Glacier National Park

(Written on Friday)

We’ve spent the last two exhausting days in Glacier National Park. We took off from Missoula early Thursday morning and drove the 2.5 hours up to the park. It was a beautiful, but long drive.

Flathead Lake, which is along the way, is expansive and scenic. It must be a very popular summer destination for people around here. Adding to its charm was a plethora of cherry orchards where you could buy fresh cherries. Too bad neither of us really likes cherries!

We got to the park in early afternoon and went straight to the shuttle. It has a great shuttle system, whose existence is almost a fluke. Back in the early 2000s when it became apparent that the Going-To-The-Sun Road was in need of construction, the shuttle was established to see it through that time. Now that it is complete, the shuttle system is still around but it’s unknown what its future will be.

It ended up taking us around 2 hours to get to Logan Pass. Vehicles over 21 feet long are not even allowed on that road due to some tight turns, so we were glad to have the shuttle as an alternative. Riding on it, we were extra grateful to be able to leave the driving to a professional so that we didn’t have to navigate the winding mountainside road. Yellowstone would benefit from leaving more of the traffic to the shuttle system as well I think.

Logan Pass was serene, an alpine meadow high up in the mountains. The flowers and wildlife there are a big draw for visitors, and we probably could have appreciated them too except that we were tired and hot from the drive to the park and ensuing shuttle ride. August was not his happiest self on the transit, and we couldn’t blame him as it was an extensive amount of time for a toddler.

We went back to Whitefish to camp after a quick dinner on the road back and fell asleep quickly.

The next morning we got off to a later start than we’d hoped but still stopped off for breakfast at the Montana Coffee Traders. Chris got his usual, the smothered breakfast burrito.








I ordered the Big Sky, a tasty little creation consisting of fried potatoes, black beans, and avocado, topped with scrambled eggs, cheese and two slices of bacon. The fire-roasted tomato salsa on the side really made it.

August had the veggie quiche, and I was impressed that he ate all of the vegetables that were in it. Going to have to add that to my repertoire for him at home!








By the time we got to the park it was close to peak arrival time. I sing the praises of shuttle services, but we had really bad luck with them today. All in all we waited two hours to catch shuttles for two short shuttle rides. We purposely avoided going any further east than we did because of Auggie. Still, because of delayed or already full shuttles and bad timing luck, we had long waits and plenty of time en route.

We had heard the boat rides on Lake McDonald were great, and I wanted to be able to see more of it, so we chose that as our main activity of the day. Bad luck with the shuttles caused us to arrive just in time to see the boat we had reserved seats on pull away. Talk about a disappointing feeling!

Of course, it wasn’t a total loss, we were able to take the next one, but it meant hanging out at the lodge for another hour waiting with a little guy who was rapidly approaching nap time. We managed to keep him awake and relatively happy until the next departure.

Once on board, he fell asleep fairly quickly which I was glad for since I was tired and ready to enjoy the boat ride without having to wrestle with his squirminess. Chris was not feeling well, so he also took a little nap on the ride. I tried to relax and take it all in.

The boat tour was absolutely gorgeous, and the park ranger providing commentary had lots of interesting information to share. For example, one of the primary types of trees that makes up the forests in the park has adapted to natural wildfires so well that its cones are full of seeds that are only spread under the hot conditions of a fire. They literally provide for their own replacement as they are being destroyed. Fascinating! I was really happy we did tour, even with some of the obstacles we’d been dealing with.

After another long wait for a ride back to the entrance, we finally made it to the RV around 5:30 and drove the long trip back to Missoula so Chris would be able to get a good start the next day. We were so exhausted by the time we got there that we just boondocked in a Walmart parking lot with about 15 other motorhomes. It was a happening place!

My stress reliever for the day was a piece of huckleberry pie. I'd never had it, and huckleberries are the delicacy around here, so of course I had to. It was pretty good, tastes very similar to a wild blueberry with a bit more tartness.






Glacier National Park is really stunning. The mountains and setting overall are so rugged and dramatic, it is no wonder it is nicknamed the crown jewel of our nation’s parks. We would love to go back someday when August is older and hence the long drives and rides will not be as much of an issue.

Now we need a rest day after our rest days!