We took this week off from work, so Monday we were hoping to just relax all day. In the morning, we went to Fort Missoula Historical Park to relax in the car and play video games. There was a small playground we had to check out also. Around lunchtime. We went to Fort Missoula Regional Park to go to the city’s 4th of July celebration, Fourth at the Fort.
For lunch, we got Polish sausages at a food truck. Around the park, there were historical exhibits set up, along with old-fashioned lawn games, and old machinery on display. Not long after lunch, it started to rain so we ran back to the car. Luckily, it didn’t rain for too long. We wanted to try huckleberry ice cream, which Montana is known for, so we drove to Big Dipper Ice Cream. Spencer got a huckleberry milkshake and I got a cone. It was very good. It tasted similar to blueberry. We returned to Fort Missoula Historical Park to relax some more.
For dinner, we had leftover cheeseburgers. After dinner, we hiked up Mt. Sentinel to get to the big “M” written on the side of the mountain. We were hoping to stay for sunset and then see some fireworks, but it started to rain so we went back down to the car. We also wanted to get to bed early, so we could get an early start in the morning to drive to Glacier National Park. Along the drive to Planet Fitness, we were lucky enough to see a double rainbow over the mountain we had just climbed.
The next morning, we got up early and drove four hours up to the east entrance of Glacier National Park. Our original plan was to enter through the west entrance, but we weren’t able to get the necessary road reservation to drive on Going to the Sun Road, the main road in the park. Also, the top section of the road was still covered in snow and wouldn’t be open for another couple of weeks. That was kind of a bummer, but it gives us a reason to come back again. We were able to drive the east section of the road without a reservation, so that’s what we did. However, this required a detour on Highway 2 outside the park. It was a windy road through the mountains. It was very scenic.
When we arrived at the park, we tried to go to St. Mary’s Falls trailhead but there were no parking spots open. We continued down the road until we reached the section where it closed. There wasn’t anything we wanted to do there, so we drove back towards the trailhead. We stopped at Jackson Glacier Overlook. This is the most accessible location in the park to see a glacier.
After that, we continued to the trailhead. Parking was still full, so we parked off to the side to wait for someone to leave. Eventually, we got a spot and started on the hike. It was a moderate 3.9-mile hike to two waterfalls, St. Mary’s Falls and Virginia Falls. Along the hike, we saw a moose near the river below us. St. Mary’s Falls was nice. There was a bridge going over it. The water was a beautiful blue-green.
After taking pictures of St. Mary’s Falls, we continued on to Virginia Falls. There were two spots where we could view Virginia Falls – one was at the bottom and the other was higher up. The higher viewing spot got very close to the base of the falls. We crossed a small wood bridge to the rocky base of the falls. We got soaked by the water spraying from the falls. It was a pretty amazing viewpoint. The lower viewpoint was also nice, but much more popular. Along the hike back, we came across a buck eating on the side of the trail. It wouldn’t move, so we walked right past it. It didn’t even care that we were there.
After returning from the hike, we drove to the Rising Sun campground, where we were hoping to stay that night. For some reason, however, the campground was closed. We decided to drive up north to the Many Glacier campground to see if we could camp there, but it was full. We drove out of the park and were able to get a campsite on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation at Chewing Black Bones Campground.
The next morning, we got up very early and drove back to the Many Glacier campground to try to secure a first come first serve campsite. There was a line of cars waiting to get a site. We waited in line for a couple of hours before we were able to enter our site. We both agreed that the park service should have a much better system for getting campsites.
After we got settled at the campsite, we started our hike on the Grinnell Glacier trail. This trail followed along the mountainside overlooking a couple alpine lakes. The end of the trail led to a glacier. Unfortunately, the last mile and a half of the trail was closed due to dangerous conditions, but the views along the way were amazing. We even saw a golden eagle.
Later that night, we ate the rest of our leftover cheeseburgers and had a campfire. We had to pay $16 for firewood at the nearby camp store. That sucked but at least we got to enjoy a nice fire. We toasted marshmallows and had s’mores before cleaning up and going to bed. We had been warned that bears were frequently visiting the area so we made sure to keep our campsite free of leftover food and waste.
The next morning, we got up early again to leave the campsite and secure a parking spot at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, the trailhead for the Ptarmigan Trail to Iceberg Lake. There were very few other cars there yet.
As we started on the trail, a deer walked right in front of us. Again, it had no fear of us. The trail led up onto the side of a mountain with views of the tree-filled valley below. Along the trail, there were many small streams we had to cross. We also had to be aware of bears that might be in the area. Fortunately, we didn’t happen across any. Eventually, we came to a rope hung across the trail with a sign warning that travel is not advised further along the trail. We knew the trail was open since we had talked to a park ranger the night before, so we continued past the rope anyway.
Shortly after passing the rope, we came to a snow crossing on the side of the mountain. It looked dangerous. We had caught up to a few other people. They had hiking poles and crampons for their shoes. They crossed the snow. They said it wasn’t slippery, so we decided to attempt to cross. It was easier than it looked. We had no problems crossing. We continued on the trail. There were large sections of snow we walked over. The temperature also dropped significantly and it even rained for a short period. The trail became hard to follow because of the snow, but we had an offline map on our phones so we were fine.
We came to a rushing river cutting across the trail. There were a couple of logs laid over the river. We climbed on the logs and made it to the other side, just a bit wetter. At this point, the trail was pretty much all snow and it was very cold and windy. We finally reached the end of the trail and saw Iceberg Lake. It was beautiful and mostly frozen over. The mountain behind it had a lot of snow covering it.
After looking at the lake for a bit, we started the hike back. We stopped at another alpine lake and saw a large herd of bighorn sheep running along the trail across the lake. We crossed back over the river with no issues. As we continued back on the trail, there were a lot of people we passed. We were very glad we got an early start when we were almost the only people on the trail. The hike ended up being 10 miles. We were pretty tired by the end of it.
We returned to the car and started our drive out of the park. Along the way, we came to a few cars stopped in the road. It turns out there was a bear close to the side of the road everyone was watching. We got a few pictures and moved on. Our plan was to drive 6 hours to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to sleep at a Planet Fitness for the night. It was a very nice drive, going through valleys and mountains.
The next morning, we continued our drive to Spokane, Washington, where we will be for the next few days. We went grocery shopping and hung out at Thornton Murphy Park for the rest of the days. For dinner, we made ratatouille. It was a long process, which included chopping up onions, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, fresh thyme, and fresh basil. We had to cook it in two batches because it was too much for one pot. It turned out very good. While eating dinner, we watched the movie Ratatouille on Spencer’s phone. It felt like we were at a drive-in movie!
Saturday, we walked around the Spokane Valley Mall. Spencer got new shower shoes since his were starting to break down. We got lunch at Olive Garden and then went to the movie theater to see the new Thor movie. It was pretty good. After that, we went to Mirabeau Point Park to relax. Our plan for Sunday is to do laundry and relax. We start working again Monday.
Fun Facts from Week 11:
- Glacier National Park had 80 glaciers when it opened in 1910, today there are only 26 remaining.
- Hiking bells are not very effective for scaring away bears. The best deterrents are group conversation, frequent shouts/claps, and bear spray (we did carry some pepper spray).
- Camping reservations in the park open six months in advance and sell out within minutes. First come, first serve campsites are all taken by 10 am daily.
One response to “Week 11”
I think this was my favorite blog post!