October 2, 2016

We made it back to the U.S. It was a little more serious of a crossing than getting into Canada.

Right after Canada we scheduled Glacier National Park. We stayed just outside the park on the west entrance.  We got rained out the first day, so we spent the day in Whitefish, MT. It was the cutest town. It would have made the list of potential places to live, but the winters ruled it out. Shops, breweries, restaurants and walk-ability. We went to pig and olive for lunch and it was in a converted warehouse with multiple little shops and places to eat. It was something that we look for in towns. A co-op of sorts. It was like the building Acorn was in, in Denver.

We decided that no matter what the weather we would drive into the park the next day. It was coming very close to the main roads being closed down for the season.

We made it into the park and found Going to The Sun Road. There was a length limit to driving on this road and we could tell why. Narrow lanes, steep drop offs and a curvy road.

About every couple miles there is a stop for some attraction whether it be a vista point, waterfall or hike. We made it all the way to Logan pass which was on the east side of the park. This is where one of their main visitor centers is. It was already closed, but it was useful for a place to park and head out on Hidden Lake Trail. There are a couple other trailheads there, but were substantially longer trails, so we stuck to Hidden Lake Trail. The first part of the trail was fun with the boardwalk to climb up.

Hidden Lake was beautiful, you could make it to the lake from the vista point, but we decided to head back as we had a lot to see before the weather turned against us.

We were planning on making it to Grinnell Glacier, but we learned that we were not at an easy point to getting there and then getting home. We realized we should have stayed on the east side of Glacier National Park. So instead we headed to St. Mary’s Falls.  We met a fellow traveler that was looking for someone to hike with since there was bear activity. We had a fun chat about his travels and ours.

We climbed up a bit further off the trail and came to the top of the falls and walked along the small river to view another waterfall.

Hopefully we will be heading back west after our travels to the east coast and so we can make it to a glacier in Glacier National Park. We loved this park! There is a lot to do and see. Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot if time here and we had to head south.