Originally we thought we'd be able to take in the Badlands while at Mount Rushmore but alas that proved to be just too far away so we made a slight change to our itinerary and left Rushmore a day early and headed for the Badlands. Traveling east on Hwy 90 towards the Badlands we stopped in Wall, SD at famous Wall Drug located in the middle of nowhere, coined as the “World’s Largest Drug Store” which is the #1 Roadside Attraction in America. There are signs for it everywhere!! It’s been around since 1931 and has evolved in to 76,000 sq ft of attractions to include a 520 seat restaurant. It was during the depression that the wife of the pharmacist came up with the idea to offer free ice water to the weary travels coming across the plains before they had to close the doors of their little pharmacy…it caught on and the rest is history. The pharmacy is actually small but the rest is like one big emporium of many buildings offering almost any kind of souvenir one could possibly think of! On a summer day it draws as many as 20,000 people! We piled in there just like the rest of the curious travelers to include a parade of tour buses, RVs, bikers and cars. Oh well, we are tourists you know!! Wall is actually on one end of the 27 mile SD240 loop that meanders through the extraordinary formations known as the Badlands, located in the southwestern part of SD and about 80 miles from Mount Rushmore. The park consists of nearly 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the U.S. It is the bottom of the sea that once was when the Earth’s climate was warmer and stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and from western Iowa to western Wyoming. It covered a region we call the Great Plains. The park contains the world’s richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds dating 23 to 35 million years old. It is very hard to explain what we saw and even somewhat harder to capture it in photos. There is so much history here and the landscapes compose only the starkest elements of nature. They speak to the fundamentals of our planet, Wind, Rock and Sky. It is desolation at its truest. It is vast, and seemingly timeless. It is a study in erosion since erosion is at an inch every year. We stayed at the Badlands/White River KOA which was very peaceful on 31 acres with 650 mature trees to include the cottonwoods that were exploding sending their soft white cotton like balls falling in the gentle winds over the campgrounds. We enjoyed our short stay there as did the boys...they just LOVED running wild in the fields!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Mount Rushmore 6-17 June 2010
We landed at the Palmer Gulch & Mt Rushmore KOA just outside of Hill City, SD in the heart of the Black Hills on the 6th of June. This KOA is what’s called a most complete resort and boy it has just about everything including 10,000 or more kids running around! It has 500 RV and tent sites, 55 Kamping Kabins, 30 mountain cabins, 6 executive lodges, a 62 room lodge with a 2-story fireplace in the lobby, a restaurant & lounge, gift shop and store, a pancake tent, and 18 different activities to include trail rides (horses are right there on the property), chuck wagon dinners, fishing pond, ATV & bike & car rentals, shuttle service to the monument, several different eating places, wine and coffee bar, and much, much more for the kids! And did I mention 10,000 kids all running in high gear from morning till quiet time!!! I must say we were impressed with the management of all of this…nothing was left undone and everyone was very helpful. However, we were used to more of a quiet, serene and visually appealing type of RV Resort...needless to say, we managed to get through it while visiting the special sights around us.
The first visit was to the evening lighting ceremony at Mt Rushmore which lasted about 90 minutes. The mountain carving features the 60 foot faces of four of our great American presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Work on the sculpture began in 1927 when sculptor Gutzon Borglum was 60 with work ending just after his death. He wrote “let us place there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces, to show posterity what manner of men they were. Then breath a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and rain alone shall wear them away” There is a Borglum visitor center and a Museum along with the avenue of the state flags leading up to the amphitheater. The "show" consists of a naration of a lot of history provided by one of the park rangers and at the end before the designated boy scout troup of the country brings down the flag, they asked that all serving or prior military service members come on the stage to be part of the ceremony. We decided that the women needed to be represented so down we hiked the many steps to the stage of the amphitheater. We have had to stand in many places to honor veterans and those currently serving, but we were taken aback by the enormous crowd giving us a very long standing ovation, clapping of hands and hollering for more than five minutes. We were in tears especially when one of the men said it was great to see some women represented. We noted through all of our travels in the mid west; these folk seem to be much more patriotic than most.
