eveningcrane

Hi

Just got back from our trip to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. we left from Las Cruces NM, 45 miles from the Mexican border and drove to within 10 miles of the Canadian border - quite a trip.

My favorite part was the four nights at Many Glacier Hotel in GNP. We had opted for a lakeview room and did we get lucky. We had a spacious first floor room with balcony and non-working fireplace. This room was larger than the standard lakeview room.

The room was fantastic for wildlife viewing. In the early morning I saw beavers swimming in the lake, one morning a pair of trumpeter swans landed on the lake, another evening a moose strolled into the lake across from our room and across the lake / road was a hillside full of ripe berries. In Glacier, ripe berries mean bear sightings. Every day we saw grizzly bears foraging on this hillside - all from our balcony.

We did two long hikes while we were there. We did the ranger led hike to Iceberg Lake, with a group of eleven. The ranger was from upstate NY as is DH and we both went to school at St Lawrence University in upstate NY. Well, 2 of the other 9 people also graduated from SLU (albeit 30 years later). What a delightful coincidence.

The hike was long but the elevation gain was very gradual and we stopped periodically as the ranger explained various features. We also saw a grizzly bear foraging for berries along the side of the path on the way to the lake.

Near the lake there were a couple of meadow areas where the wildflowers were in bloom that were simply gorgeous. The lake itself was beautiful with all the "icebergs" still floating. We watch a mountain goat on the cliff behind the lake, everyone in awe - How did he get there (it was quite the rock cliff) ? and how will he get off. They are amazing animals.

On the way back we saw a bull moose munching on some vegetation in a stream bed below us. What a wonderful hike.

We also did the Grinnell Glacier hike, opting for the boat across Swiftcurrent Lake and Josephine Lake.

Note: If you plan to do this hike and want to take the boats, there is an 8:30 hikers express boat, but you need to buy your tickets in advance. When we were there, this boat sold out by 3:00 or 4:00 pm of the previous day. There are later boats but they take longer since they are touring the lakes with narration.

This hike was slightly shorter than the Iceberg Lake hike but more strenous wtih a greater elevation gain and greater changes in trail slope. It was wonderfully scenic. We had a marvelous view of Grinnell Lake from above.

We started out with the ranger led hike, but as there were 37 people on this hike, we got a bit claustrophobic, so we forged ahead on our own.

We ate lunch at the little picnic area, just below the final ascent up to the glacier (where the port-o- johns are)

As we ascended up the last part of the trail (which is the steepest part) there were numerous bighorn sheep - ewes, lambs and rams - off of both sides of the trail.

We wandered around the edges of the glacial lake abutting Grinnell Glacier, had nice views of Salamander and Gem Glaciers and then started our descent (which turned out to be a great idea)

About halfway down, I notice a couple of drops of water on the trail and I thought that DH's camelback was leaking / dripping. But then the droplets became more numerous and could be seen off trail also. When we turned around there was a rather dark ominous cloud behind us. We accelerated our descent and soon were forced to stop and take out our rain ponchos (always carry your rain poncho in the mountains).

The rain got pretty intense for a while, then backed off and then began again. when we finally made it to the shelter at the boat dock there were about 8 other people waiting too. Our tickets assured of us a return trip at 4:15, but it was 2:20 and the rain was coming into the shelter horizontally. We hoped that the 2:40 boat would have room for us.

When the 2:40 boat arrived (at 2:55) it had problems attempting to moor at the dock - the wind and current were strong. When the boat finally docked about 25 hearty (or crazy) souls got off to go on a ranger led hike (in the driving rain!!).

So we all piled on and our numbers had grown to more than 25 by that time. It was a mini stampede, as no one wanted to be left behind. The boat captain had to ask for the one way ticket passenger to disembark as we were above capacity. A few did (and a few didn't) and we started our journey back across the two lakes.

In between the two boats, is a .2 mile path. so when we docked on the other side of Lake Josephine our captain let us sit on the boat until the other boat was just about to dock on Swiftcurrent Lake (they were in radio contact)

When we got on the Swift current boat our captain informed us that the electricity was out at the Many Glacier Hotel! Fortunately when we got back ther was still hot water so a little while later we were comfortably warm and dry.

Well time for the dogs' walk so I'll write more later.

