Heading to West Glacier

Wednesday, July2, 2013

Last night we followed signs in our motel for the dining room.  There was an endless maze of hallways but never a dining room!  This was only problematic because we were supposed to get free breakfast in the morning.  Happily, although there no longer is a dining room, there is a breakfast room with lots of choices - biscuits and gravy, hard-boiled eggs, Belgian waffles (it's okay now that we're out of the World Cup), yogurt, dry cereal, oatmeal, even peanut butter topping for the blueberry waffles, etc.  We have a hearty breakfast and hit the road.  We're hoping to find a cheaper hotel for our last night and the gas station we'll need before we turn in the not-a-Delorean rental car.

Missions accomplished!  Now we can concentrate on the gorgeous scenery.  We've decided that most pull offs will be worth checking out and the first one, Bad Rock Canyon supported that theory! Beautiful views of the South Fork of the Flathead River are on one side of the road and a little waterfall and a seep festooned with a rainbow are on the other!  Marilyn doesn't watch as a cross the road and climb over the guard rail for the river shots.  There must be a cottonwood tree nearby, as the air is filled with "July snow".

As we prepare to turn into the park we see a small group of Amish girls with their suitcases standing on the side of the road.  They are waiting for two of their friends who are coming up the road, pulling their luggage.

We stop at the Apgar Visitors' Center for a map and read a depressing sign.

Another pullout and more beautiful-river shots!

We've been on the watch for a flower that is often associated with the park, Bear Grass.  We spot some by the side of the road and pull into the parking lot of the Glacier Haven Inn and Healthy Haven Cafe, so we can go investigate them up close and personal.  What remarkable plants!  As we are oohing and aahing and shooting lots of photos, a man on a four-wheeler pulls up. We later learn that his family owns the Inn and that he is a policeman.  He tells us that the flowers only bloom once every seven years and the some tourists seem to think it's okay to pick them!  The nerve!  

We assure him that we only take pictures, not fragile souvenirs! Now we're feeling guilty, so we decide to go into the cafe and have some of their homemade huckleberry pie for lunch.  The signs are confusing, some say open, others closed.  I pull on the front door and it is locked but as I turn away, a young lady asks if we want to check in.  "No", I say, "we were hoping for some of your pie!"  She says she can arrange that and goes back inside!  While she is preparing our pie to go, her mom comes up and we have a long and lovely conversation about the family and the cafe.  Mom worries about making her kids work (her son was using the weed wacker around the Bear Grass).  We assured her that she was doing the right thing.

Sorry it's half gone already;  but it was too beautiful not to sample immediately!

When we asked Haven, the daughter, what her winters are like, she said they do schoolwork, eat and shovel! Her mom told us that her mother-in-law makes the pies and omelets for the cafe.

Next stop the historic Izaak Walton Lodge, which used to be a railroad depot.  It's now a lodge which features railroad cars as cabins!  The tracks still run right beside it.

You, too, can stay in your very own train car!

There's a charming walkway from the lodge to the railroad tracks that is lined with lupine and other flowering plants.

Looks like at least one bee is still healthy and happy in the world!

Further up US 2 is the turn off for the Walton Ranger Station and picnic area.  This is notable because there is also a hike to a suspension bridge and we want to cross it!  There is a trailhead at the end of the road and, although it doesn't say so, we are sure it must be the trail to the bridge.  

We did a lot of talking on the trail.  That's pretty uncharacteristic for us, but we've heard that bear bells
don't really make enough noise to frighten the bears.  Marilyn is a little freaked;  but I figure
I'd rather die in the woods than a nursing home!

After hiking about twenty minutes with no hint of a bridge we decide to head back.  But wait!  Here comes a cowboy astride his fine mount, leading four pack horses and with a rear guard. After asking us to move so we are both on the same side of the path, he just keeps riding.  Marilyn asks if there is a bridge on this trail and he says yes - nothing more! Needing more information, she asks if it's far - not very comes the reply - nothing more.  And his partner at the end says nothing at all!  (Sorry - no photos!  They kind of scared me!)

Well now that we know there really is a bridge we turn around and head for it.  Not far is not a definitive unit of measure!  But really it wasn't all that far.  I know that because the return trip only took twenty minutes, with no stops for pictures or cowboy conversation!

Look at all the Bear Grass!

Some of the path is lovely and flat;  of course it has its ups and downs, too!

About the bridge.  It goes over a wide and fast-moving stretch of the river and is made of wood and rusted-looking metal.  The sign says "one hiker at a time"!  Marilyn goes first and keeps both hands firmly affixed to the "handrails" at all times.  I surprised (scared) her by crossing with sometimes only one hand, and by stopping in the middle to take pictures!  And of course we had to cross back!

It's kind of a long way down.

"Look, Ma!  No hands!"

Can you see how rusty that metal looks?

Our only other objective for today is to stop at Goat Lick and see if we can see some mountain goats. As with all wild animals, they adhere to their own schedule and when we arrive no one has seen a sign of a goat. There are two salt licks, really they look like cliff faces or at least mountain sides, connected by a wide sidewalk, and no one anywhere along the way has seen a goat;  but, as Marilyn says, we have "Condor Patience".  You may recall that we waited an hour for a California condor to take wing a few years back!  While we're waiting we see some kayakers on the river.

Crazy people!  That water was frozen not too long ago!

Once again, patience pays off!  There is a mama goat leading her two kids along a narrow ledge!

The adults all look shaggy and we think they must be shedding for the summer.

And a little later we spot two adults with a kid coming down to the water's edge.  Did I mention that we are across the river? The signs say not to disturb the goats but at this distance I think it would take a cannon for them to even raise their heads! We follow the second group to the other viewing area and back, always hoping for a clear shot with a bit of success.

I'm sure they can't really see us.  I think.

"Drat!  How am I going to cross this with the kid?"

Another pull off and more beauty - another waterfall.  This one looks like a Mayan pyramid but with water cascading down it.  What's that up in the air?  Bird? Plane" Drone?  By george, it is a drone;  but it's not a government spy.  It belongs to a man whose company uses it to check bridges and other structures for cracks.  Marilyn finds out all about his Phantom II helicopter and I sense a new hobby in her future, albeit a pricey one!

A brief stop at Marias (sic) Pass, part of the Continental Divide and the site of a memorial to Theodore Roosevelt, and on to the Whistling Swan Motel.  

Those are lilacs and they are everywhere around the motel.  They also have
window boxes outside each room filled with flowers.

We have to go two blocks down the street to the Glacier Park Trading Company to check in.  Apparently the same family owns both, as well as the cafe next door!  The trading company is mostly a grocery store but they have a fudge counter which includes Jerry Garcia fudge - and it's delicious!

Down the road about a mile is a welcome sign for the Blackfeet Nation and a sculpture that is vaguely reminiscent of Bud and James's works. There is also a fire reminder, "Before you light it, be prepared to fight it."

Our room is amazing!  It actually has a kitchen and two bedrooms!  Of course the bathroom doesn't have a sink and the shower only has cold (glacially cold) water;  but the beds are heavenly.  If the internet had worked well enough for me to post this at the end of the day, instead of the next morning, everything else could have been forgiven!