Crazy Horse Monument is the fifth granite face in the Black Hills which is still in progress being kept going by the sculptors’family (Korczak Ziolkowski). Work was started in 1948 which was requested by the Lakota Indian tribe as a tribute to Native Americans and when complete will be the world’s largest mountain carving, standing some 563 feet high and 641 feet long. Crazy Horse said “My lands are where my dead lie buried.”He defended his people and their way of life in the only manner he knew after the 1858 treaty, which had stated that the Black Hills of Dakota will forever be the sacred land of the Sioux Indians, was broken. He was stabbed in the back by an American soldier while at Ft Robinson, Nebraska under a flag of truce in 1877. There is also a large orientation center and the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, as well as the sculptor’s studio-home and workshop with a lot of his pieces of work on display along the many gifts presented to him and his wife who now oversees the enterprise along with a part of their 10 children. Some of these gifts are pictured here, like the motorcycle and stage coach. They have refused to accept any Government funding for this project so it may take at least another 40 years for the sculpture to be completed.
We visited a museum in the town of Hill City, which was the nearest to our camp site, called the Museum of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research which is a small business, yet their produced specimens are seen in museums and other venues throughout the world. They are an innovator in fossil preparation techniques. This is where STAN T REX is usually housed but was on loan to another museum. They have dozens of other dinosaurs, fossil fishes, reptiles, mammals, birds, plants and the most incredible collection of invertebrates in the region, along with local and world-wide meteorites, agates and mineral specimens. It was all very interesting and we took some photos for your viewing pleasure. Maybe you already knew but it was actually a surprise to us that South Dakota is so well known for its fossils...hadn't a clue before we got here! Learned interesting tidbits about "Sue", the largest T-Rex find to date which has quite a bit of controversy surrounding it. Apparently one of the curators at this institute actually found "her" on nearby land where the "owner" said it would be ok for the instutite to excavate and take her. Another landowner said it wasn't the original owner's land and it went to court only to find out that it wasn't either party's land...it was government land. Anyway Sue ended up being auctioned with the winner being the Field Museum in Chicago. This little Institute must have been heartbroken after all the work they put into getting her "out" of her graveyard...
We have to admit, we went through quite a bit of rain during our stay in the black hills. That didn't stop us though. One day we drove through Custer State Park which covers 71,000 acres in the Black Hills and also stopped to have dinner in the town of Custer at this old bank turned into a restuarant. Excellent steaks and it was fun knowing we were in a building with such a long history...late 1800s :-). As can be guessed, both the town and State Park are named for ole George A. Custer who in addition to leading that death charge, also led a "secret" army expedition into the Black Hills in 1874 in search of gold, which of course, was discovered. Custer Park is home to the nearly 1,500 free roaming buffalo. There are several road trips one can take through the park and the one we were most impressed with was Needles Highway. The name comes from the slender granite peaks that characterize the area. It is 14 miles of hairpin curves and narrow granite tunnels and the beautiful Sylvan Lake. There is one section called the Cathedral Spires, a series of pinnacles that resemble church spires and a granite formation that looks like the eye of a needle. There is also the Wildlife Loop in which you might see some mule deer, elk, prairie dogs, wild turkeys and pronghorns...which of course, we did see! Then there is Iron Mountain Road which in the beginning they said it couldn’t be built…but the Governor, Peter Norbeck didn’t listen; he himself mapped it out on foot and on horseback. It is now called the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway and leads from Custer State Park to Mount Rushmore and along the way three granite tunnels frame Mount Rushmore perfectly in the distance. It has been named one of the ten Most Outstanding Byways in America. It really captures the splendor of these ancient mountains. We loved all of it and took a lot of photos as you will see...don't miss ole George's profile on some of the "rock" shots...You also might notice dead looking trees and piles of wood called tree stands stacked very neatly on the forest floor. This area has had serious beetle problems wherein the beetles attack from inside the tree, sucking the life out of it...don't even know the tree is infected until it's dead...apparently the stands isolate the beetles to those stacks where they basically starve to death...don't ask us how that happens...anyway, we also learned out to identify ponderosa pines...they are literally red (rosa) on one side (the side that gets sun). They are quite pretty and plentiful in this area. maybe you'll be able to pick some of them out. We hope so.There was a rainy day that Debra decided she wanted to go to Wind Cave National Park which is 132 miles of known underground passages and 28,295 acres of above ground wilderness and wildlife. It is the fourth largest cave in the world. She went on a ranger guided tour while I visited the gift shop and stayed with the dogs. She said afterward that she was glad I hadn’t gone because I definitely would have been claustrophobic. Especially after imagining what it must have been like when they first discovered this cave and how DARK it would have been! This cave was not as colorful as others we’d seen but it did have unusual rock formations, to include what is called “box work”. Bet you can pick it out…Afterward, we had lunch in a great little town called Hot Springs in a local restaurant…It being a Sunday, it was packed and we sat with several folk who were also traveling and one family who lived there. We had a great time talking with them and it was a huge meal for a very small price…liked that! Although plenty of rain on this leg, we both enjoyed this part of the country and looked forward to our next stop...the Badlands...
