West Glacier

6/24/2019

Still cloudy this morning at Fish Creek Campground. Mentioned to Beth that I would walk down to the lake when I finish this cup of coffee. The rain started immediately thereafter—causation or coincidence?

The lake was still and clear. Found this old boat house with a marine railway into the water before returning to the campground.

We drove up the Going to the Sun road from the west as far as Avalanche Creek. There was a l-o-n-g line of cars waiting to continue up to the restricted section of the road. June 24, today, was the first day in 2019 where the road was open.

Walked the Trail of the Cedars which followed Avalanche Creek to a beautiful waterfall under towering cedars.

There is something special about the color of glacial melt water.

Driving west again, we stopped at every turnout where there was room to park.

Rapids and waterfalls rushed by near the road.

More waterfalls.

Thin tall streams of water cascaded down the mountains several thousand feet above us.

Our noon destination was Lake McDonald Lodge, another beautiful historic park hotel.

Animals and wood are striking in the three story lobby built of local timber in 1913.

Loved the fireplace with a hearth so big that people were sitting inside.

Another fireplace perspective.

Balconies on either side of the lobby would be great places to sit and read on a rainy day.

They even had a Lake McDonald puzzle for patrons to enjoy.

Jammers park on the West side of the park too. Built in the 1930's by the White Motor Company, they were more recently modernized with automatic transmissions, stronger frames and hybrid power trains. Thankfully the exteriors retained the traditional appearance.

Clouds and a chill wind didn't make Lake MacDonald look inviting.

Back at Apgar Visitor Center we checked out the small exhibits then used the cell signal to check messages.

We liked this depiction of the habitat variety within Glacier National Park.

A short walk from the Visitor Center to Apgar Village revealed a few wildflowers we hadn’t seen elsewhere.

Feel free to leave a comment identifying any of these.

This one was tiny.

This almost looks like a zinnia.

We checked out the Nature Center, but didn’t stay because they were doing the same animal talk we had heard in Grand Teton and Yellowstone. In between the raindrops we visited a few nice galleries. One had prints by a local photographer that captured stunning images of big mammals in the park, mostly in the snow. Check out Sumio Harada at www.photorocky.com. We avoided buying ice cream cones again and headed back to the van to plan tomorrow’s route.

With rain and a site we didn’t love, we turned in our site card and decided to head south to and see if we could snag a walk-up campsite somewhere along the route to Big Timber.

We arrived at Flathead Lake State Park (West Unit) just before they closed and there were a few no service sites available at the non-Montana resident (alien?) rate of $28/night.

Beth made tortellini for dinner. With a full tummy I headed out on a walk to find the lake. Easy trails led to a good overlook where islands dot a clear blue lake against a backdrop of mountains.

There are a few tent sites right on the lake with tremendous views.

The highlight of the walk was seeing a Merganser swim by with two chicks riding on its back.

Back at the van Beth was tuckered out so we converted the living room into the bedroom before 9:00 ending another day full of natural beauty.