We slept in after being on the road for a few days. Had a nice hot breakfast and headed to Glacier National Park East along Flathead Lake. It took about 90 minutes and was pouring rain the entire time. We drove through orchard after orchard of cherries and huckleberries. I see a huckleberry pie and bear claw in our future. We arrived at the Apgar Village through the West Park entrance around noon, and the kids could not wait to get their Passport books stamped. A weekly park pass is $30, $80 to buy the annual pass for all US parks. We booked a 2:00 p.m. tour a few days ahead to see the park in an historic red bus. We found a picnic area in Lake McDonald (the park's largest lake) as the rain lighted up and ate our packed lunch. As soon as we finished the rain stopped, the clouds opened up and the sun came out.
Jason is teaching Charlie to skip rocks.
How great is this iPhone shot? I snapped this as soon as the rain stopped.
Check the huge tree and all the cool roots on the shore.
We were thrilled that the sun came out just in time for our tour. Check this cool Red Bus out! Our tour guide, Glenn, (he's called a Jammer) is folding the canvas roof back for a better view. We are headed out on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. It was still pretty chilly and they handed out blankets for the back seat.
Glenn was pretty neat guy. He and his wife come to Glacier every May-October 1 and work. He's a tour guide and his wife is an accountant at the lodge. And they are full-time RV people now in their off season. He said they are going to Oregon for the winter to volunteer in the lighthouses.
We stopped a half a dozen times on our four hour tour. The ridge in the middle left is the continental divide.
The sun was so bright and even though it was 3 pm, it was directly above us just couldn't help the direction of the beauty behind us,m. So we're a little dark.
All the creeks and rivers surrounding the park have this natural aqua color to them because of the glaciers. There are only 25 glaciers left in the park and by 2030 it is estimated for the glaciers to be completely melted. We didn't see as much wildlife after the rain but did get a glimpse of big horn sheep at Logan's Pass.
Lily and Charlie were sworn in as Junior Jammers at the end of the tour and got a cool pin for it. They learned a lot. Definitely the way to see the park. We highly recommend this, especially on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The Jammer had knowledge on so many levels...goegraphy, wildlife, history, and botany. On the drive back to camp, we took the West route around Flathead Lake and stopped in Lakeside at a microbrew called Tamarack for dinner. It was delish, made from scratch, hands down the best fish tacos we have had in a long time!
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