The first visit was to the evening lighting ceremony at Mt Rushmore which lasted about 90 minutes. The mountain carving features the 60 foot faces of four of our great American presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Work on the sculpture began in 1927 when sculptor Gutzon Borglum was 60 with work ending just after his death. He wrote “let us place there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces, to show posterity what manner of men they were. Then breath a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and rain alone shall wear them away” There is a Borglum visitor center and a Museum along with the avenue of the state flags leading up to the amphitheater. The "show" consists of a naration of a lot of history provided by one of the park rangers and at the end before the designated boy scout troup of the country brings down the flag, they asked that all serving or prior military service members come on the stage to be part of the ceremony. We decided that the women needed to be represented so down we hiked the many steps to the stage of the amphitheater. We have had to stand in many places to honor veterans and those currently serving, but we were taken aback by the enormous crowd giving us a very long standing ovation, clapping of hands and hollering for more than five minutes. We were in tears especially when one of the men said it was great to see some women represented. We noted through all of our travels in the mid west; these folk seem to be much more patriotic than most.
Crazy Horse Monument is the fifth granite face in the Black Hills which is still in progress being kept going by the sculptors’family (Korczak Ziolkowski). Work was started in 1948 which was requested by the Lakota Indian tribe as a tribute to Native Americans and when complete will be the world’s largest mountain carving, standing some 563 feet high and 641 feet long. Crazy Horse said “My lands are where my dead lie buried.”He defended his people and their way of life in the only manner he knew after the 1858 treaty, which had stated that the Black Hills of Dakota will forever be the sacred land of the Sioux Indians, was broken. He was stabbed in the back by an American soldier while at Ft Robinson, Nebraska under a flag of truce in 1877. There is also a large orientation center and the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, as well as the sculptor’s studio-home and workshop with a lot of his pieces of work on display along the many gifts presented to him and his wife who now oversees the enterprise along with a part of their 10 children. Some of these gifts are pictured here, like the motorcycle and stage coach. They have refused to accept any Government funding for this project so it may take at least another 40 years for the sculpture to be completed.
We visited a museum in the town of Hill City, which was the nearest to our camp site, called the Museum of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research which is a small business, yet their produced specimens are seen in museums and other venues throughout the world. They are an innovator in fossil preparation techniques. This is where STAN T REX is usually housed but was on loan to another museum. They have dozens of other dinosaurs, fossil fishes, reptiles, mammals, birds, plants and the most incredible collection of invertebrates in the region, along with local and world-wide meteorites, agates and mineral specimens. It was all very interesting and we took some photos for your viewing pleasure. Maybe you already knew but it was actually a surprise to us that South Dakota is so well known for its fossils...hadn't a clue before we got here! Learned interesting tidbits about "Sue", the largest T-Rex find to date which has quite a bit of controversy surrounding it. Apparently one of the curators at this institute actually found "her" on nearby land where the "owner" said it would be ok for the instutite to excavate and take her. Another landowner said it wasn't the original owner's land and it went to court only to find out that it wasn't either party's land...it was government land. Anyway Sue ended up being auctioned with the winner being the Field Museum in Chicago. This little Institute must have been heartbroken after all the work they put into getting her "out" of her graveyard...
