July 7, 2013: Gcacier Sensory Overload

July 7, 2013:  Glacier sensory overload

After a morning walk past Seeley Lake where we saw a turtle swimming near the lily pads, we readied Hannah for departure.  So far, we have managed not to contract Dengue Fever or West Nile Virus from the giant mosquitoes...  Anyway, we started north on Hwy 83, which is designated as a scenic highway.  Really?  All we saw were pine trees.  Then there were more pine trees.  When we went from the Lolo national forest to the Flathead national forest, there were pine trees with a couple of aspen trees.  We passed over creeks and could not see them because of the pine trees.  Every now and again, we would catch a quick glimpse of a lake, or a mountain.  70 miles of trees.  Finally, the last 20 miles had some pretty meadows and lake views.  I would take ANY other highway that we had been on over this supposedly scenic highway.

 We did something we don't normally do... with the holiday weekend, we figured we may need reservations in the Glacier National Park area.  So we looked in the guide, and found what we thought would be a good park.  It was listed in West Glacier which is right at the gate of the park.  The park is nice, very woodsy... But it is 25 miles past the gate of the park!  When you get a lemon, you learn to make lemonade so, we decided to set Hannah up for one night, then take the perimeter road which goes all along the outside of the park, then cuts through the middle.

We are on Hwy 2 heading east and it is quite beautiful.  The middle fork of the Flathead River is on our left with pine covered mountains on either side of us.  We enter the area of the Blackfoot Nation (or for those of you who are politically correct:  the Nation of Feet of African descent!).   We then turn onto the narrow hwy 49.  The glacial peaks tower over us on our ride.  There are wildflowers by the gazillions, and more streams, valleys and meadows.  And this is even before we get into the actual park!  And Spouse found the motherload of firewood.  He pulled into the forest and loaded up.  He just can't help himself when it comes to free stuff!

We finally turn west to enter the park, and we are all overwhelmed with the landscape before us.  We thought the Grand Tetons were top notch.  They have been demoted to step-sister, and Yellowstone is a slum!  Glacier National has some of the most breathtaking scenery on the planet, I am sure. 

The rocky outcroppings are formed from eons of glacial erosion.  They expect the remaining glaciers to be gone by 2030.  The erosion has created magnificent lakes, streams and valleys.  The road is restricted to vehicles 21 feet and under (we are 22 feet without Hannah and we were fine).  Vehicles cannot be over 8 feet wide including mirrors.  There are some very narrow spots where two way traffic is quite cozy.  I found myself holding my breath as if it would make the truck slimmer.  Not an RV of any kind... not even a camper shell.

There are waterfalls everywhere:  on the road, across the road, down the valley, over our car.  We stopped at one viewpoint and saw some mountain goats.  One was in a field, the others were climbing on the cliffs and up a waterfall.  We realized that we will need to spend some time here as there is so much to see.  And it is a total sensory overload.

A ride that was supposed to take us less than 3 hours, took us over 6 hours.  We found another RV park much closer to the entrance to the park and made arrangements to move as of tomorrow.  Then we went to a local restaurant and fed our faces.

 Once we got back to Hannah, the WIFI that was advertised was basically nonexistent.  You can look at the internet explorer home page, but you can't send or receive email, and if you try to navigate to a website, you are kicked out.  Some WIFI...  I think I will go sit by the campfire and enjoy Spouse's wood find!

 And as of now Double-O-Crew has been in all of the western continental US.  Too bad he has slept through most of it...