Travels with haRVy

Before heading into the western entrance of Glacier National Park, we enjoyed staying with our new Boondockers Welcome friend, Wendy at her lovely log home in Columbia Falls, Montana. Wendy was the most welcoming host we’ve stayed with so far. Upon receiving my email query about staying at her place, her response was, “Come on over, I’m putting kabobs on the barbecue.” We had a nice evening with Wendy and her neighbor Patty, who is also a BD host. Thank you, Wendy.

Our first two nights in the park were spent at Apgar Campground on the west end, this area includes a relatively quiet and tiny quaint village on the shore of Lake McDonald, a full-service visitor center, and transportation hub for the park’s shuttle system.

 Lake McDonald

At 2 o’clock that afternoon we met up with a Ranger-led hike on the John Lake Loop that includes a nice segment of the McDonald Creek trail.

 John Lake

McDonald Creek

The next day we packed a picnic lunch and boarded the park shuttle for the 1.5 hour ride up to Logan Pass where we hiked parts of the Highline and Hidden Lake trails.

Panoramic of Logan Pass area – click to view larger.

Glacier is not an easy park to explore in its entirety. Fortunately, we have plenty of time to get around to most of the interesting bits. After departing Apgar we took the scenic drive down and around the south end of the park and up the east side to the even more beautiful (if that is possible) area of Two Medicine Lake. On our way over we stopped in East Glacier where we toured the magnificent and historic Glacier Park Lodge as well as a small museum and train depot.

Never had a close encounter, but bears are definitely around. Most hikers carry bear spray, which apparently is a very powerful pepper spray that can be employed from 30-feet away if necessary.

Two Medicine Lake

Running Eagle Falls

More about our visit to Glacier NP coming soon…