Pamela

BayouGal

What a wonderful trip to Glacier, Pamela! Now I'm planning for GNP next year. Looking forward to reading more~

enzian

Hi Pamela---I'm enjoying you rreport as we recenly returned from GNP also.

I'm curious which days you were there, as it is possible we overlapped. We had very dramatic weather on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 26-27, and Logan Pass was closed on the 27th. We had planned to hike to Iceberg Lake on the 28th, but went to Two Medicine instead due to the Logan Pass conditions. It turns out that one that day (the 28th) hikers on the Iceberg Lake trail reported seing a young bear playing with binoculars! One person took a video of the action and showed it to the ranger. They closed the Iceberg Lake trail the following day. . . We wer on the Grinnell Glacier trail that day, hiking with a ranger.

I'm wondering if you were there around this time or heard anything about the bear with binoculars?

Can't wait for more. . .

maj

Question. When we were there years ago I was under the impression that you could only do the Grinnell Glacier hike with a ranger. We took a ranger led hike to Avalanche Lake, and although interesting, we usually prefer to hike on our own. Most left the group after we arrived at the lake.

Looking forward to the rest of the report.

dowab

My favorite is going to Yellowstone in the Winter. All the bison hit the roads and you have to try an miss them while you are on a snowmobile.

eveningcrane

Back again

Enzian, We were there the week before, and the only weather we had to deal with was the 94 degree heat on Monday the 18th and the afternoon thunderstorm during our hike on the 19th.

Maj, Can't say if at some time in the past the Grinnell Glacier hike was limited to ranger-led only (maybe this was a bear precaution) but while we were there, you could either go on the ranger led hike or do the hike on your own.

If you took the 8:30 boat with all the ranger led hikers, it is easy to get ahead of them. They travel slow and make many stops.

One more observation about our Grinnell Glacier hike, while we were descending in the rain, we met people heading up the trail. What were these people thinking? They were headed straight towards angry black clouds - Did I mention the thunder and lightning before?

Food: I have had one too many mediocre meals in NP lodge main dining rooms, so we never ventured into the dining room for dinner. We had a cooler with bread and cold cuts for our hiking lunches and that sufficed for dinner one night also. One night we ate in the Swiss-style pub at the hotel. The burgers and chicken sandwich were decent. Another night we ate at the restaurant at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn. It too was a decent meal at a not exorbitant cost.

When we got back from the Grinnell Glacier hike to find no electricity in the hotel, we headed out to St Mary's to the Park Cafe and had a marvelous dinner.

For dessert we had pie. Their reputation for pie is well deserved. Wonderful berry pies, not full of gooey, sugary filler, typical of most restaurant pies - instead full of fresh berries between wonderful homemade crusts. If we go back to Glacier NP, I will call the cafe a day before to order a whole pie and bring it into the park with me - the pie is that good (and I make homemade pies - my own mincemeat, cortland apple pies and wild blueberry pies - so I truly appreciate a well made pie)

At breakfast, the buffet was $13-$14 dollars (yikes), so the first morning we ordered off the menu ( a slower but still pricey option) and the food was decent. Another morning we went to the restaurant at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn - which was better value for your money. On our final morning, on our way to Lake McDonald Lodge we stopped and had breakfast at the Park Cafe (getting two pieces of pie to go for later in the day). Breakfast was excellent.

In the day between our two hikes, we took the full day Red Bus tour. It seemed a little redundant, because we would be driving the Going to the Sun highway later on our way to Lake McDonald, but this allowed DH (the designated driver - he drove every last mile of this trip) to enjoy the views and scenery without endangering anyone.

The buses are nice and have an open roof, which allows you to pop up like a ground squirrel and take pictures (of course you only do this when the bus is stopped). It was nice to have interesting information imparted to us by our driver/guide. We learned a lot about the park in a relaxing scenic manner.

After our four wonderful nights at Many Glacier Hotel, we headed west for one night in a cabin at Lake McDonald Lodge. Now maybe the lodge rooms are nice and maybe the other cabins are good but our cabin (14-2 or 14-3 , I can't remember) was miserable.

Now when we stayed in Yellowstone, we spent two nights in a roughrider cabin up at Roosevelt. I described it to my husband as camping in a wooden box, so he was pleasantly surprised to find out the cabins had electricity.

