On Sunday we did a big driving day so we could make it most of the way to Glacier. We’d decided to come in on the east side based on the recommendation of some fellow campers we had talked to. We ended up stopping about a half hour short of Glacier in Blackfeet Nation. The country up this way with the huge mountain range just to the west in awesomely beautiful. The town we stopped in though was fairly poverty stricken and some of land we passed through was peppered with shanty like trailers. The huge majesty of the mountains set against these humble structures was a strange contrast that reminded me of some areas of Mexico and could not be more different than the affluent looking mountain cabins that you see in many other mountain regions of similar grace and beauty. We camped for the night in a spot that a camping app we use had suggested, but unfortunately learned in the morning that it was still Blackfeet Nation and we weren’t supposed to be there (a ranger in the park later told us you needed a permit to be there at all and no dispersed camping was allowed.) There had been no signage at all so we had basically just trusted the app and it did look a lot like many forest roads we had camped on before. It was actually, I think, a road to get to the cell towers. The surrounding hillside was covered with trees, but they were all dead and denuded of leaves. It didn’t appear to have been a fire, so I’m guessing it was the pine beetle. So many of the forest lands we’ve traveled through have huges areas of trees left dead and grey because the warmer climate has left more pine beetles alive than are typical and they are busy little beetles. Anyway, we left our camp spot in a hurry in the morning when a surly tribal officer told us to hit the road before he ticketed us. Zack Attack tried to aplologize for our haplessness and ask the correct protocol should ever we come this way again, but he wasn’t interested and I don’t really blame him. At any rate, it got our butts moving and we drove into the park.
We stopped at the visitor center and learned that most of the east side of what is now Glacier National Park was ceded to the U.S. pre-1900; however, the Blackfeet Nation contests this and still claims ownership, stating that it was to have been only a 99-year lease and that it was only for mineral rights. Most of the visitor center on this side of the park was devoted to the Native American heritage in the region. It was an an eye-opening way to enter the park, thinking about this beautiful place that should really belong to everyone, or rather no-one, and by making it a National Park this was achieved in some ways, but it also took the land away from its original custodians. I’m sure the fact that this land is still contested creates some special tensions in the area.
The main road that runs all the way through the park in the Going to the Sun Road. This is the road we took. It’s awesome. It’s just about all the purple mountain majesty you can handle. There are waterfalls and mountains and glaciers. There were also people. The number of people there, even fairly early in the morning was mind boggling. Most of the look out points were so full of people and cars there was nowhere to stop. We managed to stop at a couple spots, but mostly found ourselves just shoved on down the road because there was nowhere else to go. On that narrow road, with all the congestion of a million plus tourists in August, if all the pullouts are full, you just keep going. In retrospect we should have headed further north before going into the park as a different entrance takes you to the Grinnel Glacier which would have been awesome to see as it is one of the more iconic glaciers in the park and people expect, if climate trends continue, that it could disappear sometime in the next 3 years. In 1850 Grinnel measured some 710 acres, but as of 2005 was measured at only 152 acres.
I can’t be sorry about the way we went though because the drive was beautiful and we somehow magically scored a last-minute camp spot the Sprague Creek Campground which sits right along Lake McDonald. We were so hangry and tired after our weird morning and crowded and slow drive that we ate some food and hopped right in the cold, lake water. It was just what we needed. The Wonder Beast joined us of course.
We hemmed and hawed about which hike to do the next day, but after talking to folks and then pouring over maps we decided to do a combination of 2. The ranger we had consulted had assured us they all were well worth it if you were willing to get high enough to see all that this alpine wonderland has to offer. We took part of the Piegan Pass Trail to the Siyeh Pass Trail. It was a nice easy elevation gain until you hit a beautiful valley called Preston Park. On the way up Zack Attack had to stretch his back out on one of the logs that bordered the trail. Thankfully for all who made read this and posterity, I have preserved this moment in time. Don’t worry, while his face is a grimace, it is more the pleasure-pain of a good stretch.
The valley, formed by glaciers was just stunning. It had Zack Attack procclaiming it the perfect little valley to build his dream house on. The top of the valley includes not one, but 2 alpine lakes (althought I suspect they become one when the water levels are higher.) It has an impressive river like flow of glacial water. From the valley you head up some steeper switchbacks until you get to Siyeh pass. Every direction has a view of more mountains with glacial valleys in between. We saw a lonely big horn sheep at the top standing in middle of a snowfield.
From the top we headed down the Baring Creek Valley before ending up in Sunrift Gorge. The waterfalls streaming of the mountains on this side of the hike were stunning. Nearer the bottom there was a stunning cascade over red rocks. The green water, in contrast to the red rocks made my heart happy. The mountains were technicolor on this side of the mountain, with stripes of green, red, black and brown and white. Along the way we saw a big horn sheep, and although we did not see him, we suspect a bear may have seen us, as hikers further up the trail told us later they had seen a bear. When we got to the bottom we still needed to catch one of the park shuttles several miles back to where we had parked, but the first shuttle that came was full and there was a glut of us that had made it down the trail at close to the same time and we all needed to catch the shuttle. I ended up hitchhiking back to our car with a couple other hikers. It seems pretty common pratice in these bigger parks where it’s a least an hour, if not more to get to one side from the other. We headed back to camp as quick as we could as the afternoon crowds were getting crazy again and enjoyed the lake some more.
The next day we headed out to Washington and drove straight for nearly 12 hours just to get through the hottest bits. As we entered the mountains that would take us into Western Washington, we found ourselves near the Crescent Mountain fire at Twisp and the sun was an eerie red color. A couple days after we had arrived in Washingston we learned that the part of Glacier we had stayed in also was on fire. Fire were everywhere this year and the hazy air was a testament to that. We stayed overnight in the Newhalem Campground of the North Cascades National Park before heading to Bellingham and family in the morning.
