TO GLACIER: OCTOBER 2018

by vols4everus · Published 07/20/2020 · Updated 07/20/2020

After signing our apartment lease in October 2018, Doug and I ordered new beds from the Mattress King in Billings. We then headed out to Glacier National Park. The last time I had visited the park was in 2005, so a journey to the “Crown of the Continent” one of many names for Glacier, was in order.

We arrived in Montana on Sunday night, October 21, 2018. After signing our lease on Monday and ordering our new beds on Tuesday (they wouldn’t arrive until Friday) we drove to Helena, the capital of Montana, that afternoon. Early Wednesday morning, October 24, we headed to Glacier National Park via The Rocky Mountain Front Scenic Byway. In S. A. Snyder’s Scenic Driving MONTANA, this is Scenic Drive #22 Rocky Mountain Front: Browning to Wolf Creek. This time, however, we went from Wolf Creek to Browning on the road where the mountains meets the prairie. On future trips, in 2019, we did not travel the entire route. Starting at I-15 we traveled over two US highways, U.S. Highway 89, and U.S. Highway 287 along the Rocky Mountain Front.

Our first view of the Crazy Mountains! I just don’t remember them from our earlier visits during ’97, ’04 and ’05. This was from a rest area on I-90.

Doug with “Thunder Jack” and the Crazy Mountains in the background. With a lack of sun, this was a much better photo than most of my later ones would be.

That’s *the* Clark of the “Lewis and Clark Expedition. This goes way back to the infancy of the United States of America!

On that first day, we left well after noon, so my brother and I didn’t try to drive the entire way. It’s about four hours from Billings to Helena and that was a good stopping place. America’s Best Value Inn & Suites, formerly a Motel 6, provided us a place to sleep and free coffee in the morning. That’s all we needed and then we were off to see the mountains. We took I-15 to Wolf Creek, which is where the Rocky Mountain Front Scenic Byway begins. It only took a little over half an hour to reach this jumping-off point. From there, US 287 took us to Augusta and on to Choteau, a drive of an hour or so.

At Choteau, we picked up US Highway 89. This road would take us all the way to Glacier National Park. A little more than thirty minutes later brought us to the wide spot in the road known as Dupuyer. There wasn’t a lot to see, but there was a small general/food store where we stopped for a cup of coffee. The lady working there said the coldest temperature she had ever seen was 53 degrees below zero. Now that’s some serious cold. Another forty miles saw us reaching Browning, Montana on the Blackfeet Reservation. Browning is the best starting point, and closest city to the east side of Glacier National Park.

There was nothing open, this late in the year, at Glacier, not even the KOA campgrounds. So, the only choice we had was in Browning. Fortunately, there was the Glacier Peaks Hotel & Casino. I would highly recommend this place to anyone. The price was reasonable and when they say “free breakfast” they mean it. It’s not just some coffee and donuts, you get a hot breakfast setup with bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy and several types of juice and pastries.

Entering the Going-to-the-Sun Highway from St. Mary (on the eastern side of Glacier National Park)

That’s a spectacular view from St. Mary, although it was later in the day so was a little hazy.

Just a few minutes inside the park. It only gets better!

From Browning, you can be in Glacier National Park in about a quarter of an hour. St. Mary, and the beginning of the Going-to-the-Sun Highway is a little longer but still well less than an hour away. I had not been to one of my favorite places on earth, the Wild Goose Island Overlook on the Going-to-the-Sun Highway since my last trip to the park in 2005. Earlier in the month, part of the highway had been shut down due to heavy snowfall. Seeing this iconic spot would have been out of the question. By the time we arrived, on October 24, the snow had been removed and I was anxiously awaiting the moment that I could see this magnificent view. It was late in the day, but there was still plenty of sunlight. My photos came out and were nice, but as I found out, the sun setting to the west is not the most idea scenario for this spot. I knew I wouldn’t be back, though, before the following summer, so I made the most of it.

St. Mary Lake, on the eastern side of Glacier National Park.

As I said earlier, the park was shut down for all practical purposes, but there was still a small grocery store open, although with only a limited stock. We bought some snacks to tide us over and then it was on the road back to Browning for the night.

My first view from the Wild Goose Island Overlook of St. Mary Lake in over a decade. Although the setting sun did not make for the best of photographic conditions, still it was a great day.

This is a completely different vantage point of Wild Goose Island in St. Mary Lake. Taken from a point a few minutes after we passed the “Wild Goose Island Overlook” this gives a completely different perspective of that tiny spot of turf in the middle of the lake. And, the quality of the photo was much better without the setting sun causing so much glare.

That’s the Going-to-the-Sun Highway overlooking St. Mary Lake.

By the time we returned to the Wild Goose Island Overlook the sun had dipped behind some clouds so the picture was much bettter.

Doug, first time around. It was October 23, 2018.

After a night’s rest, followed by an excellent breakfast, we started our Thursday off with another visit to Glacier, this time the Two Medicine area. This beautiful lake is another splendid photogenic place on the eastern side of the park. This spectacular place is about an hour south of the St. Mary KOA, but only forty minutes from Browning via the East Glacier Entrance. The trail to Running Eagle Falls is a short distance before you get to Two Medicine Lake. These falls, otherwise known as Trick Falls, is actually two waterfalls in one. In the spring, when snowmelt causes the river to swell, water goes over the top, and through a crevasse in the rock. But arriving late in the year as we did, there was no water going over the top. Only during the spring, as a result of the melting snow, will there be enough water flow to see this natural phenomenon.

Running Eagle Falls, otherwise known as Trick Falls! During the spring, with winter snow melt raging, the water will, not only flow through that crevice in the rock, but also over the top forming two waterways. This late in the season, though, this is all you will see. Still, it is a nice little waterfalls.

Doug at Running Eagle Falls, Glacier National Park

Me at Running Eagle Falls, Glacier National Park

After our latest round of this great national park, it was time to head back home. Our beds would arrive the following day, and we could officially move into our new home. There was still plenty to see and plenty to do before Old Man Winter would lock us away in for many months, but I was already salivating at what I would see in 2019.