Now these cabins at Roosevelt are very basic (almost stark), but I much preferred them to the cabin at Lake McDonald. While the roughrider cabin had very basic yet solid furniture, the cabin at Lake McDonald appeared to have 40 year old Danish modern furniture that was cheap looking and poorly built when it was new (and it hadn't aged well) The cabin was dark and very crowded. We were glad to leave and glad it was only one night.

On our way out of Glacier, we stopped in Whitefish. Its a wonderful town and we had a nice lunch at the Red Caboose Diner. We were slightly afraid that the Red Caboose thing might be too gimmicky (i.e. That it was designed to lure in tourists, so food quality, or lack thereof, was never considered) We were however pleasantly surprised by a delightful lunch.

Another place that has to be mentioned is The Grateful Bread in Bigforks MT. We had a wonderful breakfast there - We had their Jack on the Bean Stacks and they were fantastic. We also bought some wonderful cookies and huckleberry scones for later consumption.

Well this is all for now - the next installment will deal with Yellowstone (and carcass watch 2008).

Pamela

cyclenana

eveningcrane:

I notice you mentioned a dog. Were you able to take the dog with you? I have found ( amazingly enough in the great animal place Glacier is) that dogs are not welcome in the park hotels. Did you see that. Except for dogs for handicapped people. I guess my 6lb chihuahua does not count as a seeing eye dog as my husband has macular degeneration!!!!!Thank you

eveningcrane

Back Again

Cyclenana, Our three dogs did not make the trip with us. I am not surprised that dogs are relatively unwelcome in the national parks like Glacier. I am more amazed that they allow them in the cabins (But what do you do with them during the day - they aren't allowed on trails or other park facilities) With all that wildlife around, dogs could be very disruptive and actually endanger people and themselves. A grizzly may be content to munch berries while people watch from a distance, but if the bear was being serenaded by a barking dog ... ?

But thinking about wildlife / human interactions, reminded me of this incident:

While we were at Many Glacier Hotel a herd of about 11 big horn sheep (ewes and lambs) came onto the hotel property. At one point, they were briefly on the road leading to the registration area when some guest in her car wanted to exit. Rather than wait for the bighorn sheep to clear the road, she kept edging further over to the far right berm (right next to a short rock cliff, the type of thing created when they blast rock away to create the road) and kept driving at them, trying to intimidate the sheep into moving. She made it through with inches to spare from the cliff , where a ewe and her lamb had taken refuge and from the rest of the herd on the other side of her car.

How can somebody who has enough sense to come to Glacier National Park in the first place, treat the residents with such disrespect and callous disregard? I will never comprehend people like this.

Oh well back to Yellowstone - We stayed in Red Lodge the night before we went to Yellowstone at the Beartooth Hideaway Cabins. The cabins were very nice and would be a very nice place to stay for a couple of days. Red Lodge itself is a wonderful town in which to poke around. Unfortunately we didn't get to the Bear Creek Saloon to see the pig races.

The next morning we drove to Yellowstone via the Beartooth Parkway. The parkway is wonderfully scenic with beautiful vistas. We also passed some marvelous fields of wildflowers (great photo ops). This brought us into Yellowstone via the northeast entrance and the Lamar Valley.

On our way to Roosevelt, where we would be staying two nights in a roughrider cabin, we saw our first herds of buffalo. A few miles before Roosevelt, I spotted a dead buffalo about 100 yds from the road and mentioned to my husband, but really didn't think much more about it.

After checking in to our cabin, we drove down to Canyon through Dunraven Pass, stopping at Tower Fall. We ate an early dinner at the soda fountain at Canyon (it became one of our favorite places to eat) and then headed back to Roosevelt, trying to spot wildlife along the way. A little before Mt Washburn we saw a herd of elk grazing down in the valley and stopped to watch them for a while.

As evening drew near, we headed back into Lamar Valley. As we approached the spot near the dead buffalo, we saw a myriad of cars parked along (but off) the road and then the lineup of spotting scopes and photographers with incredible zoom lenses, all focused on the carcass. So, of course we stop and asked them what are they seeing / have seen - nothing, nada - this was all in anticipation of something coming to feed on the poor buffalo.

For the next two evenings and the next two mornings, this craziness played itself out, with the same result - nothing until the last morning we were up in Roosevelt....

Well a thunderstorm is approaching and the dogs need their walk so I will finish this up later

Pamela