If I Were Going...: Glacier National Park

A sunny day in Glacier National Park

So, our adventures continue. We left Cooke City very early June 4 to head for Glacier. A somewhat overcast and chilly morning made us apprehensive because our history at Glacier has been soggy.

Glacier is known for incredible vistas; we were hoping to see some

As we departed the hotel for an early morning drive-through to the Lamar Valley before hooking up the Little Guy, we almost immediately saw a small Black Bear by the road. It was almost posing, but we didn't get a shot because we weren't even in the Park and didn't have cameras ready.

Still, it was a lovely morning and we were rewarded with baby Bison that had been too far away to see the day before ...

Baby Bison

Distant Bear

... and, finally, another Bear.

This one was quite far away down in the valley, but moving purposefully in an open field so it was easy to see.

Then we headed for Bozeman to pick up a prescription for Scott that hadn't been filled before we left.

Not something I thought I'd like; I did

Bozeman didn't have it, so on to Helena, where we had a local delicacy for lunch -- a porkie (well, Scott had a porkie; I had a piglet).

It was a batter-fried pork tenderloin on a bun that was actually quite good.

Check out Sara's if you are ever in Helena.

As we drove toward Glacier, the weather improved dramatically so that we arrived to beautiful blue skies and relatively balmy temperatures (60s).

Into the Park

Our campsite was gorgeous (A7 at Fish Creek) and set up with the Little Guy is amazingly fast.

Set up is so easy

We went exploring and discovered that Going to the Sun Road still wasn't open.

Going to the Sun Road is closed into June because of snowy driving conditions

In fact, it was closed at Avalanche, which is still quite low.

An accessible place to visit

We took a short walk, made a spaghetti dinner, sat by the fire for a while and turned in. Temps dropped to the 40s, but we were quite comfy. Oh, and we also discovered to our delight, that Fish Creek has hot showers!!!

The next day was all about the scenery. The sky was clear – temps got as high as 73 °F and every vista was amazing.

The weather!

Since Going to the Sun Road was closed, we drove the perimeter – beautiful as it follows the river and the railroad to East Glacier.

Scott appreciating the scenery

Scott and his "uncle"

One of our roadside stops featured a statue of John F. Stevens (a relative, perhaps? probably not). He was a civil engineer who designed the Great Northern Railroad (and, although not relevant here, the Panama Canal).

We stopped at the Goat Lick overlook and saw two lazy mountain goats just sitting on the ridge. I didn't get pictures, but I did capture two Harlequin Ducks (my first, ever) nearby.

A male and female Harlequin Duck

Then, on to Two Medicine, which was stunning.

Stunning, indeed!

We hiked out to Running Eagle Falls, which comes out of Two Medicine Lake and cascades both over the top and through the rock.

Running Eagle Falls

The stones in the river are such an amazing array of reds and greens that they look artificial ...

The river mosaic

... and the flowers were beautiful ...

Wildflowers in early June

... phooey on the guidebooks that say flowers don’t come in until July ...

PPPPFFFFTTTT

Then, on to St. Mary’s ...

St. Mary's Lake, one of the most iconic views

... where we had a nice lunch, saw a Coyote ...

Obviously, she had pups somewhere

... and drove as far as we could on Going to the Sun Road. We were somewhat disappointed because even though the road was cleared to Logan Pass, it was closed at Johnson Pass.