Glacier National Park

Well I've spent the last couple days in Glacier National Park. Sunday I drove across the state of Montana. It was beautiful although I was looking a little rough as anyone who saw me at the Wal Mart in Helena will attest to. I thought Montana would be like Wyoming all flat and open and ugly but the scenery kept changing. I wound through canyons and open plains and rolling fields and found myself enjoying Montana. I had to drive through the Blackfeet Indian reservation on the way to Glacier and almost plowed into a herd of horses. Indians apparently don't believe in fences and if they do the animals are always on the wrong side. It rained on me a bit but it was dry by the time I got to camp. I set up my tent and got into a cleaning mode so I emptied out my car and restacked some stuff to be more organized. The next day I decided to go to Canada. Listening to the radio I found out that the Calgary Stampede had started. I've done Greeley and Cheyenne and would have loved to do Calgary but I just didn't have the time. It was pretty rainy so I didn't get to see any mountains off in the distance. I went to Waterton Lakes which is the Canadian side of the Waterton- Glacier International Peace Park. I didn't know how to convert kilometers to miles so I just stuck with hikes less than 2 kilometers. I went to Blackiston Falls and Red Rock Canyon. The canyon was beautiful.
It started raining so I drove to the Prince of Wales hotel.
It was very cute and everything in the gift shop had the Queen Mum on it. I sat on a couch and watched the lake outside while everything cleared up. There was a really cute staff member who was cleaning the rug and he was wearing a kilt! The weather cleared so I drove down to the Waterton Townsite and wandered the little street and bought some postcards. I decided to drive the other scenic drive since it was still clear. It ended at Cameron Lake and it was gorgeous! It went right up to the base of the snow covered mountain. I hiked the Lakeshore trail even though it warned of grizzlies. It rained a bit on me but the sun was out so it was okay.
I still didn't see any grizzlies. I walked over to Akamina Lake hoping to see a moose but no such luck. After that I decided to leave Canada. I got grilled by the bitch at the border. She kept wondering why I was doing everything alone. They let me back and I decided to drive down Many Glacier road. Well it was pouring so once again I sought refuge at a hotel, this time it was the Many Glacier hotel. They styled all the hotels out here after Swiss chalets and all of them are within a days horseback ride from each other as that used to be the main mode of transportation. There were fireplaces roaring and it was a really nice hotel. I decided to leave and go take a shower at a public place down the road and by the time I was done the sun had come out. I drove back to the hotel and decided to do a 2.6 mile hike around the lake. It was gorgeous though. I went back to my campsite and didn't sleep a wink because the winds were howling so bad. I thought I was going to blow away but the Bungalow held her ground.
I got up early to drive the Going to the Sun Road. It's an All American Highway and is supposed to be the most beautiful drive in the country. And it was.
My plan was to drive across and then take the shuttle the rest of the day to avoid traffic but I kept stopping at every pullout because it was just spectacular. I saw some mountain goats and they were walking on the raised boardwalk of the trail I was on. They were fearless. There was also a section you drove by called the Weeping wall because waterfalls cascaded down the side. I got to the other side and hopped a shuttle and went right back up again. There was a gentleman on the shuttle who was afraid of heights and he about fainted when we hit the first switchback. I went all the way up to Logan Pass which is only 6646 feet which is about the elevation right outside Denver. However, with the taller latitude it was freezing cold and an alpine tundra environment. I snapped a few pictures and got back on the shuttle and rode it to Sun Point. A trail started here that followed along a lake and then to a gorge and 4 different waterfalls. At St. Mary's falls there were a bunch of hippies sunning themselves in their boxer shorts and one kid decided to jump off the bridge into the water. The current was still pretty strong and the water was freezing but he did it. Freaking hippies. I decided to keep hiking to the next shuttle stop and ended up going about 5 miles through grizzly meadow. I didn't see any but the vegetation was up to my hips and I was a little worried for a while. I did encounter a very cool bridge. It was like one of those old fashioned swinging bridges that people always need to be talked across. I thought it'd be fun to bounce around on it until it almost swung me over. I continued on and the last mile was just about staight uphill. I stumbled out of the forest and luckily another shuttle was just coming by so I flagged him down. I went back up to Logan Pass and connected down the other side. I was so exhausted by this point I couldn't keep my eyes open on the scenery. I decided to do one more trail because it was supposed to be nice. It was the Trail of the Cedars and it was all boardwalked and flat. I sped through it against the advice of trail signs that urged me to "stop and reflect and listen". I plowed through and people kept turning around and glaring at me because it was a wooden boardwalk and my feet were stomping pretty loud. I guess I interrupted their reflection. I flagged another shuttle and caught it back to my car. I set up my tent in record time, ate some soup and fell asleep pretty quick.

Glacier National Park is now my favorite national park. It is just stunning and the scenery is unimaginable. I was loading my pics to facebook and marveling that I was looking at it in person just yesterday. It is ten times better than Trail Ridge road. Now I'm off to Idaho!