July 29-August 2
It is nice to go somewhere as a family. It is also nice to just travel with Jeremy and I. Not because I don’t enjoy the girls – they are great travelers and add excitement to any trip. More because it gives Jeremy and I a chance to connect and create different memories. Also, it is cheaper… and that is the main motivation behind this being just the two of us.
Jeremy had work in both Great Falls and Kalispell, Montana. We had airline credit from our cancelled anniversary trip to California last October. I was still on summer break. The grandparents stepped up to share grandkid and dog watching, and off we went.
Frankly, after a month, I can’t remember which things happened which days, so I just grouped pictures together to give you an overview. Disclaimer: There are a lot of pictures even with trying to narrow it down. Be prepared to scroll.
Flights… We had four legs on our out and back journey from Cleveland to Great Falls. In 3 out of 4 flights we were upgraded to FIRST CLASS!!! What an unexpected gift! It was a strange feeling for me. You board first, get roomy seats, are served food – like real food, not just pretzels - and drinks – like as much alcohol as you want if that’s your thing. While this is happening, you watch all the “commoners” walk by to their tiny seats, pretzels and more crowded quarters. It is a mix of guilt and luxury… especially when you paid the same amount as others. Anyway, here are our plane pics, both inside and outside our plane.
Strangest thing – there was a cat that rode in front of us – out of a carrier – for an entire leg. Kinda looked a bit like the stuffed cat we saw in the airport!
When we got into Great Falls, we grabbed lunch at a sub shop, drove around to visit various job sites, and picked up some groceries for the week. The one site owner Jeremy met was incredibly friendly and gave loads of tips/advice about where we could go, visit, and eat. We took his advice on our way to Glacier and stopped at the The Museum of the Plains Indian. It was an interesting stop. We continued the long trek (2-1/2 hours roughly from Great Falls) to get to Apgar Visitor Center entrance of the park.
Our VRBO site was amazing! It was about a 50 minute drive to Glacier which was the only downside, but the location was beautiful. The lodging was comfortable and relaxing.
We took their canoe out on our first morning. Jeremy took a paddle board out the last day to try fly fishing a bit; I walked around the winding roads.
Here are some pictures of various roads to our VRBO and also along a Montana highway.
The park has put in a new entrance system because of the number of visitors that come daily. You have to apply for a 3 day vehicle pass to get in. You can try to secure on up to 3 months ahead (obviously not an option for us since we planned our trip about two weeks in advance). Or you can try to get one by logging on the website at 8am the day before you want to go. I tried that. Over 900 passes sold out in less than 5 minutes, and I could do nothing but watch the number available tick down on the screen. Option three: enter the park after 4pm without a pass. We did that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We finally secured a pass for Monday. To be honest, we found that entering after 4pm made for less cars on the road, less traffic on the trails, and more open spots at trailheads and overlooks. The only downside was you couldn’t really fit in a long hike after 4pm very easily, so we stuck to shorter hikes … and maybe our bodies appreciated it ;)
Park Sign Pictures
First Sights – Lake McDonald (pictures from various days when we were there). On Monday, Jeremy went in the lake. It was, to say the least, very cold, but refreshing for tired bodies. The water is astonishingly clear even as you go deeper into the lake. It is magical.
First Hike – Red Rock Falls in Many Glacier section of the park. This is a fairly short hike (3.6 miles round trip) with little elevation change. We meandered through brush along a trail. It opened up to a lake, where you could see the falls in the distance across the span of the lake. (Look carefully to the left of us in the picture). Then, we continued hiking until we got the falls itself. There were quite a few people playing around in the falls. I prefer not to accidentally get swept over the falls and die, so we enjoyed the view and the sound of rushing water before trekking back the way we came.
Many Glacier Lodge
Next Hike – St. Mary’s Falls near St. Mary’s Entrance.
This hike descended down steeply before leveling out a bit. We traversed some pretty barren terrain due to a wild fire that had swept through the area a number of years ago. The hike would have been cooler with the shade from the trees still in place. The falls were beautiful though. As we arrived, we watched as a son and his father jumped from the rock ledge into the water below and swam to the shore. It was a bit petrifying. We talked to them after they came back up to the trail and the son said that he had watched many people doing this before the pandemic. So, I guess it was safe… We chose not to take the trail the second mile (roundtrip) to Virginia Falls. We had quite a drive back through the park to fit in before sunset.
Big drive - Going to the Sun Road. This is the iconic road that crosses through the main park. It doesn’t open up until late June/early July due to snow cover. We drove it from the northeast to the southwest entrance and had very little traffic to contend with after 5pm. The views were stunning. Jeremy said that after talking to various people who had said that Glacier was their favorite park, he worried that it wouldn't live up to all the hype. He said it did; it is spectacular. Our pictures will not do it justice, but here are a few from the drive. Jeremy with the mountains – and a GLACIER in the background!
Also, notice the mountain goats we spied near Logan’s Pass… even a baby in the mix. We also saw a black bear near the road as we were driving to Many Glacier area one day. Those were the only animal sightings (and some deer) that we saw. We had mixed feelings if we wanted any type of encounter with bear or moose anyway.
Favorite (and last) Hike – Avalanche Lake via Trail of the Cedars. We drove into the park on Monday, parked at Apgar Village, and took the shuttle to the trailhead. This was actually a pretty good way to go, especially because when we got there, there were no parking spots at the trailhead. This trail started on a boardwalk that took you through the old wood forests of Cedars. They are stunning. Jeremy was our designated bear spray carrier – armed and ready!
It crossed over a river and headed to Avalanche Lake.
The trail was a bit more up and down than the previous ones we had been on, but nothing too strenuous. It was beautiful and mostly shaded as we walked.
When we got to the lake and stepped on the beach, we were speechless. It was breathtaking. I wondered how many other vistas were tucked back in the mountains that have yet to even be discovered by hikers. We ate our lunch here and soaked it up before heading back the way we came.
We spent some time at Apgar Village souvenir shopping, eating Huckleberry ice cream, and gazing out at Lake McDonald.
Food - We packed some lunches, ate a couple times at the park restaurants, and ventured out to a few local spots. There were two unique places we went. The first was Dan d’Lion Eatery, all organic, gluten free, vegetarian place. It was delicious and the staff was friendly.
The second spot was the Raven. This sat on Flathead Lake. It is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. The restaurant had a back deck that overlooked the water. In the distance you could see smoke from a wildfire that had started two days prior and was rapidly consuming hundreds of acres of woods and field. It was quire something. News stories were telling of the planes that would scoop water with large buckets from Flathead Lake to dump on the fire. That would have been cool to watch, but we didn’t catch that in action.
