Glacier NP East

21^st August St Marys East Glacier

Slightly better night’s sleep with only 6 trains coming through!

We took advantage of the discounted buffet breakfast at the adjoining motel and heard about the bear that had been roaming outside the bedroom windows last night.  We then set off to drive around the southern edge of Glacier NP as vehicles over 21 feet long cannot use the road that goes over the Continental Divide through the middle of the park.

We stopped in the town of Browning, which is in the middle of the Blackfeet reservations lands.  We visited the Museum of the Plains Indian which, although small, was very interesting.  They had some excellent displays of clothing and other Native Americans artefacts persevered from the 1800s. 

Most national parks are surrounded by national forest or wilderness area, but in this case the east side of Glacier NP is bordered by the Lands belonging to the Blackfeet, right up to the Canadian Border.  The Blackfeet Land used to include these mountains east of the Continental Divide (or what they called the Backbone of the World) and the Blackfeet still contest this point.

Glacier NP is right on the border with Canada and there is a similar park in Alberta called Waterton Park.  Glacier and Waterton were joined in 1932 to become the world’s first International Peace Park and the two countries work closely together on managing the parks.



View from campground

We carried on up the east side of the park to the St Mary NP campground.  Whilst taking a drive around the park to get familiar with the area we spotted a bear crossing the road.  Bears have been seen in the campground and the Rangers advised on what to do if we encountered one.

22^nd August St Mary Lake

St Mary Lake

It was a lovely day and St Mary Lake was beautifully calm as we set off with the kayak.  We spent all day cruising around, stopping on various pebbly beaches for coffee and lunch.  Unfortunately the fish
did not want to be caught for our supper today.

Alison went to the park evening programme which turned out to be a singer, and his daughter, from the local Blackfeet population.  He sang his own songs about traditional subjects but to folk/country style music.  His daughter told some traditional stories and did Blackfeet sign language to one of the songs.

23^rd August Avalanche Lake

Continental Divide

We caught the free bus shuttle that took us along the Going-to-the-Sun road. Unfortunately it was not the sunniest of mornings and the light for photos was poor. The bus took us past the road works which is a major maintenance project in the park as the 50 mile road was built in the 20s. We went up to Logan’s Pass which is at 6646ft on the Continental Divide. We then had to change buses to go back down the other side to Avalanche Creek.  The journey took longer than we had planned and we didn’t get there until 12.30.  We then hiked the 2.5 miles to Avalanche Lake. 

Avalanche Lake

St Mary's Falls

The trail took us through some lovely ‘old’ forests of Cedar and Black Cottonwood trees.  At the lake we ate lunch in the sun watching the three waterfalls that come into the lake.
On the return journey we spent a little longer at Logan’s Pass enjoying the views.  There were several ground squirrels scampering around and calling to each other.  Alison spotted two climbers at the top of Reynolds Mtn at 9125ft with the binoculars.  The highest mountain in the park is Mt Cleveland at 10466ft; much smaller than those in the Rocky Mountain NP.

In the evening we then met up with Larry and Penny again.  Their friends Dan and Sally joined us for a meal and then everyone came back to the RV for a couple of hours when Paul got out the bottle of Jameson’s.

24^th August  Baring, St Mary and Virginia Falls

Virginia Falls

Lower Virginia Falls

We took the car up to Sunrift Gorge and hiked down to Baring Falls.  From there we followed the path along St Mary Lake and onto St Mary Falls.
We then followed the Virginia River passing a number of other waterfalls until we eventually arrived at Virginia Falls and watched water cascading from high above as we ate lunch in the sun.    

Alison cooled her feet in the waters but within a few seconds they were going numb.  It was also quite slippery and in fact we saw someone slip up.  Apparently the most fatalities in the park occur from drowning in the icy waters (not bear attacks).  There had been a bear sighting at our campground again – but we missed it.

25^th August Two Medicine

Running Eagle Falls

We took a drive down to the area in the park called Two Medicine and hiked up to a couple of waterfalls. Running Eagle Falls was particularly delightful with water coming from a breach behind the rock. We arrived at Two Medicine Lake just in time to see a baby bear disappearing into the bushes; missed again.
 

The Mountains were gradually disappearing from view.  By the time we got home they were a shadowy out-line.  We learnt that it was smoke being blown from the south and west from the forest fires in California and Idaho.

26^th August Many Glacier

Many Glacier Hotel

Our journey to Many Glacier took us within 10 miles of the Canadian border; the furthest north we will be on this year’s trip. We first stopped at the Hotel for a coffee and when we walked onto the veranda we were nearly blown away.  We had thought to take the kayak on the lake but it was far too windy.  This hotel looks like a Swiss chalet and the staff are dressed in lederhosen.  Glacier was originally advertised as the USA Alps.  Outside the kitchen door were a small herd of Bighorn Sheep posing for photos.
 



Falls from Grinnell Glacier

We decided to take the boat tour which crossed two lakes.  First was Swift Current Lake, followed by a ¼mile walk to the next boat crossing over to the other side of Lake Josephine.  From there we hiked up to Grinnell Lake and sat by the acqua-marine blue waters looking up at Grinnell Glacier.  The water is pouring from the glaciers; by 2030 these glaciers will have melted. In 1850 there were 150 documented glaciers, but now there are only 25.  The  
definition of a glacier is: an area of 25 acres or more, 100 thick deep and moving (usually from its own weight and in the direction of gravity); otherwise it is just a bit of old ice I guess.
 



The return journey is the reverse of the outgoing trip.  During the ¼ mile walk between boats we were honoured with the presence of a mother Moose and baby.  This
made our day and made up for no bear sightings.

27^th August Hidden Lake and Garden Wall
 

At Logan’s Pass on top of the Continental Divide we couldn’t find any parking so had to drive down to one of the bus stops and catch the shuttle bus back up.  From there we hiked to Hidden Lake and were treated to some close encounters with Mountain Goats.
There were a number of Rangers who were there on a Goat collaring exercise as part of their monitoring processes. We watched as they found a suitable male goat, which promptly made a hasty exit down the mountain.  So unfortunately we didn’t witness the full process but could see it was going to involve a tranquiliser gun.

Garden Wall Drop-off

We then had time between shuttle buses to hike part of the Highline Trail. The trail follows the ridge of Mountains on the Continental Divide and is called the Garden Wall. The first part was along the cliff edge with a sheer drop off on one side.  We were glad there was a chain rope to hold onto for that part.  The Garden Wall section was much easier and was covered with a lot of vegetation.  We felt really high up here looking down onto the east side of the Going-to the-Sun road.

 

In this region the Continental Divide is actually a Triple Divide.  Not only do waters travel to the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic ocean to the west but they also flow to the Hudson Bay to the north.