Just One Day to See Glacier National Park

I live in the upper Midwest where the highest hill is the county landfill. I had traveled through the Smokey Mountains several times but this is my first road trip out west with my RV. I am pulling a 32' Airstream with a twelve-passenger E350 Ford van. Bumper to bumper I am about fifty-five feet long. For the past five days I have been traveling along U.S. Route 2 across the high plains of Montana en route to Seattle. My initial plan was to spend two days at Glacier National Park.

I found out in the visitor's center that Glacier is in reality three parks. There is the East side where I was, the Canadian or Waterton National Park which is connected and open to the U.S. park, and the west side which is on the other side of Logan Pass. My original plan was to drive through the park and camp on the west side for two days. The helpful ranger quickly changed all of my plans.

She first told me I could not pull my Airstream trailer over Logan Pass. There was a 23' length limit. My van almost exceeds that limit by itself. Then she told me it would take longer than a day to drive to Seattle since there were a couple more passes which I would not be able to cross. My stay in Glacier was reduced to one day.

She laid out a one day plan for seeing the park and strongly recommended I camp at the Many Glacier Campground and not the close by RV campground. Her strong recommendation did not turn out to be the stupidest thing I did on this trip but ranked close.

To reach the Many Glacier Campground I had to leave the park and return to the "Many Turns" road and then drive fifteen miles north. After chasing my taillights for fifteen miles I found the Many Glacier road. The first two miles were perfectly normal and very scenic, then a sign popped up saying: "Rough Road" ahead. A better sign would be: "No Road Next Five Miles." I found the next two signs to be more ironic than cautionary. The first said, "Falling Rocks" and the second said, "Don't Feed the Mountain Sheep."

What I was attempting to drive on was nothing more than a tumble of rocks which had fallen over the years and been trampled by herds of sheep. Speeding along at three miles an hour I heard noises coming from my trailer and van which told me they both were unhappy with my choice of roads.

I reached the campground dreading what I would find when I opened the trailer's door after that ride. The campground was indeed beautiful and if I had a small tent I would have been thrilled to camp there. However, I had to find a place for 32' of Airstream trailer. I stopped at the host site and he gave me a few suggestions. I drove by several large campsites with wide driveways only to find a small pup tent pitched in the middle of the drive. The last of his suggestions was a pull through site which was actually a hair pin shaped drive with large over hanging trees on both sides. The exit was blocked by a tent and the entrance was partially blocked by another tent. I got out and walked around the spot several times and decided it was better than driving that roadless road back to the RV campground.

Since there was no exit I could not pull through the pull through site and needed to back around the first tent and place the trailer's bumper up against the tent blocking the exit while avoiding the trees and not crushing the first tent with my van. When it became clear, what I was going to attempt, a crowd of spectators assembled. This is a natural phenomenon in every National Park. Whenever there is a sight to be seen a crowd appears. Whether that sight is a buffalo or a deer along the road or just a guy trying to back into a campsite a crowd appears.

I knew I could back in since it was very similar as to how I have to back in alongside our garage at home. Much to the delight or sadness of the assembled watchers I placed my trailer exactly where I wanted him on the first try. The crowd evaporated lawn chairs and all.

I opened the windows, had a quick lunch, and plotted my day on the map. I was driving back on the roadless road within an hour to start my exploration of Glacier National Park. However, before I began, I took a slight detour into the RV campground which is just inside the main entrance and found it to be quite nice. Large sites, easy access and lots of room for trailers like mine. Next time I will know better, maybe.

Glacier National Park has these "red bus" tours. The buses are renovated original 1936 busses which have been in service since the park opened. I considered taking one of these tours but then thought it sounded too organized for me. I struck out on my own driving on the Going to the Sun Road.

There are more than 2 million visitors a year at Glacier National Park and of those two million only about five thousand apply for a back pack permit. Of the remaining one million nine hundred and ninety-five thousand people it has been estimated that only about 25% of them ever leave their vehicles. Today I'll be joining those one million five hundred-thousand or so visitors who only see Glacier from their vehicle's windows.

The Going to the Sun Road is the only east west road in the park and the one on which I could not pull my trailer. My plan was to drive up to Logan Pass which was 18 miles and 6000 feet in altitude away.

I was determined to stop at every viewpoint and point of interest; however, most were so crowded with parallel parked cars so the occupants could get a better view I could not stop. When possible I would park on the road and walk back. Fortunately, I had a rain coat since it had started to rain. The rain became serious as I climbed higher into the mountains but I would still get out and try and see what was there to see. I imagine the vistas were beautiful but in the driving rain and fog they lacked some of their spectacular awe.

The road is a true masterpiece of engineering. The road was started in the 1920's and completed in 1934. Prior to that time the only way a car could reach the other side of the park was on a flatbed car on the Great Northern Railway. I imagine the early climbs in the Model T Ford were quite an adventure. My Ford was having an adventure hugging a mountain side at one curve and overlooking a sheer drop of thousands of feet at the next.

I was amazed at the east side tunnel just below Logan Pass and how in 1926 they were able to get the machinery this high into the mountains to accomplish the feat of building this road. Sadly, the rain is really coming down now and there is zero visibility off of the road. The visitor's center at Logan Pass sort of jumped out at me from within a cloud and it just might have been a cloud.

