Wednesday finds us on the way from Billings MT. It’s just a day of driving. They have very healthy snow fences lining the road. Charles saw two herds of deer today. Carol slept most of the day. We spent the night in Helena, the capitol city.
Thursday is another day in Montana. The goal was St. Mary’s just outside Glacier National Park, which we reached just after noon. We will be here for 3 nights. The land north of Helena looks very much like Fallon and Lake Tahoe. The grain fields go for miles. Charles said they would drive the tractor for a mile in a straight line and turn around and come back. There are a lot of winter wheat fields. They alternate with the summer fields and make the landscape striped. We saw a herd of pronghorn antelope near the road plus geese and more deer. Near Shelby MT we saw a huge wind turbine field. It looked different than those in Tonopah CA. Because of the rolling terrain they looked different sizes and not in rows. They intrigue me and I would love to have one in our yard. We also saw about 8 cows on the road and one horse. There was not a farmhouse in sight. I thought we should call the sheriff’s department because Nancy had told us about her cattle roundups and bear hunts. Of course, the nearest phone was 20 miles so we let someone else handle it.
There are all kinds of campers at the St. Mary KOA, from tenters to motorhomes. Like all KOAs this one has small cabins and they are heavily used. The photo of the coach should give you an idea about the proximity of the mountains. The first night the temperature was a balmy 52 degrees. No need to worry about air conditioning. As we looked out the first morning we saw a couple loading their tandem bicycle. They had packs all over the bike plus a small one-wheel trailer. It looked as though they we well experienced. Biking in the country is not for the faint of heart. Couch potatoes need not apply.
Friday we awoke to find it was 59 degrees in the coach. Not bad since it was 51 outside. We spent Friday in Glacier National Park via the Red Bus Crown of the Continent Tour. Another couple from KOA went on the trip and we picked up six more at the Lodge for a total of 10. For anyone visiting the park in an RV I would strongly recommend this mode of visiting the park. They do the driving and you do the looking. Because much of the road hangs on the side of mountains and is only two cars wide (most of the time) the driver doesn’t get to see the sights. We entered at the east entrance at about 4,500 ft and started the climb on the Going-to-the-Sun road. Eighteen miles and 2,100 ft later we crossed the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. This part of the road had been closed until a week before due to snow. We stopped at the visitor’s center at the pass but due to the clouds, which started at 6,000 ft, we could not see anything. It was an odd sensation to stand in the parking lot with the wind blowing the clouds past. Something like being in a thick fog and a high wind. Carol met a woman who had arrived early to get a parking place and then couldn’t see anything. Back in the bus we started down the west side heading for McDonald Lake. On the way down we looked back and you could see the wind-blown clouds spilling over the crests like a waterfall and breaking from the peaks. It was just like some video I have seen of high winds blowing snow from the tops of the Himalayas. The sun appeared on the west side and the driver rolled back the cloth top to provide a vertical view. That is vertical up as we already had a vertical down view. Sixteen miles and 2,000 ft later we had lunch at Lake McDonald near the west entrance. The temperature was now in the 70s and everyone was in shorts and t-shirts. After lunch it was back on the bus for the trip up and over Logan Pass. By this time all of the clouds had disappeared and we could see everything. You really do get a new view in each direction. The driver was knowledgeable and talked about the scientific history of the park as well as the legends and Indian folklore. He also talked about the wildlife and plants. The photos we have included do not do justice to the park. You just have to see it for yourself.
Thursday is another day in Montana. The goal was St. Mary’s just outside Glacier National Park, which we reached just after noon. We will be here for 3 nights. The land north of Helena looks very much like Fallon and Lake Tahoe. The grain fields go for miles. Charles said they would drive the tractor for a mile in a straight line and turn around and come back. There are a lot of winter wheat fields. They alternate with the summer fields and make the landscape striped. We saw a herd of pronghorn antelope near the road plus geese and more deer. Near Shelby MT we saw a huge wind turbine field. It looked different than those in Tonopah CA. Because of the rolling terrain they looked different sizes and not in rows. They intrigue me and I would love to have one in our yard. We also saw about 8 cows on the road and one horse. There was not a farmhouse in sight. I thought we should call the sheriff’s department because Nancy had told us about her cattle roundups and bear hunts. Of course, the nearest phone was 20 miles so we let someone else handle it.
There are all kinds of campers at the St. Mary KOA, from tenters to motorhomes. Like all KOAs this one has small cabins and they are heavily used. The photo of the coach should give you an idea about the proximity of the mountains. The first night the temperature was a balmy 52 degrees. No need to worry about air conditioning. As we looked out the first morning we saw a couple loading their tandem bicycle. They had packs all over the bike plus a small one-wheel trailer. It looked as though they we well experienced. Biking in the country is not for the faint of heart. Couch potatoes need not apply.
Friday we awoke to find it was 59 degrees in the coach. Not bad since it was 51 outside. We spent Friday in Glacier National Park via the Red Bus Crown of the Continent Tour. Another couple from KOA went on the trip and we picked up six more at the Lodge for a total of 10. For anyone visiting the park in an RV I would strongly recommend this mode of visiting the park. They do the driving and you do the looking. Because much of the road hangs on the side of mountains and is only two cars wide (most of the time) the driver doesn’t get to see the sights. We entered at the east entrance at about 4,500 ft and started the climb on the Going-to-the-Sun road. Eighteen miles and 2,100 ft later we crossed the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. This part of the road had been closed until a week before due to snow. We stopped at the visitor’s center at the pass but due to the clouds, which started at 6,000 ft, we could not see anything. It was an odd sensation to stand in the parking lot with the wind blowing the clouds past. Something like being in a thick fog and a high wind. Carol met a woman who had arrived early to get a parking place and then couldn’t see anything. Back in the bus we started down the west side heading for McDonald Lake. On the way down we looked back and you could see the wind-blown clouds spilling over the crests like a waterfall and breaking from the peaks. It was just like some video I have seen of high winds blowing snow from the tops of the Himalayas. The sun appeared on the west side and the driver rolled back the cloth top to provide a vertical view. That is vertical up as we already had a vertical down view. Sixteen miles and 2,000 ft later we had lunch at Lake McDonald near the west entrance. The temperature was now in the 70s and everyone was in shorts and t-shirts. After lunch it was back on the bus for the trip up and over Logan Pass. By this time all of the clouds had disappeared and we could see everything. You really do get a new view in each direction. The driver was knowledgeable and talked about the scientific history of the park as well as the legends and Indian folklore. He also talked about the wildlife and plants. The photos we have included do not do justice to the park. You just have to see it for yourself.
