July 23 - Glacier N.P. Lake St. Mary's, Montana

The plan for the day was to drive around the southern edge of Glacier National Park on US 2 and then curl back up to the middle of the park and re-cross to our campground using the Going to the Sun road that traverses the Continental Divide in the middle of the park. Although we planned to ultimately depart to the east using US 2, I wanted to drive the loop without the trailer so that I could enjoy the drive and stop wherever and whenever the fancy struck me, which is simply not possible when towing the Tin Blimp. Also, since vehicles over 21 feet total length are prohibited on the Going to the Sun road, this was the only way that we could legally drive across it. Along the way we planned to stop at St. Mary's Lake and take a lake cruise up to a trailhead and walk with a Ranger to the St. Mary's Falls above the head of the lake. All in all, we thought it was a good plan.

So after a quick breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup we drove out past West Glacier and joined US 2 as it wound around the southern edge of the park. We had great scenery all the way and I was really glad to be able to relax enough with the driving to enjoy it. We stopped at Marias pass and photographed the chain of peaks that loomed over us in the park on the north side of the highway, and then continued on to the east. The shift from forested mountains to a rather barren and treeless prairie vegetation was particularly abrupt as we came out of the mountains on US 2, really like "Boom!" you've hit the great American prairie.

We detoured over to Browning to try to find a real grocery store with more normal prices, and succeeded in finding an IGA where we purchased some bread and cheese. Turning back west we rejoined the road leading around the edge of the park and stopped off to look at the exhibits in the St. Mary's Visitor Center before finding the boat dock and purchasing our tickets for the cruise and walk. The Visitor Center also had a 15 minute slide show that had uniformly beautiful slides of different aspects of the park strung together with a running commentary--low budget but effective nonetheless. We bought a nice panoramic picture of the mountains for $5.95, a bargain if you consider even how much it would cost to just get such a picture printed if you took it yourself, and a packet of postcards before driving back over to the boat dock for the trip up the lake.

The cruise was just one magnificent view of the mountains after another. Some of peaks were rising from the shores of the lake itself while others were set back a bit. In the distance, but clearly visible, the high, jagged peaks of the Continental Divide rose sheer against the sky. Glaciers and snowfields left over from the previous winter were on many of the uppermost slopes of the mountains, decorating the chain of peaks almost like gems on a crown. It was a half an hour of the most glorious stuff and a truly unforgettable experience.

We docked at the western edge of the lake and Ranger Josh led us first to a medium sized waterfall just around the corner from the dock. The sun was directly on the foaming water of the falls as it leaped over the ledge and crashed into the stream below. We walked from there westward to St. Mary's Falls at a very sedate pace with many rest stops, taking about an hour to do a mile and a half. Some of the rest stops were overlooks where we had absolutely gorgeous views up and down the lake. As we walked the trail the Ranger also introduced us to bear scat and several wildflowers including lupine, asters, Indian paintbrush, and thimbleberry, and showed us trees that the bears had used as rubbing trees or clawing trees to mark their territories. (Where does the Grizzly Bear rub his back? Answer: Anywhere he wants to!)

St. Mary's Falls announced themselves by a loud roaring before we turned the corner of the last hill, and when we arrived we found that the falls were really quite large. The cataract had an upper stage bouncing foaming water down to a lower stage where the water dropped once again and finally settled into the St. Mary River. Curiously enough, the river immediately split around a small island as it meandered the last ways to the lake below. We could cross the river right next to the falls on an old wooden bridge, and that allowed us to get nice views (and photographs!) of the falls from all sides. I helped take pictures of a young woman who had chatted with us on the way up, and she reciprocated by taking our picture with Monika's camera.

It was so beautiful that we were really reluctant to leave, but we had to catch the next boat back down the lake so Ranger Josh shepherded us back down the trail. We stopped for some of the pictures we had missed on the way up and got back to the dock in plenty of time to catch the next boat. The cruise back down the lake gave us different perspectives of the mountains from the trip up, and I particularly remember seeing avalanche areas on the southern shore of the lake. Ranger Josh said that the trees were actually blown down by the force of the wind preceding the wave of snow from the avalanche, and that you could tell how the trees were killed in that an avalanche left them as pearly white snags whereas a forest fire would naturally leave burn marks on the trunks. Personally, I thought that I would be just as happy if I never encountered a forest fire or an avalanche; I just don't need that much excitement any more. I even felt ambivalent about meeting a grizzly bear face to face on the trail; on the one hand I'd like to get the photograph but on the other hand I'd probably be too busy getting out the bear spray and taking evasive action to get a decent shot anyway. I don't know if that means I'm getting smart or just getting old!

The final leg of our loop was traversing the Going to the Sun highway from the east to the west side of the park. The peaks on the east side seemed more sheer and impressive because they stood so starkly up against the sky, while the peaks and ridges on the west side were clothed in trees that seemed to gentle the visual impact a bit. Actually, I just caught the occasional glimpse of this all as I was driving a very narrow and occasionally 1-lane road where the outside of the pavement had fallen off into the canyon. Driving like that I couldn't help but wonder if the other half of the pavement was going to suddenly cascade down the cliff and take us along with it, which added a certain "j'ai ne c'est qua" to the driving experience. Monika, however, got a grand view of the top of the world scenery on the Continental Divide, and I hoped that our upcoming trip on the big red antique touring cars would allow me to see it better on the following day.

We returned to camp in time to have a quick dinner of sandwiches before we wandered over to the amphitheater for the evening Ranger program. A very personable Ranger gave an informative talk on moose. The moose antler he passed around was solid bone and surprisingly heavy, and he mentioned that a moose will grow antlers even at the expense of suffering osteoporosis in the other bones in his body if he does not have a sufficient supply of calcium. He also said that moose are cold adapted animals that have a great deal of difficulty in keeping cool in summertime. At that point a light bulb clicked on and I finally understood why the moose I spotted on our walk around Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons (see Wanderung 3) was just lying in the dense shade underneath the trees: he was too hot! Who knew that moose overheated when air temperatures got above the 50s? That's really useful information because if you're ever trying to spot one you really should look in completely different places depending on the temperature that day.

We also found out that Europeans call the moose an elk, and what we call an elk they call a wapiti. "Bambi", of course, stands for a deer everywhere in the world that Disney films are shown. Is everything clear now? After being educated about meese, we went back to the trailer and had a nice evening campfire tended by Monika while I brought the journal up to date. Then we retired into the trailer and, as it was already around 10, right to bed.