We have to admit, we went through quite a bit of rain during our stay in the black hills. That didn't stop us though. One day we drove through Custer State Park which covers 71,000 acres in the Black Hills and also stopped to have dinner in the town of Custer at this old bank turned into a restuarant. Excellent steaks and it was fun knowing we were in a building with such a long history...late 1800s :-). As can be guessed, both the town and State Park are named for ole George A. Custer who in addition to leading that death charge, also led a "secret" army expedition into the Black Hills in 1874 in search of gold, which of course, was discovered. Custer Park is home to the nearly 1,500 free roaming buffalo. There are several road trips one can take through the park and the one we were most impressed with was Needles Highway. The name comes from the slender granite peaks that characterize the area. It is 14 miles of hairpin curves and narrow granite tunnels and the beautiful Sylvan Lake. There is one section called the Cathedral Spires, a series of pinnacles that resemble church spires and a granite formation that looks like the eye of a needle. There is also the Wildlife Loop in which you might see some mule deer, elk, prairie dogs, wild turkeys and pronghorns...which of course, we did see! Then there is Iron Mountain Road which in the beginning they said it couldn’t be built…but the Governor, Peter Norbeck didn’t listen; he himself mapped it out on foot and on horseback. It is now called the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway and leads from Custer State Park to Mount Rushmore and along the way three granite tunnels frame Mount Rushmore perfectly in the distance. It has been named one of the ten Most Outstanding Byways in America. It really captures the splendor of these ancient mountains. We loved all of it and took a lot of photos as you will see...don't miss ole George's profile on some of the "rock" shots...You also might notice dead looking trees and piles of wood called tree stands stacked very neatly on the forest floor. This area has had serious beetle problems wherein the beetles attack from inside the tree, sucking the life out of it...don't even know the tree is infected until it's dead...apparently the stands isolate the beetles to those stacks where they basically starve to death...don't ask us how that happens...anyway, we also learned out to identify ponderosa pines...they are literally red (rosa) on one side (the side that gets sun). They are quite pretty and plentiful in this area. maybe you'll be able to pick some of them out. We hope so.There was a rainy day that Debra decided she wanted to go to Wind Cave National Park which is 132 miles of known underground passages and 28,295 acres of above ground wilderness and wildlife. It is the fourth largest cave in the world. She went on a ranger guided tour while I visited the gift shop and stayed with the dogs. She said afterward that she was glad I hadn’t gone because I definitely would have been claustrophobic. Especially after imagining what it must have been like when they first discovered this cave and how DARK it would have been! This cave was not as colorful as others we’d seen but it did have unusual rock formations, to include what is called “box work”. Bet you can pick it out…Afterward, we had lunch in a great little town called Hot Springs in a local restaurant…It being a Sunday, it was packed and we sat with several folk who were also traveling and one family who lived there. We had a great time talking with them and it was a huge meal for a very small price…liked that! Although plenty of rain on this leg, we both enjoyed this part of the country and looked forward to our next stop...the Badlands...
Ride to Mount Rushmore 6 June 2010
Following the hatchery, we made a short stop in Deadwood,SD; a historic mining camp, built on a rowdy history of gold, gambling and gunpowder. It was the American Frontier, turbulent and on the move. Where Wild Bill Hickok met his violent end with a bullet to the back of the head at Saloon #10...Now it is home to 86 gambling halls, hotels, and the Mt Moriah Cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried. Ahhhh...true love...she died many years later with her final wish requesting to be buried next to Wild Bill...wonder how her husband felt about THAT?!And miracles of miracles...we made it out of town without gambling any!!! Another short stop was the Chapel in the Hills in Rapid City, SD built in 1969 and an exact replica of the famous 850 year old Borgund “Stavkirke” (Stave) Church located near Laerdal, Norway. It is beautiful from every angle and the construction techniques were as the early church builders had in choosing the timbers with each being hand cut. Imagine...16,000 shingles being hand cut with a saw! The ceiling is constructed like a Viking ship turned upside down. The front door is a carving of snakes and dragons, the battle between good and evil. As pagans, the dragon was good luck to the Vikings. The front door is known as the men’s door and the side door known as the women’s door. In the early church, men stood on one side and women and children stood on the other. Hopefully you will be able to see the beauty from our photos. While driving around the Rapid City area, we passed through Sturgis which is home to the largest bikers rally with over 155,000 bikers attending every year and even more expected this year in August for the 70th anniversary!! Just can’t imagine…thank God it's not August!
