Glacier National Park 2021: God’s Autumnal Extravaganza! Day Four
Day 4: Thursday, 9/30/2021:
Having seen Chief Mountain three different times during the first two days in Glacier National Park, we made one last stop before leaving the east side for good. I wanted to see how the rising sun would cast it’s light on this magnificent squared-off mountain. We woke early, made our coffee, and hit the road at 6:24 AM. The tripmeter read 91.1 as we left the campground.
Arriving well before sunrise, we awaited the dawning of a new day. I started taking pictures and took right at 100 photos and short video clips before my batteries died. I’ll let Doug take it from here: “We spent approximately one hour shooting Chief Mountain from the marquis vantage point (2.2 miles from the junction of MT 17 and US 89 North) for fall-foliage photography immediately before and during sunrise. The sun still had not crested the rise immediately to the right of this pullout, so some of the aspen stands closest to the road still remained in shadow until Bob’s camera batteries went dead.” And he further added, “ In distinct contrast to other well-known, marquis destinations for fall-foliage photography, such as Maroon Lake in the Maroon Bells, near Aspen (Colorado), or the Oxbow Bend in the Tetons, we did not encounter another soul at the Chief Mountain pullout, and only three vehicles passed the area while we were there.”
After leaving Chief Mountain, we returned to finish packing our vehicle and top off our coffee mugs at the KOA Visitor Center. With the tripmeter sitting at 123.0 and the clock reading 9:15 AM, my companions and I set out for one last trip over the Going-to-the-Sun Highway. Steve drove and Doug navigated while I got some well-needed rest in the backseat. I did not take any photos on this trip down memory lane. But that’s okay. I had gotten more than my fair share on this trip. I took somewhere around 1,500 photos during the course of this six-day trip.
We refueled at West Glacier prior to our departure for the Hungry Horse Reservoir, which is about fifteen-and-a-half miles south of Glacier National Park.
I took the steering wheel as we prepared to travel around Hungry Horse Reservoir. Following US Highway 2, it was just 9.6 miles from West Glacier to the turnoff onto Colorado Boulevard, and a further 3.3 miles brought us to the Hungry Horse Dam, which sits at an elevation of 3,560 feet. Doug and I had stopped here briefly during our 2020 Fall Foliage Trip. The road, just after we passed over the dam, started to climb and there was snow and ice on it. This was late in October and late in the day. Not knowing what to expect, except that the road would turn from paved surface to gravel within a few miles, we decided not to chance it. Now, as we crossed the dam and made our way south, down the western side of Hungry Horse Reservoir, we still didn’t know what to expect, but at least it was September and much earlier in the day.
The complete loop around the Hungry Horse Reservoir, which covers 23,750 acres, is right at 130 miles, all of which, except the first 11.9 miles, is gravel road. And it is not an easy drive. According to Doug’s notes, “Very early impressions indicate that pockets, but not large stands, of aspens are visible along the corridor traversed by this circuit/loop. At this altitude (ca. 3,500 feet), many of these aspens exhibit decent but not spectacular color.”
We took a hard left, just after crossing the dam, and the road immediately started to climb. The tripmeter was reading 12.9 as we stopped at the Hungry Horse Dam and Recreation sign. Exactly 11.9 miles later, with the tripmeter reading 24.8, the pavement ended. The next 100+ miles would be on a rough gravel road. The pavement ended almost opposite the spur road to Lid Creek Campground.
We drove an additional six miles before turning around, with the tripmeter reading 30.7 miles. As I said, earlier, it is a rough road. And there were many scary places where I would drive from bright daylight into a shadowy area. I felt like it was taking a huge leap of faith, each time, because you literally could not see what was ahead. All I could do was hope that if someone was coming from the opposite direction, they were in their lane. Finally, I decided enough was enough. Maybe if I drove a Jeep and we had arrived earlier when the sun was not such a problem, things might have been different. Through his research, Doug found that the Hungry Horse Reservoir was a great area for fall-color of the larch. But, as we found out, they were still well short of their peak season, and there just did not seem to be that many aspen in this area. I’ll let Doug’s notes take it from here: “Preliminary impressions of the first twenty miles of the Hungry Horse Reservoir loop: By all accounts and the pictorial record, the Hungry Horse area is a high-priority target for larch lovers, due to its extremely high concentration of western larch. However, the comparatively gentle surrounding terrain, roughly 90 miles of unpaved roads, and relatively low concentration of aspens do not elevate this area to the status of a must-see, fall-foliage destination, at least not during prime aspen season in late September and early October.”
Since we would be using Kalispell as our base of operations for the next couple of days, the Kalispell Motel 6 would provide our overnight arrangements for the last two days on this trip. We had a nice leisurely sit-down dinner at the Applebee’s in Kalispell and then retreated to our beds for a long autumn nap. We would be getting a very early start on the fifth day of our journey.
