Weekend Getaway in our Backyard

Knowing that I had three weeks free from being on call, Amber and I made plans to enjoy our weekends before mid-July when the risk of fire starts going up.  I had been able to snag some last minute reservations in some campgrounds.  I couldn't have gotten luckier.  For our first free weekend, we were going to be staying at the Fish Creek Campground, in Glacier N.P.

We were up early Saturday morning to make it to the Lake MacDonald Lodge restaurant.  One of Amber's birthday gifts was a meal at the lodge, so we stopped by for breakfast.  Then we set out driving Going to the Sun Road, for our first time this year.  We didn't care about stopping at Logan Pass, though.  We continued down the East side until we found a parking spot to get us on the trail to Virginia Falls.  Altogether, it was about 4 miles round trip.

After our nice hike we exited Saint Mary, and drove south.  I wanted to check out the Cut Bank entrance of Glacier.  It's accessed via a small gravel road.  It ends at a small trail head parking and a primitive campground.  It's definitely on my list of places I want to camp.

There were still a couple open campsites, but nowhere to park at the trail head.  So we turned around and headed out, going back into the park at Saint Mary, driving across Logan Pass again, and made it to Apgar.  From there it was a quick jaunt to the other side of Lake MacDonald to reach Fish Creek Campground.  We ended up getting lucky with the campsite I had booked.  It was in one of the smaller loops and sat right next to Fish Creek.  We were able to hear the flowing water all night long.

After setting up camp we did the hike out to Rocky Point, enjoyed the warm sun and views of the mountains and the lake, and completed a loop back to the campground.  We spent the rest of the day reading in the shade, roasting brats & smores over a camp fire, and going to a Ranger talk later that night about the bats that live in Glacier N.P.

Whitefish Mountain Wilderness

Sunday June 16, 2019- After church Amber and I wanted to make use of our Sunday afternoon.  We had just gotten our fishing licenses and were itching to start trying to catch fish for the summer.  We drove up to Whitefish Lake and took a road heading up into the Whitefish Mountains.  It's a remote range that runs along the boundary of Glacier National Park.  The North Fork of the Flathead River provides the barrier between the range in Glacier, and the Whitefish.

An hour later, and plenty of dust and bumpy ruts later, we were deep into the mountains and ominous thunderclouds loomed above.  We pulled into the small camping area at Upper Whitefish Lake just as a torrential downpour began.  We sat in our van eating our lunch and watching the rain splatter across the lake and surrounding terrain.  Thirty minutes later the sun came out, the rain began to subside, and we commenced fishing for a while.

Most of the lake shore isn't accessible very easily, except in a couple of the campsites and the area we pulled off the road.  So after a while of not getting any trout to take our lures we continued up the narrow gravel road heading towards Red Meadow Lake.

Red Meadow Lake sits almost on top of the Whitefish Divide.  I didn't realize how high up the lake sat, when I researched.  It was in a small basin surrounded by towering rocky peaks.  I was awestruck.  We went to the eastern side of the lake and I spent some time trying to catch fish while Amber took pictures.

I didn't even get a bite.  Not really surprised anymore.  I have a several year bad streak of never catching fish.  So we eventually packed up and headed down the east slope of the mountains until we reached the North Fork of the Flathead River.  We skirted along outside Glacier N.P. before heading back to Columbia Falls and then home in Kalispell.

Late Spring in Glacier National Park

Early Sunday morning, on June 2, Amber and I were up early to drive to the east side of Glacier National Park.  We wanted to hike to Virginia Falls, which is accessed from Going to the Sun Road.  Because the full road is not open yet, we took HWY 2 around the southern boundary of the park.  One of the neat features you pass on this route, is the lowest point on the Continental Divide, in the northern part of the US.  It's named Marias Pass.  American Indians long knew of the pass, but white settlers in America only heard rumors.  In December of 1889 John Stevens set out on snow-shoes to explore the area and confirm that there was a feasible route for the Great Northern Railroad to cross the Continental Divide.  The US HWY 2 wasn't constructed until the 1930s.  At that time, a monument was put up at the location, honoring John Stevens.

 When we got to East Glacier, we turned onto MT-49.  It's a cut off road that gets you to the Two Medicine entrance of Glacier, and joins back up with MT-89 to then access the east side of Going to the Sun Road, at Saint Mary.  It's a very handy shortcut, otherwise you have to go all the way over to Browning, MT to get to MT-89. 

We got to the Two Medicine Entrance and discovered that route 49 was closed off.  I didn't want to add even more driving time, so we decided to change our plans and hike some trails in Two Medicine.  We parked the car and then began hiking along the south part of Middle Two Medicine Lake.  It was a gorgeous morning and very peaceful.  In addition to autumn, late spring is a wonderful time to visit the Park, before hordes of tourists descend upon Montana like swarms of locusts.

We passed beaver dams, beautiful meadows, and lots of early blooming wild flowers on our hike up the valley.

We reached a junction for Aster Falls, only 0.1 miles.  So we made the quick jaunt to it.  The sun was almost directly overhead the waterfall, so I struggled to get some good photos.  It took a little bit of lighting adjustment at back at home.

It was very beautiful and roaring from all the spring run off.  The cool mist felt pretty nice from the already hot morning.  We continued down the main trail thinking we would try to make it to Rockwell Falls.  However, when we neared Paradise Creek we ran into another couple who said the hiker bridge hadn't been put back in place yet for the season, and the water was too strong and deep to cross safely.  A bit farther downstream was another crossing designed for horses, so we figured the four of us would take a look.  However, once again, the water was just too swift to safely cross.

At that point, Amber and I decided to return to Aster Falls and continue up the trail 0.6 miles to Aster Lookout.  It was steep going, but we made it and enjoyed some time soaking in the scenery and warm sun.  We ran into only a handful of other hikers.  How often can you say that when you go hiking in Glacier National Park on a warm sunny day?

I was able to set the camera up on a small rock ledge and even get a picture of the two of us before we headed back down the trail.

Once back down at the trail head we enjoyed a picnic lunch before we made the drive back to Kalispell.  Until our next adventure...