Trip to Glacier National Park

We took an extra day off so we could get to northern Montana and have time to see the park. We left after work and drove north to Great Falls to spend the night. The Montana scenery was interesting. Sometimes it was flat.

Then mountains appeared.

At one point we traveled through the Lewis and Clark National Forest.

After spending the night at Great Falls, we continued on our way and viewed more spectacular scenery in northern Montana.

Instead of a bison jam we encountered a cattle jam.

Our first stop at the eastern end of the park was the Many Glacier area which included about eight miles of scenic road. Part of it skirted Lake Sherburne.

This is our first sight of a glacier.

Sadly many of the glaciers have disappeared, and it is predicted that they will be all gone in another 15 years. Many of the areas that we thought were glaciers were only snow on the mountains. As we drove along the road we encountered a Red Tour Bus that was stopped on the other side of the road.

We soon discovered what the man was photographing.

A cinnamon black bear was munching berries in the bushes. I wasn't quick enough to get a complete picture. He was walking pretty fast and very close to the road.
As we traveled on toward the end of the road we saw the Many Glacier hotel across from a small lake.

Here are a few other scenes from our travel down that road. It was quite spectacular.

Next we entered the Going-to-the-Sun road from the eastern side at the St. Mary visitor center. The 51 mile road through the center of the park took three decades to construct and over $2,000,000. The first car drove the entire length in the fall of 1932, and it was dedicated in July of 1933. It is a marvel in engineering and labor. We took many pictures, and it's hard to decide which to post. Here are some.

This shows an area where trees are down from an avalanche.

The road was narrow and windy in spots. There were several waterfalls along the side of the road. Here are some children enjoying the spray of one of them.

We made reservations to take the Red Bus tour the next day so we didn't stop at all the lodges and visitor centers the first day. We spent the night at Whitefish, a city about 30 minutes from the park. After dinner there we were lucky enough to stumble upon a Farmer's Market where they sold a variety of foods and Montana crafts. Since we had never tasted a fresh huckleberry we bought a cup of them and enjoyed the tart flavor of the small round fruit. We brought the rest of them home to eat on cereal and in pancakes. Yummy!
The following day we picked up the Red Bus at the western side of the park and headed to Logan Pass. The driver/guide explained that we cold not stand up and look out the top of the bus unless it was completely stopped.

Before we left we took pleasure in viewing McDonald Lake.

It was a crisp clear morning. Here are a few pictures from the many that we took. As usual the pictures can't show the true beauty of the park. Here we are about to go through one of the tunnels.

We stopped at a scenic overlook.

The guide was very knowledgeable and interesting. This area is called the weeping wall because the water oozes out from inside the mountain.

Our turn around point was Logan Pass where we had time to check out the visitor center and walk around the area.

Although the park is noted for its bighorn sheep and mountain goats we did not see any while we were there except stuffed at one of the visitor centers. The view heading west gave a different perspective on the hillsides.

 The guide explained that glaciers cut U shaped valleys compared to the V shaped ones cut by rivers.

We wished that we had one more day to do some hiking on a few of the trails, but we were happy that we got to see and do as much as we did.

Trip around Yellowstone

One morning we made another attempt to see some bull moose that were sighted by friends. Here is what we saw this time.

The black bear entertained the crowd for a while but still no moose......

On our day off this week we decided to drive around some of the park. Our first stop was Norris Geyser Basin, but there were no parking spaces to be found. We thought the crowds had diminished but we were wrong. Since we walked through the boardwalk last year we moved on. Our next stop was Beryl Spring named for its resemblance to the color of a blue-green gemstone. With a temperature above the boiling point it's one of the hottest springs in Yellowstone.

We then headed to Old Faithful and were able to visit with several associates that we worked with last year . Continuing on our drive we stopped at West Thumb of the Yellowstone Lake to see that geyser basin. We were in time to listen to a ranger talk at Abyss Pool named for its impressive deepness.

Ranger John filled us with information about the formation of Yellowstone from a volcano. Toward the end of his talk thunder started to rumble in the distance and dark clouds rolled in. During the question/answer period we hustled back to the car before we got drenched. The lake which is usually brilliant blue was grey that day as we drove by.

After driving through the rain we stopped at the Lake Village lodge, hotel, museum, and visitor center. When we entered a ranger was explaining how to use bear spray. It was very interesting and informative. We carry it with us when we hike and hope we never have to use it.

As we continued up the road we got stopped in a bison jam by Hayden Valley. Cars were stopped on both sides of the road as a few bison crossed in front of us.

Since it is mating season there were lots of weird noises and activity among the animals. The males were closing in on the females

and sometimes going up against another male vying for the female's attention.

It was fascinating to watch, and we didn't mind being stuck in traffic. Once we got moving again we headed back to the northern end of the park. The rain and chilly temperatures dampened the day, but we enjoyed the park in spite of it.

Next week we are taking an extra day off to travel to Glacier National Park in northern Montana.

Livingston Train Depot & Chico Hot Springs

When we visited the Yellowstone Gateway Museum earlier in summer the Northern Pacific Train Depot was not open. We decided to revisit Livingston, MT which is about 50 miles north of us. It's the closest large city with a population of about 7500. Livingston was considered the original entrance to Yellowstone National Park. People would take the train to the city and then ride a stagecoach down to the park. The depot is quite impressive.

I read that there is an historic bus tour of the city, and when I called about it I found out that it only runs on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Since we have Tuesday and Wednesday off I figured that we wouldn't be able to take the tour. When we arrived at the depot we found out that they were doing a special tour for a group of Japanese and Livingston children. After inquiring about it we were invited to join them since there was room.

The American children had gone to Japan and now the Japanese were visiting here. There was a woman who interpreted what the guide said along the way. The guide was the granddaughter of one of the original hotel owners. She was very informative and interesting and costumed as her grandmother would have been dressed.

Along the tour she pointed out houses and hotels. We drove past the Sacajawea Park where we saw her statue with her son Pompey. Sacajawea guided Lewis and Clark around this area. We skipped the "Red Light" district, but she pointed it out to us and told us that we could explore it on our own. The tour was geared to the children and probably not exactly what they usually do, but we were delighted to have the opportunity to ride the yellow bus around the city.

We were also able to view the miniature train display since they opened it up for the kids. We were amazed at how extensive it was with so many intricate little pieces.

 

This gentleman actually worked for the railroad and was very informative.

 

We had to chuckle at this drive-in move lot.

 

 



Inside the depot museum were a variety or train and railroad related articles and pictures. It gave us a good idea of how folks lived and worked over one hundred years ago. This shows what the depot office looked like.

Dan sat down at the controls of an old train.

 

We walked around town a little bit and saw a train pulling into the station.

 



On our way home we stopped at Chico Hot Springs Resort where we soaked in natural hot springs pools. Guests have been enjoying this pleasure since 1900. Hot water flows into it constantly so chemicals are not needed. The small pool is 103 degrees and the larger one 98. During the summer cool water is added to the swimming pool for the comfort of the guests. The hot pool is at the end under the roof.

This is the view from the small hot pool. The water flows from the small pool to the larger one.

We got a laugh from this sign by the side of the pool.

In addition to the pools are a hotel, cabins, day spa, dining room, poolside grill, and saloon. They have an abundance of summer and winter activities, and it looked like many families were enjoying all they had to offer. We certainly took pleasure in the peaceful time we spent there.