Heading East, Glacier National Park

9/6
We left Yaquina Head on a drizzly morning heading north then east through the Columbia River gorge on I-84. We'd been told how pretty the drive through the gorge was but this is all we saw...

We had an appointment on Sep 15 to have solar installed on the camper.  The un-expected job at Yaquina Head delayed everything about a month and we thought we'd have to skip Glacier Nat'l Park.  After a review of our driving time to arrive at northeastern Wyoming, we decided we could take a 2 day whorl-wind tour of Glacier on our way east.

Eventually we out ran the weather as we started traveling into the rolling hills of northeast Oregon and southwest Washington.

9/8

After overnight stops in Hermiston, OR and Spokane, Wa. (our first over night at a Cabela's), we headed into Idaho on I-90.  We discovered the Idaho visitors center also had information on Montana. As we suspected there wasn't a Montana visitors center so it's a good thing we stopped in Idaho.  After zipping through Idaho (a state we want to spend much more time in next year) we continued on I-90 to Regis, MT where we picked up MT-135 heading north.  

Stopped at a roadside turn out somewhere in
Montana for lunch. 

Rain storm over Flathead lake in Montana.

We had reservation at Glacier Campground in West Glacier, MT, just outside the west entrance to Glacier National Park.

Our pull through campsite at Glacier Campground.
We thought it was one of the best sites in the park.

We'd scheduled 2 days to explore the western side of Glacier N.P.  I know, I know, not enough time to fully explore the park, but this would be just a taste, we plan to return! 

9/9

The first day was just learning our way around, as is usually the case in these big national parks.  We decided to stay parked at the visitors center and ride the free shuttle bus up the twisty & winding "Going to the Sun Road" to Logan Pass. The day was less than ideal, overcast windy and cold.

Logan Pass visitors center.

When we got to the Logan pass visitors center it was down right cold, still overcast, 45 degrees, with a stiff north wind.  The visitors center wasn't heated so the only protection it gave us was from the wind.  We took a few pictures and jumped back on the bus for the return trip.  

9/10

Our second day in Glacier was much nicer.  The weather was scheduled to be mostly sunny and warmer.  Also, we had a plan!  We'd park at Avalanche Creek to catch the bus, shortening the bus ride considerably. We had lunch packed along with a thermos of hot tea, planned to hike out somewhere scenic and have a nice picnic lunch before hiking back to the Logan Pass visitors center.  Here's some pictures.

 

While the mostly board walk trail didn't appear to be very challenging, for us sea level flat landers, it was all we wanted! 

After returning to Avalanche creek, we hiked the short Trails of the Cedars nature trail.

We finished the day with a nice walk around the "village" and the Lake McDonald shore.

When one of my cousins heard through Facebook we were going to Glacier, she told us that her brother lived in Whitefish, MT, about a half hour west of our campground.  Later we found out another cousin and her husband were flying in on Saturday 9/10 for a visit.  So, we pushed our appointment out by one more day, and spent the extra day at Glacier, so all these Florida natives could have a nice mini family reunion in Whitefish, MT.

9/12 

We left West Glacier, MT heading south. This time we drove down the east side of Flathead lake on MT-35 angling further east toward our next destination, a visit with friends near Butte, MT.

  

Coming next, Visiting friends near Butte, MT.