We toured the Great Lodges of Glacier National Park with a tour group run by Glacier Park Inc. It was a six day, five night trip, and we had such a blast. I came home with 586 photos, but I won't bore our readers with all of them. I'll just post enough to convey the flavor of the trip.
We arrived on Sunday evening and stayed at the Glacier Park Lodge, in East Glacier, Montana. It was chilly, with temperatures in the mid-50s and a harsh wind blowing. Still the flowers were beautiful, and the scenery was not affected by the cold. (I bought a great big warm hooded sweatshirt in the gift-shop and was good to go for the rest of the trip. In fact, I'm wearing the sweatshirt in most of the photos that were taken during the rest of the trip.)
The cold weather did not drive us indoors before we got a chance to watch the sunset though. We sat out on the porch outside the lobby and watched the sun slowly dip below the mountains.
Our room had a balcony that faced East, so while Mom was getting dressed Monday morning, I watched the sunrise. It was calm and peaceful, and a great way to start the first full day of our vacation.
Our transportation for the tour was these red buses which were built by the White Motor Company in 1937, and were refurbished by the Ford Motor Company in 1999 (at a tax-deductible cost of 6.5 million dollars). They were convertible and really gave us a chance to see the mountains as we drove through the valleys.
The buses fit 17 people, but they only put about 10 on each bus of our tour, so we weren't crowded in the least. On the far left is our bus driver, Russ, who is a retired robbery sergeant from Miami-Dade, Florida. He was awesome, funny and knowledgeable, and always ready with a helping hand. He really helped to make the trip awesome. (The rest of our bus-group are: (starting with me and going to the right) Becky and Kenneth from Dayton, Ohio; Gene and Judy from Virginia; Margaret and Patricia (another Mom and Daughter traveling couple) from Helena, Montana; and Laurinda and Stan from Columbus, Ohio.)
Before we headed into the Park, we visited a tipi village on the Blackfeet Reservation. We had a lesson on the history of the Blackfeet people, and an art lesson on Native American art. It was really quite interesting and we learned the symbolism of the images that are painted on the tipis.
As we headed into the Park, we were warned to be on the lookout for bears, both Black Bears and Grizzly Bears. This is bear country for sure. As we hiked through the Two Medicine Valley, we found this tree that had been used as a bear-claw sharpener. Everyone says that when confronted by a bear, you should make yourself look big and threatening. This is me practicing.
Our first stop in the Park, was the Two Medicine Valley and a hike to Running Eagle Falls. It is also called "Trick Falls" because in the spring, when the snow melt is running fast and hard down the mountains, there is a waterfall that runs over the top of Running Eagle falls. When the snow melt slows down in late summer, the top waterfall dries up and the falls underneath are visible. It was beautiful and seemed to pour out of the center of the mountainside.
After our short hike, we got back on the red buses and headed into Canada, to Waterton Lakes National Park and our second lodge, the Prince of Wales. It was situated high on a bluff overlooking Upper Waterton Lake and the Village of Waterton. Both the hotel and the view were beautiful.
We had some free time on Tuesday, so we joined some others in the group for a visit to Cameron Lake and Cameron Falls. The weather was still kind of chilly, but warming up fast.
After our visit to the Lake, we still had a little time before we had to rejoin the group, so I convinced Mom to join me on a "strenuous" 2.4 km hike up Bear Hump mountain next to our hotel. The trail has a 200 meter elevation gain and winds its way straight up this mountain. My trail-guide book claimed the view was magnificent once you reached the top so off we went. Onward, O' Intrepid Explorers!
I don't think Mom was feeling quite as intrepid as I was, but she was a good sport about the whole thing. Unfortunately, about 2/3 of the way up, climbing over some steps in the trail, Mom felt a pull and a pop in her knee and could go no further. After ensuring that she was not in serious pain, I settled her down on the side of the trail, warned her to make some noise to keep the bears away and headed on up the rest of the way alone.
The view from the top really was magnificent -- the mountains, the lake, the tiny village. I paused to take some photos and then headed back towards Mom to help her make the difficult descent on only one leg.
When we reached the bottom, I flagged down a red bus to take us back to the hotel, where a little ice, some Advil and an ace bandage had Mom back up and on her way in no time (although she was a little gimpy for the rest of the trip).
We had afternoon tea in the lobby of the hotel before we headed to our next lodge. The sweets were very tasty, but I have to admit, I preferred the little finger sandwiches. (I know. This may be the only time my sweet tooth did not win out. They were tasty sandwiches though.)
We spent two nights at the Many Glacier Lodge which was a good thing, because there was so much to do there -- boat rides on the lake, trail-heads to all sorts of different places, and horseback rides on trails starting from right behind the lodge.
After we arrived at the Many Glacier, we had dinner in the Swiss Lounge with Steve and Polly, another couple in our tour-group that we had struck up a friendship with. They are from New Jersey, and have been to 339 of the 392 National Parks, so we had a lot to talk about. They were our partners in crime when it came to collecting Park Passport Stamps at all the Visitors Centers that we stopped at. We had fondue for dinner. It was tasty.
On Wednesday, even though Mom was still a little shaky on her knee, and quite gimpy, she hiked the 2 mile round-trip out to Grinnell Lake with me. This hike started with a boat trip on Swiftcurrent Lake, followed by a half-mile trek over a ridge to board a boat on Lake Josephine, and then an additional mile trek out to Grinnell Lake, before turning around to return the way we came. The hike from Lake Josephine to Grinnell Lake was pretty flat, but there was a suspension bridge that could only accommodate one hiker at a time, and Mom did just fine.
After our hike, Polly and I decided to explore the area the way it was discovered originally -- on horseback. Mom decided to rest with her leg up in the room, and Steve hiked out to the Ranger Station to get our Parks Passports stamped. Is anyone surprised that I jumped at the opportunity to get back on a horse?
I enjoyed my ride so much, I'm thinking of becoming a professional cowgirl!
It was tough being without cell service in the mountains. I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk with Glenn and the girls on the hotel land line.
Thursday was our last full day on the tour, and we spent it driving on the Going-to-the-Sun Road in our red bus. We headed east from the St. Mary Valley, over the mountains to our last lodge, the Lake MacDonald Lodge.
On our way, we crossed over the Continental Divide. We got our Parks Passports stamped here too.We spent Friday morning resting and reading next to the giant fireplace in the lodge, since the wind had blown the cold weather back down into the valley, Thursday night. It was a quiet ending to a perfect trip.