Spearfish Canyon and DC Booth Hatchery
From Devils Tower, we stopped at a stop you may be surprised about but not one that we have not done before in other parts of the country! We visited the historic D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, SD, one of the West’s oldest fish hatcheries which was established by the Government in 1896 and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Today, it serves as a living fisheries museum and still has the original Booth house, a furnished, circa 1905 residence on the National Registry of Historic Places, along with many artifacts. The hatchery was created to propagate, stock, and establish trout populations in the Black Hills of SD and Wyoming. It was surprising to learn that trout were not native to SD and WY and in the beginning they had a “fish car” that was utilized to deliver fish stock. The train is still on the property and it was interesting to see and hear all the stories from the volunteers at the park. You could see “lunker trout” in the viewing room and also see all the tanks of the trout from baby on up. It was really a nice museum and park to visit before heading on to Mount Rushmore.
Devil's Tower
Then it was on to Devils Tower in northeast Wyoming for one night. In 1906, Teddy Roosevelt designated Devils Tower as our nation’s first national monument. It is actually the core of a volcano exposed after millions of years of erosion and weather. You might remember it from the1978 movie “Close Encounter of the Third Kind”. They show that movie every night at the campground! The dogs really liked it there as there was a neat little pretty grassy area where they could run wild and we could look at the red rock formations or the horses in the surrounding areas of the campground; all while taking in the warm sun for the first time in awhile. One of the many legends surrounding this rock is “that seven little Indian girls were playing alongside the river when a bear began to chase them. They tried to outrun the bear but could not. They jumped on a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock to take pity on them and save them. The rock began to elongate itself upwards, pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock and broke its claws and fell to the ground. The girls were pushed into the sky where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades)!” The marks of the bear claws are still there yet. It is the only rock formation we have seen that the glacier marks go up & down rather than sideways as you will see in our photos. It’s neat to imagine the story of how this happened but there are at least another 6 different legends to entertain the mind about this unique place. But alas, the road calls yet again...
Little Big Horn
We left Glacier Park on June 4th We were headed towards Hill City, South Dakota with some stops along the way, as it was a rather long trek, but we were able to fit in some neat stops. On the way down the mountain road we had to stop several times for the horses and their baby colts as one of the colts kept running beside the RV. In addition, a little further on their were a bunch of cows and their calves standing in the middle of the road with Moma daring us to get anywhere near her babies!! So we just sat and waited till they decided it was time to move on and let us by! We spent the night in Big Timber, MT headed for Devil's Tower via a short stop at Little Big Horn, the site of Custer's "Last Stand".
The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to preserve their ancestral way of life. Although the Indians won that battle they subsequently lost the war against the military’s efforts to end their independent, nomadic way of life. In this valley in June of 1876 more than 260 soldiers and attached personnel were killed by several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne Indians. Several tombstones are placed where the individual fell during the battle, be him Indian or 7th Cavalry. It is quite tranquil and moving to stand on this hill overlooking miles of valley and river seeing what they must have seen. It is like a trip through time. You learn a lot of history here about what really happened from the military, the Indians and the European versions of what brought all this about. There are parts of all of this history that you can see that in some ways history is repeating itself. For instance the Buffalo/Bison; no one ever thought that thousands upon thousands of these noble creatures would become almost extinct. Historically it's been claimed that the Indians killed them for food, shelter, clothing, etc and we killed them for profit and greed. In reading diaries of the time and more extensively on the matter, one can see that there was a plenty of waste on both sides but the bottom line is the Anglos definitely destroyed a way of life and way too many buffalo herds were decimated. And then there was the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in the heart of the new Indian reservation and of course the treaty was violated in favor of the lust for fortunes. The country was in the midst of a major depression due to the over-extension (and greed) of the banks in rail, causing many to be unemployed and in the Army who had no other potential employment...need I go on? Anyway, on the grounds is also the Custer National Cemetery which reminds one of Arlington National Cemetery with the rows and rows of white tombstones. Buried here are those known and unknown veterans of our nation’s wars from this battle up to the Vietnam War to include women and children from isolated frontier posts, Indians, scouts, and Medal of Honor recipients.
