SPRING IS IN THE AIR! My 2019 Glacier National Park Trip Part 5
On the third day of my Glacier trip
This is one of those times when you must make changes on the fly. My original plan was to take U.S. Highway 2 south of the park, an hour’s drive from East Glacier Park Village to West Glacier. From there, it is about fifty minutes by way of US-2 W and Mount Hwy 35 E to Bigfork Montana, the northern apex of the Swan Valley scenic drive. The 91-mile drive down Montana Highway 83 starts at the northern end of Flathead Lake a few miles from Bigfork and ends at Clearwater Junction, thirty-three miles east of Missoula, on Montana Highway 200. In S.A. Snyder’s Scenic Driving Montana this is Scenic Drive #3 Seeley Lake and the Swan Valley: Montana Highway 83. This road traverses the Swan Valley following the Swan and Clearwater Rivers for most of the route. It passes many lakes, including the larger Swan and Seeley Lakes. To the right, or west, of the highway, as you travel south, is the Mission Range. On the left is the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Swan Range featuring 9,255-foot-tall Swan Peak. The idea was to scout this area for a possible return in the fall. Heavy rainfall including possible thunderstorms, however, was being forecasted so I decided to head home to Billings by way of Great Falls and the same route I took coming to Glacier.
I did not take a lot of photographs on this final day but did get a few last shots at the Wild Goose Island Overlook during a quick early morning visit, before heading back to civilization. I stopped at Denny’s restaurant, for lunch and snapped a few pictures of museum-type airplanes, on display, in Great Falls. These aircraft, from an earlier era, were sitting near the highway. There were a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, F-15 Eagle, F-106 Delta Dart and the old Mig-killer itself, the F-86 Sabre. I believe these were at Malmstrom Air Force Base. The only other pictures that I took, while driving home, were the ones on U.S. 89 at mile marker 31. Remember when I said, on the first day, to remember this spot. I did not notice this wonderful vista, while traveling toward Glacier National Park. It was only as I was returning home and seeing the Absaroka Mountains looming large in the distance. While heading south, toward I-90, I saw those mountains straight ahead. To my left, or east, were the Crazy Mountains, while to my right the Bridger Mountains were looking very regal with their snow-capped peaks. I was able to arrive home, that Friday night, well before dark. It was a wonderful journey.
