Author: Easin' Along

My sister, LeAnn, and her husband, Marty, are RVers. They left their home in Florida about one month ahead of us to park their motorhome in Washington State, where they own a lot alongside a lovely mountain lake. LeAnn visited Glacier National Park told us that they experienced long lines of cars at the entrance to the Park and that we should plan on arriving early.

We don’t do early very well. We tend to move at Glacier speed in the morning (pardon the pun), but we set the alarm for 6:00 and made it to the gate before 7:00 and drove right in with a thermos filled with hot coffee.

On the northwestern edge of the Park, Bowman Lake, a 45-minute drive from the west gate, was the destination. Our friends, Sally and Bill, had spent a summer there as campground hosts, and we felt we should check it out for them. We arrived as the sun was rising above the mountains. The water was as still as a glass surface, and we were the only visitors at the lake. We walked around on the shoreline, and, eventually, a few kayakers arrived to paddle the still waters.

Also, coming at about the same time were mosquitoes as big as butterflies. I couldn’t shake them and didn’t want to wear bug spray for the rest of the day so, we left the shoreline to walk the campground for Sally and Bill. There were only a handful of campers. Bowman Lake Campground is a primitive site with no utilities, and I tip my cap to our friends for “roughing it” an entire season. Helen and I are committed “glampers” and wouldn’t last two nights here.

As we were leaving, we noticed a family of four seated at a picnic table eating large, delicious-looking pastries. Helen asked about them and learned that these delectables were Huckleberry Bear Claws, a specialty of a general store we passed earlier. I had to have one to accompany my thermos coffee, so we drove quickly to Polebridge Mercantile and stood in line with about twenty customers with the same idea. We bought four and, after eating the first one, wished we had purchased a dozen. Without a doubt, the best pastry I have ever had.

We needed to walk off the bear claws and drove toward the Rocky Point trailhead near McDonald Lake, stopping several times to photograph dramatic Glacier scenery. Rocky Point Trail is a two-mile loop from the parking lot out to a bluff above McDonald Lake. Across the lake, mountain peaks stand majestically, framing our view. Once again, the weather was perfect, and the skies were bright blue. We passed several patches of huckleberry bushes and evidence of bears that had stopped to sample the berries. After my bear claw experience, I completely understood the affinity for huckleberries. They are delicious.

By getting an early start, we completed our hike and returned to Lucy in the early afternoon. We agreed that we should leave early the next day and hike the seven-mile round trip to Avalanche Lake, one of the more popular trails in the Park. With plans made, it was time for lunch and a nap. Did I mention we’re not early risers?

I hope you will join us at Avalanche Lake…it’s beautiful. For now, it’s time to be Easin’ Along.

With the hard work done, God created a place to play. He didn’t just build a playground; He created a masterpiece, and we named it Glacier National Park. We loved Yellowstone and came away fascinated by the chromatic pools, thermals, geysers, and wildlife encounters. However, nothing compares to Glacier National Park and the spectacular beauty of the mountains and streams.

In a series of posts, I will share our visit there. The volume of pictures on my hard drive is too large to publish in one post so, I plan to break it up into three posts centered around the six hikes we took during our stay. Additionally, I am experiencing computer issues and don’t have the patience to work my way through a long post so, readers will get the abridged version.

Our base of operations, Mountain Meadow RV Park in Hungry Horse, Montana, conveniently located nine miles from the park’s entrance, made travel to and fro very easy. My sister, LeAnn, visited Glacier earlier in the month and sent word that the lines to enter the park were long because only one entrance was open and that we should go early in the day. Appropriately for a trip to Glacier National Park, Helen and I usually move at Glacier speed in the a.m.. Still, we broke one of our retirement pledges by setting an alarm for 6:30 on three mornings (applause line), filled our thermos with coffee, and passed through the gates with no lines. Thankfully, we beat the crowds to the trailheads every day. On our first day in the park, we hiked John’s Lake Loop then, on to and McDonald Falls.

John’s Lake Loop, a one-mile trail, served as a warmup. This trail took us through a thick forest with a thick moss carpet for a floor. We arrived at the lake as the sun was coming up over the mountains and I captured the picture above. I love the image of the distant peak reflected in the water.

We felt good after completing the loop, so we decided to make the three-mile round trip to McDonald Falls. The trail followed McDonald Creek to the waterfall and began at an area known as the Sacred Dancing Cascade. The water in the creek is almost iridescent blue and as clear as tap water. Helen got a great look at the stream while walking ahead of me.

For unexplained reasons, the trail below the falls was closed, and the best picture I could get was from the overlook along the road. Be assured that the falls were better than the picture.

We hope you enjoy the first post from Glacier and will come back for more. There is so much to see, and this is just a sample of a masterpiece created by the Almighty.

For now, we’re Easin’ Along.

I intended to spend a lot of time in Ennis, Montana, with a fly rod in my hand. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. Windy and rainy weather moved in and gave every trout in the Madison River a reprieve.

I did have one opportunity to fish on our first full day in Ennis. Rick and Debbie, the friends we met in Big Sky, drew a detailed map to one of Rick’s secret fishing spots on Bear Creek, near Cameron, Montana. With map in hand, Helen and I drove to Cameron and set out on a hike to the North Fork of Bear Creek. As soon as we walked past the Grizzly Bear warning sign, we realized we left the bear spray in our fifth-wheel and decided that we should turn back. Once again, the trout won.

On another day, with rain in the forecast, we drove to Virginia City, a trip I shared (click here) with readers earlier this week. The return from that visit is the subject of this post.

As we were eating an excellent lunch at the Road Agent’s Roost, a German restaurant in Virginia City, a storm moved in and dumped hail on the city for well over ten minutes. Fortunately, the hailstones were small and caused us no damage, but the stones covered the road and the roofs of every structure in sight.

We made it back to Ennis ahead of the storm, but we could see dark clouds moving up the canyon from the south. Eventually, the clouds circled us and began filtering into the valley from the north, moving toward the Ennis Mountain range. Only a moron would stand out in a lightning storm taking pictures, but the cloud formations and the colors of the sky were so strikingly unusual, I had to risk it.

Ultimately the storm moved on before I fell victim to it, but not before presenting us with a brilliant rainbow. We wanted more so; we waited, and, for a curtain call, we witnessed a sunset to remember. Fishing can wait…sunsets should not be missed. 

Thanks for stopping by. Come back next week and join us in the unspeakable beauty of Glacier National Park.

We’re Easin’ Along.