2021 Summer Trip Part 4 - Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park was the destination for the next segment of our summer trip.  We left Paris, ID on August 1 and headed to Pocatelllo, ID where we caught I-15 north to Montana.  We stayed at a rest stop on I-15 near Missoula, MT that night and headed for Apgar Campground in Glacier NP early the next morning.  We were forced to go the long way around Flathead Lake due to forest fires and got stuck in traffic for about an hour on the west side of the lake where the highway was closed due to some downed power lines.  The Apgar Campground is first come first served and with very heavy demand for campsites you need to arrive at the campground and get in line before they open at 8 AM if you want to get a campsite.  Because of our delays we didn't arrive until about 8:30 and all available campsites were taken.  However, a few campers who were leaving later in the day had sites that still had not been claimed so we laid claim to one of them and waited in the parking lot until they checked out at noon.  

Staking our claim to a campsite
in Apgar Campground

Apgar Campground is near the south shore of Lake McDonald, a beautiful glacial lake with amazing mountain peaks at the north end.  The view of the mountains across the lake is breathtaking....if you can see it.  Unfortunately, this year the skies were so smoke-filled because of forest fires that the scenic views everywhere in Glacier Park were underwhelming.  It was disappointing but we made the best of the situation.  

This is what the scenic view from Lake McDonald
is supposed to look like

This was the actual scenic view from Lake McDonald
due to the smoke from forest fires.

For this trip we were joined by Liz's sister Barbara and her husband Frank.  However, they weren't planning to arrive until the evening of August 3rd so we had the day to ourselves.  We rode the bikes around the campground and the southern lake shore and down to the town of West Glacier.  We also managed to get the scooter started (pure luck) so we took a scooter ride up the east shore to Fish Creek Campground.  That night Barbara and Frank arrived.  The next day we drove the "Going to the Sun" Road which is a famous scenic drive through the mountains of Glacier NP.  It is a steep, winding road that passes lakes, waterfalls and high mountain overlooks.  It was beautiful, but sadly the smoke from forest fires significantly affected the mountain views.

Liz, Lee, Frank, and Barbara at
Baring Falls

Looking down Saint Mary Lake

Driving on the
Going to the Sun Road

View of the mountains through the
smoke filled sky

Saint Mary Falls

Falls by the side of the road

Sun Point Nature Trail

On August 5th we took a trip out of the park to visit Kalispell and White Fish Lake which is a public lake with very nice beaches and lots of water sports.

Beach at White Fish Lake

The next day we drove up the east shore of Lake McDonald to the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail.  This was a beautiful hike through an ancient cedar forest.  On the way back to the campground we stopped to check out the Lake McDonald Lodge which was built in 1913 on the edge of the lake with great views.

On a bridge over McDonald Creek

Liz wading in the creek

Beautiful cascade along the
Trail of the Cedars

Avalanche Creek along Trail of the Cedars

Lake McDonald Lodge

Frank hanging out at our campsite in
Apgar Campground

On August 7 we broke camp.  The Clarks headed for home in Ashton, ID and we headed to Helena, MT on our way to Salt Lake City to start the next leg of our journey.  It was great to see Glacier NP again and this was my first time traveling the Going to the Sun Road in many years.  We were disappointed that the smoke from the forest fires had such an impact on our experience but we still had plenty of great times together.  We'll just have to come back again.