Sunday, June 29, 2008
East Glacier
This morning we had a leisurely breakfast for 7 at our campsite, cleaned up and got ourselves ready to leave for the east side of the park. We decided to stop in at the visitor’s center to make sure the Going to the Sun road was open. They have been plowing like crazy since the beginning of July and have it almost completely cleared, but there is a couple of mile stretch that still isn’t cleared. This means that you can’t drive over the park to the east side (and experience what I’ve heard is one of the most breathtaking roads in the country), but have to drive around the southern tip. It was about 100 miles each way, but we decided to go for it. We left around 11:30.
We made it to “Two Medicine” lake at 1:00 for lunch. The Suburban was a total pleasure with the 7 of us in it and no trailer to pull. It practically felt like a little sports car. ☺
Two Medicine lake was another spectacular spot. We ate our sandwiches, skipped rocks and took pictures.
Next we continued north to St. Mary lake and up to a viewing point on the east side of Going to the Sun road that has a view one of the few remaining glaciers. The sign at the overlook talks about how much the glacier has shrunk and that it is expected to be completely gone by 2030. We couldn’t really see the glacier as the entire side of the mountain is currently covered in snow, but it (the snow) is melting fast. It was 87 degrees at 5,000 feet when we were viewing the glacier.
We continued driving up Going to the Sun road until we got to the roadblock, just a few miles from our campground. We turned around and headed back for the 100 mile circumnavigation. Since we didn’t get back to the west side until 7:30, we decided to go out for dinner, which we rarely do. There were only a couple of diners in West Glacier, but we picked one and were pleasantly surprised. After a good meal, we headed back to camp and got the kids to bed.
Grandma and Grandpa have agreed to take one or two kids each night in their motorhome so that we’re not quite so cramped in our “turtled-up” trailer. However, it’s 10:50 pm and Kate & Kelly are still awake in here. ☹
Here are a few pictures from East Glacier.
Tomorrow I’m hoping to go for a bike ride and then we plan to spend some time on Lake McDonald.
We made it to “Two Medicine” lake at 1:00 for lunch. The Suburban was a total pleasure with the 7 of us in it and no trailer to pull. It practically felt like a little sports car. ☺
Two Medicine lake was another spectacular spot. We ate our sandwiches, skipped rocks and took pictures.
Next we continued north to St. Mary lake and up to a viewing point on the east side of Going to the Sun road that has a view one of the few remaining glaciers. The sign at the overlook talks about how much the glacier has shrunk and that it is expected to be completely gone by 2030. We couldn’t really see the glacier as the entire side of the mountain is currently covered in snow, but it (the snow) is melting fast. It was 87 degrees at 5,000 feet when we were viewing the glacier.
We continued driving up Going to the Sun road until we got to the roadblock, just a few miles from our campground. We turned around and headed back for the 100 mile circumnavigation. Since we didn’t get back to the west side until 7:30, we decided to go out for dinner, which we rarely do. There were only a couple of diners in West Glacier, but we picked one and were pleasantly surprised. After a good meal, we headed back to camp and got the kids to bed.
Grandma and Grandpa have agreed to take one or two kids each night in their motorhome so that we’re not quite so cramped in our “turtled-up” trailer. However, it’s 10:50 pm and Kate & Kelly are still awake in here. ☹
Here are a few pictures from East Glacier.
Tomorrow I’m hoping to go for a bike ride and then we plan to spend some time on Lake McDonald.
# posted by Craig @ 10:00 PM 