We were both so moved by all of this and came away with a deeper understanding of this historic battle and campaign as well as a look into all of the lives of those who played an important part in the history of the centuries-long conflict that began with the arrival of the first Europeans in North America. Actually prompted us to read a couple of books on the topic... What more can you say about a place that inspires you to read up on the events leading up to it? Only that it was a good day and that we were glad we'd stopped on our way to Devil's Tower!
The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to preserve their ancestral way of life. Although the Indians won that battle they subsequently lost the war against the military’s efforts to end their independent, nomadic way of life. In this valley in June of 1876 more than 260 soldiers and attached personnel were killed by several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne Indians. Several tombstones are placed where the individual fell during the battle, be him Indian or 7th Cavalry. It is quite tranquil and moving to stand on this hill overlooking miles of valley and river seeing what they must have seen. It is like a trip through time. You learn a lot of history here about what really happened from the military, the Indians and the European versions of what brought all this about. There are parts of all of this history that you can see that in some ways history is repeating itself. For instance the Buffalo/Bison; no one ever thought that thousands upon thousands of these noble creatures would become almost extinct. Historically it's been claimed that the Indians killed them for food, shelter, clothing, etc and we killed them for profit and greed. In reading diaries of the time and more extensively on the matter, one can see that there was a plenty of waste on both sides but the bottom line is the Anglos definitely destroyed a way of life and way too many buffalo herds were decimated. And then there was the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in the heart of the new Indian reservation and of course the treaty was violated in favor of the lust for fortunes. The country was in the midst of a major depression due to the over-extension (and greed) of the banks in rail, causing many to be unemployed and in the Army who had no other potential employment...need I go on? Anyway, on the grounds is also the Custer National Cemetery which reminds one of Arlington National Cemetery with the rows and rows of white tombstones. Buried here are those known and unknown veterans of our nation’s wars from this battle up to the Vietnam War to include women and children from isolated frontier posts, Indians, scouts, and Medal of Honor recipients.
We were both so moved by all of this and came away with a deeper understanding of this historic battle and campaign as well as a look into all of the lives of those who played an important part in the history of the centuries-long conflict that began with the arrival of the first Europeans in North America. Actually prompted us to read a couple of books on the topic... What more can you say about a place that inspires you to read up on the events leading up to it? Only that it was a good day and that we were glad we'd stopped on our way to Devil's Tower!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Glacier 29 May - 4 June 2010
We had the campground almost all to ourselves, except for the elk that came hunting food every evening, until Memorial Day weekend and even then it wasn’t crowded at all. The facilities are very nice, a camp store, even has a good sized hot tub and swimming pool, splash park, bocce court, volleyball, a putting green, a pavilion, big dog walk, log cabins, and best of all; we looked out almost on all sides to the mighty snow covered Glacier mountains, the plateaus, the pines and red birch trees, the aspens, and the winding St Mary river and lake. It became colder that first evening there and then the snow showers came in before we went to bed. We lost power for several hours that morning and awoke to a half a foot of snow! It was ever so beautiful as it was a wet snow that covered the trees making the country side look like a Robert Kinkaid Christmas card; but was almost all gone by the afternoon which was nice. The boys loved it! We took advantage of it and rode all around to sort of get a sense of where everything was and what we wanted to do first. But first, let’s talk clothing for this part of the country!! Come with a travel wardrobe that goes from parkas, under armor, snow boots to jeans and light weight sweaters and hiking boots/sneakers which we found on sale! Most of everything out was for the summer which may not come here until very late June or early July. The weather changes almost every day this time of year. We came with no cold weather