We will first be traveling through the town of Kalispell, MT (pop. 24,558). The name Kalispell, when translated from the North American Indian tribe language of Salish, means "flat land above the lake". That's very accurate since Kalispell is located at the north end of Flathead Lake.
We stopped at Costco in Kalispell to top off ROVER's tank with the best priced fuel in town and pick up some groceries to last us the next couple of weeks.
We got back on the road and soon found ourselves at the very interesting West Glacier Entrance of our 37th Visited National Park.
To get from our campsite to the Historic Lake McDonald Lodge, where the boat tour leaves from and returns to, will mean we'll have to travel about 9-miles north on the Going-To-The-Sun Road.
From June 13 through September 28 each year, a Timed Entry Vehicle Reservation is required for access to the west side of Going-to-the-Sun Road from 7AM to 3PM. We don't have one of those, but when you book an excursion that requires you to be on the Going-to-the-Sun Road during that time frame a special exemption is included with your ticket.
Once you get passed the Check Point you are good to drive on the Going-to-the-Sun Road for the rest of the day, unless of course, you mistakenly drive outside one of the Check Points.
About 30-minutes before we boarded our boat I overheard someone saying that there was an accident on the Going-to-the-Sun Road and that it would be closed in both directions until they could get tow trucks to clear the wreckage. No other details, like is it south of us, so we can't get back to the campground? Or is it north of us, so that it only affects people who are trying to go deeper into the park.
The boat tour is an hour long and we intend to have a nice lunch in the lodge afterwards, so maybe 2.5-hours from now everything will be cleared up and it won't matter.
CRUISING ON LAKE MCDONALD
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
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There are two tour boats in service today, the 1985 Glacier Lily (frt) and the 1930 DeSmet (rear)
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A pedestrian bridge over Snyder Creek which flows into Lake McDonald.
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The water inside of Lake McDonald is amazingly clear.
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The cold temperature of the water keeps the algae in check.
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The DeSmet has left the dock with the 9:30AM tour passengers.
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We could rent one of these, but I'm not feeling that energetic this morning.
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LOOK! There goes the DeSmet passed the dock, but out in the middle of the lake.
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It's getting closer to our tour time, so they better hurry back to the dock.I noticed there are a half dozen or so people riding on the top deck?
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That's where we wanted to ride, so we were the first in line to board the boat.
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The glaciers of Glacier National Park are located deep into the interior of the park.
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Wildfires in 2003 and 2018 burned down to the western shoreline of Lake McDonald.
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The eastern shoreline, where the lodges and campgrounds are, was spared from the wildfires.
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There were lots of people willing to at least get their toes wet in the frigid waters.
The menu describes our meal as a:
Huckleberry Elk Burger
It's 1/3-lb. Elk Burger, Huckleberry Aioli, Organic Goat Cheese,
Montana Wheat Potato Bun, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion and Pickles
Guess which meal was mine? That's right, the one with the fries!
If you zoom in you can even see Snyder Creek rolling by outside our window.
Tricia and I have both had Bison Burgers in the past and we enjoyed them, but today we decided to try an Elk Burger for the first time.
First off we both finished our meals, but I found the elk burger was a little bit dry. The elk meat is so lean that there was nothing "juicy" about the burger. Also, unexpectedly the meat wasn't ground like a hambuger, instead it was more like a ham steak.
I've also learned the Bison Burgers we previously ate were potentionally only 40% bison, with the balance of 60% being ground beef.
Right behind where we parked ROVER while we went on the boat tour was a small field of grass. I noticed earlier there were a few small holes and brown spots in the field, but didn't think anything of it.
When we returned to the parking lot after lunch everything began to make sense.
We stood very still for a few minutes and saw at least a half dozen heads pop up out of the ground. These prairie dogs had redish-brown streaks down the front of their faces. I hadn't seen that trait before?
The traffic seemed to be flowing in both directions so I assumed that the earlier accident had been cleared. Boy was I wrong!
We had driven about 5-miles north of the lodge on the Going-to-the-Sun Road when I started seeing brake lights up ahead of us. Less than 1/2-mile from the Avalanche Campground entrance the traffic was at a complete standstill, the kind where people put their vehicles in park and take their foot off the brakes.
We saw cars speeding passed us in the opposite direction, only to find out later they were making u-turns up ahead.
Then we saw it! Two flatbed tow trucks coming at us with a small sedan on one and a Jeep Wrangler on the other. Both had heavy damage on the front driver's side of the vehicle, obviously one or both of them had crossed over the solid double-yellow line down the middle of the road.
Everyone is always talking about how scary and dangerous the Going-to-the-Sun Road is to drive. Now I believe them!
While visiting the campgrounds we made note of our favorite campsites in each, just in case there is a return visit sometime in the distant future.
With that number of campsites, multiplied by an average of 2-5 persons per site, you'd think they would have more than just 3 unisex shower stalls for the entire campground, but they don't!
We are going to take the day off of exploring today, so I can start assembling this blogpost and around noontime, when everyone else is out exploring, we can grab a couple of showers without having to wait in a long line.
Tomorrow we have a 104-mile travel day ahead of us, which is a very comfortable distance to tow THE POD. The route along US-2 is nicknamed the "Montana Scenic Loop" which has us looking forward to the drive.
We enjoyed our 3-night visit here at the Apgar Campground in Glacier National Park and are looking forward to our next destination.
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