Montana-“Big Sky Country”…Is Remarkable
- Aug 16, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 18, 2022
On this stay, we doubled up our to-do list to include Whitefish, Mt. and Glacier National Park. We glamped in Glacier Peak RV Park which was fifteen minutes from Whitefish and twenty minutes or so from Glacier. It worked out nicely. What didn’t work out as nicely was the weird way the National Park system orchestrated entrance into this park. You had to make an on-line reservation to get a pass to enter before 4pm. The goof was no passes were available. Very weird! We were advised to go on-line first thing in the morning to get a day pass. We tried for two days and not only did we have no luck but the passes weren’t available for months. Terrible system. First time we encountered this with the National Parks. We didn’t let it hold us back though. We shifted gears and went at 4pm each day along with a lot of others in the same situation.
The drive getting there was as Kathy would say was “beautiful”. In this first video you’ll see what we’re talking about.
What we didn’t take pics of were the sprawling lakeside cherry orchards along the ride. Sorry about it!
We are doing something different this blog. Ninety percent of the visuals are on video. Not stills. They’re all stunning views of the park. This second video is of Lake McDonald which is the first key landmark as you first enter the park.
The weather the first day was beautiful clear skies with temperatures in the mid-eighties. We continued our drive on Going-To-The-Sun-Road as we ran into McDonald Falls. Old McDonald had some Falls…EE, I, Ee, I, Ohhhhhh! My!
Upper McDonald Creek Trail was our next stop…
Most National Parks have a main car-drive-thru-street, where you can stop at multiple points of interest. That’s what Going-To-The-Sun-Road was at Glacier. Below, is a close-up of the ferocity of Upper McDonald Creek.
On our ride out of the Park it was sunset and it was splendid. See for yourself…
On our second day we took a rainy bike ride to Avalanche Creek. It’s always different viewing when we e-bike as opposed to driving our car. Going-To-The-Sun-Road at this stage is closed to cars. So it makes for an uninterrupted, smooth bike ride. Check it out!
Our bike ride continued to Red Rock Overlook.
We had to cut our bike ride short. It started raining. We conveniently stopped at a restroom area for cover. It was a goof as we watched 10-15 people hauling ass down the road in the rain on their bikes. We couldn’t figure out why more people weren’t waiting out the rainstorm like we were doing. It passed about 20 minutes later so we started hauling ass ourselves (but dryer than the others) back to our car. We made it back, mostly dry.
The next day it was beautiful again. From a rainy, sixty degree day, back to eighty-five degrees again. We took our bikes once more cause we had some unfinished business. Blowing past everything we already saw and headed to the 13,000 foot peak to the end of Going-To-The-Sun-Road. It was a little scary high but it was magnificent. We tried not to look down while we were riding (we were high up) but we made a couple stops along the way to enjoy the jaw-dropping views.
We learned that when you take e-bikes uphill you burn your batteries much faster than when your riding on flatland. When we got to the 11,000 foot elevation level, Kathy’s bike was at a one out of ten on battery power. We turned around without reaching our goal of 13,000 feet. It was disappointing but the right thing to do. Two bummers…Brad lost his selfie stick on the ride down and Kathy stopped prematurely on the way down to put on her jacket. Bad timing. She lost all her downhill momentum and lost all of her battery power with a mile or so to go. Good old pedal power. We switched bikes so Kathy had battery power and Brad peddled. Who said chivalry is dead?
We didn't take any video of McDonald Lodge at Glacier so we included some stills, below. The lodge itself was magnificent inside. It was located on the beautiful lakefront which was also home-base for boat rentals and a ferry ride.
Here's a couple photos we thought were cool enough to also include.
Since we had our days available until 3:30 before we would head to Glacier NP, we spent the time in Whitefish. Thanks to Brad's daughter, Kathy's stepdaughter, Chelsie, and her boyfriend Dan's recommendations we had a couple great meals. Tupelo Grill was fantastic on many levels. The food, the service and the atmosphere was top ten. Wich Haus was an eclectic lunch place that was also above average. We hit a couple places or our own too. Abruzzo was the restaurant we went to the first night in town. The food was good and the service fair. Not in the same caliber as Chel and Dan's recommendations. We cocktailed at the Bulldog Saloon. Brad ordered an old fashion and the bartender said " oh, we don't do those". It was more of an shot and beer joint but eclectic. The Phils game was on so for Brad it was "game on"!
The hippyish VW and trailer were at the entrance to our RV park. Our spot had a cool little private lawn area surrounded by hedges where Brad would workout or where we'd hangout and chill.
Our next two stops are Butte, Mt. and Idaho Falls. Thanks for following our journey and any comments, input, constructive criticism on our video blog is welcomed. We’re interested how it is received. If you liked the video content, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. https://youtube.com/channel/UCvDSnxNwLNYcx5g3mCXh1wg
Peace, love and Soul Train. Kathy and Brad
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