Montana - glacier national park, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, bear, hotel and lodging

Full-time RV Diary

Browning, Montana - August 15, 2005
Jason's thoughts - Kelly opened the metal entry door on the side of the RV to let me in and let it fly. The wind caught it and it swung full blast into my face. In the split second before it broke my nose and knocked my front teeth out, I turned away and took the full impact of the door in the back left side of my head. I staggered to the pavement, got up, stumbled into the rv, and sat on the steps just inside the door until my left eye began to see something other than gray, then I grabbed a garbage bag of ice held it to my head and drove to Glacier. God saved me big time. Otherwise I would have spent the night in the hospital getting oral surgery, my jaw reset and my nose rebuilt. I have never been hit that hard; not in two years of karate; not when I was twelve years old and got knocked down with a baseball to the temple; not when a fellow racquetball player nearly broke his racquet across the middle of my back thinking I was the "ball".
Kelly's thoughts - I said I was sorry. We had a blast in the hot tub later in the day when we got to the St. Mary's KOA campground.

On the way to Glacier National Park, Montana - August 15, 2005
Travel Info - US 89 is a primary road and was just as bad as US 287 which is a secondary road. Neither road had a shoulder. Big vehicles BE CAREFUL on steep winding descents!
Jason's thoughts - Smoked the RV brakes descending a long 7% grade into Saint Mary's entrance to Glacier National Park - VERY BAD! I could have killed us or anyone in our path had I lost control. Second time in 22 years of driving and today I vow to NEVER let this mistake happen again. Pay attention! Get serious!
Kelly's thoughts - We didn't in this instance but it pays to call ahead, the campground, park, etc., to get road information from the locals.

Glacier National Park, Montana - August 16, 2005
Travel Info - Northern Montana near the Canadian border. Vehicles not allowed in park over 21 feet in length. All roads closed in the Winter, NOT the park itself though, but that means you hike in. $20 for a seven day pass. From mid August on is the perfect time to visit without the crowds. Beautiful and rugged. The Going-To-The-Sun Road can be done in one day if all you want to do is drive through and stop occasionally. Get wildlife sighting information from park rangers. The park spends months clearing the snow on Going-To-The-Sun Road. This is done so visitors can drive through in June which means you need to call ahead for road conditions. A woman told me it was over 80 degrees one day and the next day the road was closed because it snowed about six inches the night before.
Jason's thoughts - We watched a grizzly bear and took a few pictures not 50 feet away for 30 minutes; his tongue wrapped deftly around each blue huckleberry, patiently leaving the red ones to ripen for another day. Later I saw a 100' high hidden cave with a water fall plunging down from the inside somewhere using the field glasses Kelly's dad left her. It was at lest 1200 feet below us and the rangers said their were no established trails to it and that no one ever went down there. Tomorrow I will ask Kelly to follow me down.
Kelly's thoughts - My olfactory was going overboard with pleasure at Glacier so much that sometimes I would just stop mid stride and inhale, inhale, inhale. I was totally fixated on the water the whole time we were there too. I constantly had something to say about how beautiful it was. I lost my phone while we were on a six mile hike, good luck finding it, right?

Glacier National Park, Montana - August 17, 2005
Jason's thoughts - I leapt back into the car as it rolled towards the trailer, jumping halfway in and stomping the first pedal my foot came to, and then as the car smashed the trailer tail light out I thought "I guess that was the clutch pedal, the brake pedal must be the other one". Later while hiking Kelly found an apple someone had dropped. So, we cleaned it and shared it under a Cedar tree.
Kelly's thoughts - There is an abundance of waterfalls. We saw more wildlife in the first two days we were there than any other national park we have been to. This is definitely a hikers park, although, you do not have to be a hiker to see the wildlife. All the animals we saw were from the car, the hiking is the icing on cake.

Click for more Glacier National Park pictures.

Glacier National Park, Montana - August 18, 2005
Jason's thoughts - $100 Hike - went on the same six mile hike we went on yesterday looking for the phone Kelly lost. We figured a less than 1% chance of finding it due to theft or someone simply kicking it off the path. But we had one secret weapon. There was ONE place only Kelly and I went OFF to "explore" on...so we went back there and found the little phone right where it had fallen. Later we photographed big mountain goats with pointed piercing horns, shaggy white coats, and jet black pupiless eyes. Met a girl traveling with her kid, driving all over the U.S. in a Dodge Neon, sleeping in a tent, excited and alive, though she was a little disappointed in Glacier. She needed a break so she let her kid wander the restaurant climbing into any empty seat at any table where there were other kids. At one point I looked over and saw him two tables away, poking some kid with a red ball-point pen. He was smiling. The kid getting poked was not. Waitress was nice. She gave us free Huckleberry ice cream - some of the best homemade ice cream I have ever had, smooth, creamy, rich, bursting ever so often with sweet fresh huckleberry fruit and flavor.
Kelly's thoughts - We took a hike to where I had some business to take care yesterday and voila there sits my phone.

Glacier National Park, Montana - August 19, 2005
Jason's thoughts - Met my first Crow Nation Bison Ranger. Who knew? Fell asleep together among the wildflowers atop the glacier in the warm sun. Breathtaking panoramic views of the glaciers, peaks, lakes, rivers, ice, sheer cliff walls and clouds that would form in about 60 seconds before our eyes then disappear 60 seconds later.
Kelly's thoughts - We photographed bighorn sheep at Logan Pass this morning. Hiking Siyeh Pass I felt like a von Trapp in the Sound of Music. I didn't break out in song (big family disappointment). I really wanted to for hours after my mountain climbing experience though I was giving Jason a break from the Belote curse. The longest and hardest hike yet, the elevation goes from 5370 to 8117 feet and is 10.03 miles long. We burned about 2000+ calories and unfortunately we both were dehydrated afterwards. We brought only one water each (16.9 ozs.), a meal replacement bar each, an apple and sunflower seeds. This hike requires at least two bottles of water each and more food.

Glacier National Park, Montana - August 20, 2005
Jason's thoughts - Going through the gate Kelly bet me they would ask for my ID with the Golden Eagle Pass and I bet her they would not. I won and she got a spanking. YEEE-HAAA! Betting's not just for money you know! Kelly's been cooking the most incredible breakfast sandwiches I have ever had - pan toasted buttered bagels stuffed with egg plus meats like roast beef, pork chop and spam. All I want to do is eat.
private joke - discovered, and fell in love with, buttery thimbles.
Kelly's thoughts - Watched adult grizzlies play with their cubs on the mountainside. Tracked a moose with a giant rack of antlers and watched him eat from the lake.

Glacier National Park, Montana - August 21, 2005
Jason's thoughts - Got up at 2 a.m. to go sit in the woods with lawn chairs Snuggled up under the stars and full moon and listened to the night bird calls in the chilly breeze. Saw two falling stars together.
Kelly's thoughts - Layer up and enjoy.

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