Den & Kath's Vacation
'99 - Day 5
See
the map
Thursday we got
an early start towards Glacier National
Park. We saw lots of wildlife along the way, including two mule deer fawns
with their mother and two mule deer bucks in velvet running together. We made
a brief stop in Kalispell to get some groceries, then headed for the park.
On
a ranger's recommendation, we found a campsite in the Sprague Creek Campground.
After setting up camp, we headed into the clouds on the Going-to-the-Sun Highway,
the only road through the park and over the Continental Divide. This highway
just has to be seen to be believed. Built in the late 1920's, much of the road
is literally blasted out of the side of mountains. Every turn along the way
revealed incredible new views! Many of the mountain peaks were shrouded in
clouds, and the temperature was in the low 50's. There were waterfalls everywhere,
and near Logan Pass there is a rock wall called the Weeping Wall. It's a stretch
of road that was blasted out of the rock, opening up a number of springs that
constantly fall on the road.
Once
again, we hit a traffic jam near Logan Pass. After sitting for some time, we
finally advanced far enough to see five bighorn sheep running along the mountainside.
We only caught a glimpse of them, and they were the only sheep I saw. Kath
saw one more on the drive down the mountain, but there was nowhere to stop
and watch him. The traffic jam continued after the sheep were out of sight,
so we kept looking for wildlife. We soon spotted two mountain goats near the
road. This time we managed to pull into a turnout and get out for a short walk.
We saw a mountain goat kid in the stunted trees near the turnout. We watched
as two adult mountain goats tried to get to the kid while avoiding the pressing
crowds. We headed back to the truck and watched, again, in amazement as the
mountain goats rushed the crowd, trying to push them back.
After
a brief stop at the Logan Pass Visitor Center (a wilderness mob scene), we
headed for the campsite. After a little time in camp, the clouds finally cleared
away. We again went out to explore the park, but decided to stay clear of the
Going-to-the-Sun Highway because it seemed to be the highlight (crowd scene)
of the park. Instead, we drove to Polebridge, Montana, which sits at the northwest
corner of the park. The drive provided incredible views of the mountains in
the park, and was one of the most secluded areas we visited on the trip.
On the way back
to camp, we stopped at the Apgar Village Visitor Center. We asked a ranger
for a hike recommendation for the next morning. The ranger was most knowledgeable
and happy to help in describing a couple of hikes we could take. On the whole
trip we found the National Park Service rangers to be cheerful and very helpful.
It's got to be a VERY tough job dealing with some of the visitors the national
parks get, but they seem to do a fantastic job.
Go
to Day 6
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All images and
text ©1999 Dennis & Kathleen Deery
On
a ranger's recommendation, we found a campsite in the Sprague Creek Campground.
After setting up camp, we headed into the clouds on the Going-to-the-Sun Highway,
the only road through the park and over the Continental Divide. This highway
just has to be seen to be believed. Built in the late 1920's, much of the road
is literally blasted out of the side of mountains. Every turn along the way
revealed incredible new views! Many of the mountain peaks were shrouded in
clouds, and the temperature was in the low 50's. There were waterfalls everywhere,
and near Logan Pass there is a rock wall called the Weeping Wall. It's a stretch
of road that was blasted out of the rock, opening up a number of springs that
constantly fall on the road.
