We arrived in St. Mary Montana on Wednesday June 14, 2023. The drive was windy, and rainy but other than that uneventful. Well, our GPS did route us to Glacier National Park instead of our campground, but the ranger was extremely nice and since our campground was less than 2 miles away she was able to quickly redirect us. Setting up camp in the wind and driving rain was not as much fun as setting up other places, but it was nice once we were able to get inside and dry off.
When we first started planning for this trip Tom insisted that I buy rain gear. I bout a set of Frogg Toggs (jacket and pants) and let me tell you that jacket was a life saver. It is completely waterproof, and I stayed nice and dry!
We had our first group meeting and were given a binder with information and driving directions for each stop. Luckily, they use the same RV planning software I do, so we will have the information both written an on my phone. I won’t lie that I’m a little nervous about how this all works, but lucky for us the Wagon Master and the Tail Gunner are both very experienced both with leading a group and both have made numerous trips to Alaska!
We all ate dinner at the café connected to the campground and called it a night. Just a FYI it is light here until 9:30 or 10:00! It’s a little hard to get used to, then the sun rises at 5:00 a.m.!
We did the mundane chore of doing laundry on Thursday and we hung around the campground, chatting with neighbors in between rainstorms!
Friday was much nicer weather, and we went to Glacier National Park with Rick and Yolanda Martinez. Our plan was to hike to Avalanche Lake and we left early enough (we thought!) The drive on the Highway to the Sun was beautiful with lots of waterfalls, but once we got to the trail head, there was no parking anywhere. We decided to drive past the trailhead, see more of the park and try again on our way back. The problem with that idea is that there were still no parking places on our way back! This is apparently one of the most popular hikes in the park, and we couldn’t find another one to hike, so we headed back to camp. Let me stress that the drive itself was beautiful and we all believed we will have plenty of hiking opportunities during the next 11 weeks. Yes, you read that right, we have already been gone one week!
Throughout our travel in Montana, I continue to see small sections of the mountain landscape with snow still visible. My question continued to be why? Well after visit to Glacier National Park I believe the answer may be that this is all that is left of a glacier! If anyone smarter than me knows the answer let me know. Am I correct or just a nut? (I could agree with either, really)
When we were in Zion last year, they have a system where a shuttle takes you to the hiking areas so there is not parking issue. I really think all National Parks should take a note from Zion.
We head out tomorrow to Granum, which is in Canada so we need to eat the avocados that are in the fridge, because apparently, we cannot take avocados into Canada. Does that seem a little random?
Here are some photos of our campground and of Glacier National Park, pay special attention to the deer that was on the side of the road and looked up and smiled at us as we went by!
Tom and Patti's RV Adventure 