coats and had to make a trip to get some more cold weather things; but as we have found in all of Wyoming and Montana these outings gave us a chance to meet some very nice people from all over. Almost all the stores and restaurants here are full of college and graduate students from here and there who just want a place to stay (which are provided by the facilities) and days off to see the area to do all kinds of sports such as hiking, kayaking, boating, biking, trail riding, cross-country skiing, and rock climbing, animal & bird watching, etc. We were impressed that they were so adventurous and possessed such a sense of the environment, and what adventures were there for their taking. On May 11, 1910 Glacier was designated the 10th National Park, six years prior to the establishment of the National Park Service. This year, we are helping Glacier in celebrating its centennial and its 100 years of upholding its mandate to conserve the natural and cultural resources for the enjoyment of our future generations. It’s very important to note that Glacier NP’s namesake, the 150 glaciers that were identified in 1850 have dwindled to only 25 which are still large enough to be called glaciers. Initially, the U.S. Geological Survey Research predicted those 25 would be gone by 2030, but they are disappearing more rapidly than that due to continued climate warming. We could only see two from the road. Glacier claims that it has the top 10 scenic drives in the Northern Rockies and we have to agree. There are 175 mountains with a low of 3,150 ft and a high of 10,466 ft with 151 hiking trails totaling more than 743 miles. There are also 13 campgrounds with 1,137 sites and 116 lodging accommodations in both parks, as well as 177 picnic sites. There are several entrances to the park…West Glacier, Two Medicine, East Glacier/ St Mary, Many Glaciers, and Waterton National Park which is on the Canadian side. In 1932 Canada and the U.S. declared Waterton Lakes NP and neighboring Glacier NP to be the world’s first International Peace Park sharing all the responsibilities. To our dismay, we did not think to bring our passports as it would have been great to see that side and the famous Prince of Wales Hotel that sits on a high cliff overlooking the park. We did drive up towards customs on the Chief Mountain International Hwy which began just north of us in Babb. We saw a beautiful view of the valley and the Chief Mountain (9,080 ft) which dominates the horizon. It is a solitary peak that commands awe. The Blackfeet Indians seeking spiritual guidance still tie a traditional offering of colored cloth to the trees at its base. On the way, we were so fortunate to see a rather large brown bear right on the side of the road which we sat and watched while he foraged for food. That drive is really quite pretty and one we will do again if we are able to come back some time during the fall months. Another disappointment was that due to the weather and more snow storms in the mountains (over 100 ft of snow this season) Logan’s Pass, which is atop the Continental Divide, was still closed even though it was suppose to open the first of June. So regrettably, we did not get to see the Going-To-The-Sun Mountain – at 9,642 ft, (the highest peak in the park). Another reason to come back… The name comes from a Blackfeet legend that says Napi, the creator, came to help the Blackfeet, then climbed this mountain to return to the sun. We saw photos at the St Mary Ranger’s Station of the huge amount of snow that the snow plows were still working on...it usually takes a least 2 months to clear all the snow from the pass and this very narrow road which goes from the St Mary entrance to Apgar Village and West Glacier to the west and is about an hour and a half drive. Due to the closure of the pass, we were only allowed to drive about 8 miles into the park before the road closes (up to Jackson Overlook).
During the summer there are free shuttles from July to Sep that travel around the park, as well as the famous old nostalgic appeal of the elegant and iconic retractable canvas topped sightseeing buses. These bright red buses are actually converted 25 ft touring sedans. It is reported that each one had traveled about 600,000 miles by the late 1990’s! It is incredible that they are still functioning! We could have gone around the southern route to West Glacier but that would have taken most of the day going and coming since it is about a two and a half hour drive without going through the pass. We had chosen the East side of the park as it is not as commercial as West Glacier and we are so very glad we did, although we did entertain thoughts of driving to the West and taking a helicopter tour of the park since that was highly recommended by one of Debra’s friends. Again, due to the weather and high winds, even that turned out not to be an option.