I stopped and when I opened the van door realized the temperature had dropped at least thirty degrees, and it was cold. I did have a sweatshirt. Many of the tourists were in shorts and tank tops, shivering as they ran through the snow drifts to the visitor center entrance.

There was a ranger talk on the continental dive in a few minutes and I hung around to hear it. I had always imagined the continental divide as this long straight line which divided the continent but have since learned it is a very jagged line. I have already crossed it several times this trip. In Glacier there is a triple divide on the summit of Triple Divide Peak. Here the water flows to the Atlantic Ocean, through The Gulf of Mexico, The Pacific Ocean, and the Hudson Bay. If only the cloud would lift, I could see the peak. One thing for sure there is water flowing today.

Buttoning up my rain coat over my sweatshirt, I took a long hike around the Logan Pass area. There was snow on the path which followed the continental divide and made a great photo op for a July hike. The sky was beginning to clear but the clouds were still to low for there to be any clear view from this altitude. I returned to the van and drove back to the campground.

There was another ranger talk that night at the campground on global warming and the glaciers. It started at 8:00 so I made supper and walked over to hear the talk. I was the only one to show up so it was just going to be the two of us for the talk tonight. I was stunned to learn that almost all of the glaciers in the park have melted away. In 1850 there were about one-hundred and fifty glaciers today there are about thirty-five.

It is predicted that in 2030 there will be no glaciers left in the park. The ranger had photos of the park fifty years ago and the same spots today. The changes were dramatic. Most dramatic was the encroachment of plant life on the mountains as the temperatures rise. As she was talking a person walked by and interrupted her asking if the snow cover was the same this year as it was last year. She answered that it was and he then said well that proved there is no global warming. Too bad he could not stay for the whole talk.

She recommended a hike on the Swiftcurrent Pass trail out of the campground and I decided to go right away. The trail is easily found at the end of the parking lot loop by the restaurant. After hiking for just a few minutes I was away from the people at the campground and lodge. The first animal I saw was a young beaver crossing the path to his lodge. He held up his head long enough to get a picture and see his buck teeth. My next animal encounter was a mule deer. At first I thought it was an elk since it was bigger than deer I was used to seeing but the ears were floppy and it was smaller than an elk. Next was a group of human hikers returning on the path. They excitedly told me about a bear and moose at the lake right down the trail.

I remembered the sign saying that the lake was two miles so I decided that was not a bad hike and started up the trail. I met a few other hikers returning from the lake and they were just as excited from seeing the moose and the bear as the first humans I met.

After hiking for about a mile or so I began to think that maybe this was not such a good idea to be out here alone at dusk looking for a bear and a moose. However, the scenery had me hooked. What I could not see earlier in the day was now as clear and brilliant as could be.

After meeting several more humans walking back from the lake and hearing about the bear and moose I decided it may be a myth or an advertising gimmick on the part of the park service. The park service may hire these people to say there is a bear down the path just to get people to leave their cars and take a hike. I even suggested that to one person and they had a good laugh at my imagination.

Eventually I made it to the lake, Red Rock Lake. The scenery was out of a public television special. The sun was starting to set in the west turning the lake a beautiful reddish color with the reflection of surrounding mountains rippling off of the water. From the far side of the lake I could hear the waterfalls.

Enough of this beauty stuff there was a moose and bear to be found. The moose was supposed to be by the waterfalls and the bear on the hillside south of the lake. I spotted the bear way up on the hillside and with the camera lens could just barely make out the movements of his retreat. So the moose became my quarry.

Using my hunting skills I stalked around the lake to the falls and sneaked behind some bushes so I could look out without being seen. What I saw was a wonderful view of the waterfalls splashing into the lake with no moose in sight. Noisily I turned and climbed out of hiding and sensed a presence on my right side. Turning, there she was, laying in the weeds, a moose, about five yards away from me, I had walked right by her. She was chewing something and keeping an eye on what I was doing. I stood up on a rock and took a picture, told her I would disturb her no more and left her to her chewing.

The sun was setting fast and I began to hurry back along the two-mile trail to the campground. Along the way a family of hikers met me and asked if I saw the bear and moose. I thought about it and said the bear was too high on the hill to really see well and the moose was not in the lake. I felt some kind of partnership with that moose like she and I shared something. If she wants to be found, she will make a noise again.

It was very dark by time I reached the end of the trail. There were lights on at the lodge restaurant and headlights in the parking lot which served as guides to get me home.

I had spent a little over twelve hours in Glacier National Park. During this time I had two nice hikes, one along the Continental Divide at Logan Pass and the longest one on the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail. I had driven half of the Going to the Sun Road and would have driven the entire road if the weather was better. In spite of the persistent rain I stopped at all of the major viewpoints along the Going to the Sun Road and even took several short hikes. One short hike was at Sun Point which has a magnificent one mile interpretive path where you can learn the geologic history of the park.

My advice for large rig campers is to stay in the main campground by the east entrance. However, it is worthwhile to drive up to Many Glaciers for the scenery, hiking and to visit the lodge built there by the Great Northern Railroad back in the early 1900's.

Although this one hundred-year-old National Park is worth more than a day to properly soak up all which is here you can see quite a bit in one day. Further, you can get a good feeling of what the park is in a day. Plan your trip and utilize the knowledge of the rangers, their advice is indispensable. Next time I come, I'll see the west side of the park.