we left our view and started off on the famous “Going to the Sun” road. It is the only road that crosses Glacier NP.
Apgar MT to Glacier NP MT
It crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass and it’s construction has been described as an “engineering marvel”. It was completed in 1932 and it is an ongoing work in progress to maintain it. Due to snow, it is only possible to do the full drive across Logan Pass for about 4 months each year and at the moment, with road enhancement works being done, that is reduced to 3 months.
Glacier NP has been ravaged with fires during the recent summer months. Only a few weeks before we left for our trip, the road was closed due to one of the fires and its aftermath was very evident along the way.
A smoky Lake Macdonald
If you have seen the movie “Forrest Gump”, during the time he “just felt like runnin’ “, one section of his run was along the “Going to the Sun” road. We did it more comfortably by car !
Unfortunately the sun wasn’t totally keeping its part of the bargain. It started out okay – despite the haze – but as the day progressed the clouds got thicker. The road itself though is just spectacular.
Macdonald Creek
It starts out along Lake Macdonald for its extremity and we stopped at a couple of spots for photos. It then runs along connecting Macdonald Creek – flowing quite rapidly but a trickle compared to what it would be after the snow melt. Again we stopped at a couple of the scenic points.
Beyond this, the road started to climb, first gently then quite dramatically, following the edges of the mountain as we climbed. The road is quite an engineering feat – very narrow but with pullouts at regular intervals to take in the spectacular views. It is a monumental task just keeping it maintained as more than half the year it is covered in snow.
Many of the waterfalls here are also only trickles at this time of year but the sheer size of them leaves nothing to the imagination.
Driving up to Logan Pass
At the top we came to Logan Pass where there is a visitor centre. We stopped here so we could do one of the trails – the Hidden Lake Trail. It is about a 3 mile round trip to an overlook of the lake – it is almost that again to get to the actual lake and back – so we settled on the overlook. Getting there is mostly up hill so we huffed and puffed a bit but eventually got there. The weather now was pretty cool (Adrienne says it was just cold) and we needed both our warm down jackets and rain jackets. With the wind chill it was much cooler.
The walk is a combination of gravel tracks and wooden boardwalks. At one of the boardwalks we came across various groups all with cameras and binoculars looking off in the distance. Sure enough, off in the distance, was a grizzly bear grazing on a mound. And I mean in the distance – my telephoto lens only picked it up as a speck and you will have to take my word that’s what it is in the photo. On we huffed and puffed and at one point managed to see a couple of mountain goats as they disappeared over a hill and then later a bighorn sheep perched on a hillside surveying the tourists pass below.
Catching our breath at Hidden Lake overlook
At the lake overlook, the wind was blowing a gale. Standing and taking photos was almost impossible as the gusts buffeted you back and forth. Under blue sky, the lake is turquoise in colour but with the clouds it is a rich black. We also found a few ground squirrels happily running around the rocks and scrubby bushes under the board walk.
The walk back was much easier – downhill with a tailwind – so we were very self satisfied with our days walking once we got back to the visitor centre.
Hidden Lake
With no catering at the visitor centre we thought it might give us some extra room at dinner so we snacked on museli bars and pretzels as we drove on toward the east side of the park.
This section of road was where the wildfires had been. There were large sections of burntout forest and at some points sections of Mary Lake which you would not normally be able to see were now visible. Most of the pullouts were cordoned off though so there was no stopping at view points. There was also some roadwork being done so we had to wait for a pilot car to take us along the one lane section being repaired.
Trekking back to the Visitor Centre
It was about 3pm when we reached the eastern park gate. After a quick stop at the visitor centre, we left the park but only briefly as we drove a few miles north then back into the park for our stay at Many Glacier for the next 2 nights. Just before we reached the hotel, we came across cars pulled off on both sides of the road and people milling around. There was no more room to stop but as we slowly drove past we sighted the 2 grizzly bears everyone was looking at – a mother and her cub. Adrienne was able to get a good photo of them out the window. (A bit further on, almost at the hotel entrance, there was another group with binoculars looking high into the mountains. We couldn’t see this one though).
Many Glacier Hotel is a grand old “swiss style” hotel – in fact celebrating 100 years this year. We are on the top (4th) floor with a lake view room. After checkin, we had a good look round. There are two lounge areas on the ground floor – one at each end – with seats at the windows overlooking the lake the coveted spots. In the centre is a large open area with skylights and balconies from the floors above looking down into it. There is a huge fire hearth in the middle – we think the weather warranted it being on but alas no – they breed ’em tough in these parts !
View from our room at Many Glacier Lodge
We then braved the weather to have a walk around outside as well and take in the views.
The main restaurant is first come first served so we decided to go early as we hadn’t had lunch as such. We sat in the lounge near the restaurant with a drink and a queue quickly formed at the restaurant door just before 5pm when it opened – everyone wanted a window seat. So we joined the queue and had a great spot overlooking the lake for dinner.
We looked through the menu and there were a few standouts so our server gave us his recommendations for dinner, which we took up. We decided to share a Montana Wild Trout starter and then have a small Montana Prime Rib as our main. Now the USA is renowned for “fast” food but we have never had it in a restaurant like this before. We hadn’t even finished our starter when the mains arrived at the table. Our server obviously saw our surprise when the meals arrived and came over to apologise. But despite it being fast, it was excellent – the most tender and flavoursome steak I have had in a long, long time. We remembered that it was when we were near Yellowstone National Park Adrienne had “the best steak ever” so they obviously do them good in this neck of the woods !
As we do our blogs, the weather is pretty bleak outside. It had been cold & windy most of the day and as we were having dinner it was raining fairly heavily – hopefully that might clear the haze a bit. And now we can hear the wind howling outside so we will see what we wake to before we decide what to do for the day tomorrow.