West Glacier

6 June
    
     Spent the day doing some exploring....first the local towns. We are staying in the small town of Columbia Falls and we checked out this quaint small town before heading to the even smaller town of Swan Lake and a ride through the Swan Valley as recommended by our golfing friends in Great Falls.....very pretty ride and the lake was beautiful. There are mountain lakes all over and most are really pretty (and cold).

Swan Valley Scenery

     After the Swan Valley we rolled into the town of Kalispell, a fairly large town compared to what we've been seeing. Big towns have Walmart's :-) We stopped by Cabela's for a couple things and did lunch in a restaurant that rated high on Trip Advisor called Wheat Montana Bakery & Deli....it was a great stop and we met and talked with some folks there from Arkansas who retired to that area.....they love it and tried to convince us that the winters were not all that bad.....it is a dry cold they said. (Not putting the house up for sale just yet)

     Afternoon we made our way into the Glacier National Park- wow, huge, beautiful and still very different than Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks. Unfortunately, the "Going to the sun" road is not opened all the way....only 16 miles from this side and I think maybe 14 from the east side. They had a photo of the top of the road (Logan Pass) a few days earlier that still looked clobbered with snow. I learned that it often times doesn't open 'til 4th of July.....may have to stop by here on the return trip.

     We took the going to the sun road as far as we could and then took a six mile hike (Avalanche Lake and creek trails) to a high mountain lake. It was a good workout and welcome relief from all the riding. Again we found ourselves on the return hike with the sun going down on us. Actually sunset here is 9:30'ish and we were back by 8:30 but in the thick forest with the sun dropping behind mountains before setting...it starts getting dark. Again, Kathy led the charge back to the truck.

Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Creek

Avalanche Lake

West Glacier - Last Day

     Spent better than the first half of the day dealing with Verizon on cell phone issues. Won't bore you with details but not a happy ending.

     Took a ride back towards the east on highway two to an area called Goat Lick. It is a place that mountain goats frequent where salt and other minerals seep from the rocks and they lick them. Unfortunately the rocks (and other tourists) is all we saw there....it was a pleasant ride there and back :-)

     On the way back we went back into West Glacier National Park and visited the areas that we missed the first day including an ice cream and walk through the shops are the Apgar Village.

Glacier Lake

Glacier Lake

     Leaving the park around 5:00 and heading back to camp we remembered that we had not visited the next town over called Whitefish, Montana so we drove over there to have a look not expecting much. Boy were we surprised....great little town and they happened to be having a farmers market on the square that included live music, many food trucks, and crafty type sales booths. We enjoyed some food truck food and soaked up the atmosphere....cool town!

     When we returned home we noticed that another Georgia camper had set up in a neighboring site with Mitchell county plates....that is close to where Kathy and I used to live in South Georgia. We met Paul and Eugenia Bozeman and had a great visit and cold beverage with them before calling it a night. They are heading to Washington/Oregon with no particular agenda. They had been to Alaska a few years ago and had some stories and advice for us.....a very nice couple!

     Heading to St. Mary Montana now to meet up with Ed and Kay and visit the east side of Glacier National Park.