Sunday, December 6, 2015

Road Trip 2015: Leg 3: Glacier National Park


After exploring Yellowstone National Park for a few days, we had to head North to Helena, Montana to visit my sister, who is going to school there. But of course, we had to stop in Brosmen, Mantana to catch up with friends and test the local brews.

Our original plan was to rendezvous with the rest of the family for a family reunion in Idaho to do some river rafting and fishing on Locksa, Clearwater and Selway rivers. However, the river resort that we had booked got evacuated a fews days before we were supposed to arrive due to an encroaching fire. While the rest of the family regrouped and headed South to Bend, Kerrie and I also regrouped and decided to head North to visit Glacier National Park.

The St. Mary's Visitor Center usually has an outstanding view, but the view were obstructed by the smoke from wildfires in the park.
I went a Glacier a few years back, and it was amazing so I wanted Kerrie to see it since we were so close. However, with the fires so bad in the area, we weren't sure how the views would be. Our first trip up and over the Going to the Sun road proved very disappointing from a view perspective. Luckily it started pouring in the late afternoon, which cleared up all the smoke. The next day we headed back up the road to the Logan Visitor Center and were blown away by the views. They were even better than last year.

We ended up spending one night outside St Regis, MT before heading to Spokane to check in with Kerrie's family for a few hours. Then we carried on and pointed the car back to Portland.

Getting this car camping thing down 
Master Chef at work on the Primus 2 burner.
Low water at Running Eagle Falls, but this allows us to really see the land bridge above the falls. Last time I was here there was water pouring over the top too. 

Heading up to the Logan Visitor Center on the Road to the Sun



Kerrie quickly realizing that this isn't your average hike. Highline trail. Better hold on. 


Goat. Wildlife.
Rains came to the Avalanche Campground so we took a nice stroll with no other tourists present. Meanwhile, I was looking for bears.

Rain camping setup.

Essentials
Because of the rain, we knew that the views up top would be much better so the next day we headed back up to Logan Pass Visitor Center.
What we didn't expect was snow!

We got to the parking lot nice and early knowing that it would fill quickly.

Gearing up. I was going to go for a trail run and Kerrie decided to hike.




I headed back down the Highline Trail all the way to the Granite Park Chateau. 
Sheep 















Avalanche Lake


Camping outside St. Regis, Montana on the way back to Spokane. Nice little campground. 

UNT
Bryan