The Wasserman Times

July 28, 2011



...Oops, sorry we forgot you, Glacier.


So, in all the fuss about the oil leak and our sudden change of plans (heading south to Missoula instead of going across the north) we forgot to talk about one of the most beautiful places in the world: Glacier National Park.  For those who haven’t been, I highly recommend it and even for those who have, another trip couldn't hurt.  Even if all you do is drive on Going to the Sun Road it is still a worthwhile trip.  

A civil engineering marvel, Going to the Sun Road winds its way along the side of the mountains, in many spots with only a stone guardrail between asphalt and the valley floor thousands of feet below.  The designers of the road wanted it to really blend in with the mountains, and I think they achieved their goal, using local rocks for retaining walls and choosing a twisty, winding path up and over Logan Pass.  Unfortunately the road takes quite a beating in the winter and as we rode through about half its length was gravel waiting for new pavement, but even that couldn’t detract from the beauty.


We came over Logan Pass around dinner time (stupid time zone cost us an hour), stopped at the visitor center and discovered that all the campgrounds in the park were full, so we continued out and ended up staying at a KOA campground only about a mile from the entrance.  I’ll be honest, the KOA (Kampgrounds of America) campground was a very odd experience for us both.  While we had a nice little tent site where we set up camp in a clump of trees, not too far away was a pool, hot tub, showers and even a convenience store.  When you add these amenities and the row after row of tightly packed RV’s all together, the KOA felt more like a resort than a campground.  I couldn’t help but wonder: is this really how people go camping these days?  Maybe I’m old fashioned, but camping means no hot tub.


In an effort to find cheaper camping (and somewhere less noisy as well), we packed all our things the next morning and headed back into the park.  Basically, at this point we completely lucked out.  At 10:30 that morning when we reentered, all the campgrounds in the park were open, so we quickly made our way to St. Mary campground to snatch a nicer spot for the night.  We ended up in a very nice wooded sight with a wooded tent area and a nice big picnic table that I would say ranks only second behind Lac Le Jeune in terms of campsites.

To make the best use of our short stay in Glacier we decided to do a ranger-led hike.  The long hike I did last time I was in Glacier was still closed due to snow, so we instead picked the combination hike/boat tour of St. Mary Lake and St. Mary Falls.  In my opinion, we made a good choice because as we sailed across the very pretty glacial lake, the captain gave us a tour and history lesson of Glacier National Park.  When we docked about forty minutes later farther up the lake we followed Ranger Lee about a mile and a half along a very pretty trail to St. Mary Falls.  

Again, to Glacier, sorry we forgot to write about you.  We didn’t forget your beauty and we never will.