We made many trips to the side of the park called Many Glacier and the Swiftcurrent Valley. It is named for the glaciers on surrounding mountains and was a good place for us to see bighorn sheep and moose and other wild animals and birds. There is the Lake Sherburne Dam as you enter the park and just beyond is the Many Glacier Hotel which was built by the Northern Railway in 1915 to help promote tourism along its tracks. We could see Grinnell Glacier which is one of the largest in the park. In addition to the hotel there are some chalets, and a small motel which has of all things, an Italian Restaurant. During our first visit we got to see some mountain goats which many folk do not see this time of year. We also invested in a good set of self focusing binoculars which helped us both in Yellowstone and here. Our necks were stiff at night from stretching to see if we could see all the many falls created from the melting glaciers and any other wildlife while looking up at the majestic mountain peaks.
The tremendous range of topography in Waterton-Glacier supports a rich variety of plants and wildlife. Almost two thousand plant species provide food and haven for more than 60 native species of mammals and 260 species of birds. We loved watching a bull moose eating away at some berries and bushes as we drove back from one of our outings to Many Glaciers. In the 1980’s the gray wolf settled into Glacier for the first time since the 1950s. I think we saw one and photographed it…or it could have been a husky, we just weren’t sure. We planned on showing the photo to a ranger and see what they thought. Debra’s convinced it was a husky. We have a picture of it…maybe you can tell.
It was sad to learn that now strip-mining and oil, gas, housing and logging projects proposed are underway near the park’s respective borders and endanger the habitats of both water and land animals, including elk, bighorn sheep, and the threatened grizzly. Park officials and conservation groups are working with the U.S. Forest Service, the Canadian government, the Blackfeet Tribe, and private companies to protect critical habitats. I know I for one have become more aware of these types of things during this trip and intend to increase my contributions to the National Parks and Conservation Society.
The Wednesday evening before we left, a wind & rain storm came barreling through and the wind gusts were so bad we had to bring in the slide outs. It was like what we would call a nor’easter at home. Thursday the wind finally died down in the afternoon so we could make our last outing to Two Medicine, a short high mountain scenic highway, inside the park’s southeastern border which is surrounded by brightly colored cliffs and huge beautiful valleys.
The last night we were there we ate at Johnson’s restaurant up on the hill across from the little café. We hadn’t thought about it till we met these two guys who let us in on the secret of Johnsons. They have specials every night and are served family style. What a meal…their bean soup was absolutely the best!! It was like eating in a bunk house with lots of family memorabilia. Lester Johnson was quite the trailblazer in the area and well known. He had recently died at the age of 96 and his wife was still alive at 91. Some of the children were still running it.
The morning we were to depart, as we were leaving the campground for breakfast at our favorite cafe, there was a gorgeous rainbow that was so low to the ground it looked as if we could find the end just across the road into the woods. A fitting end to our trip.
We loved every moment of this stop and wished we were going to be there longer for the warmer weather to get to go through Logan’s Pass and to cross-over into Canada. But if all goes well we will return!! We encourage all our friends and family to make this trip soon before we lose these wonderful glaciers which are a study in ecology in themselves. We learned a lot about the circle of life at the park and how the whole park is dependent on the glaciers in so many different ways. Next stop...Mount Rushmore via Devil's Tower and Little Bighorn!
During the summer there are free shuttles from July to Sep that travel around the park, as well as the famous old nostalgic appeal of the elegant and iconic retractable canvas topped sightseeing buses. These bright red buses are actually converted 25 ft touring sedans. It is reported that each one had traveled about 600,000 miles by the late 1990’s! It is incredible that they are still functioning! We could have gone around the southern route to West Glacier but that would have taken most of the day going and coming since it is about a two and a half hour drive without going through the pass. We had chosen the East side of the park as it is not as commercial as West Glacier and we are so very glad we did, although we did entertain thoughts of driving to the West and taking a helicopter tour of the park since that was highly recommended by one of Debra’s friends. Again, due to the weather and high winds, even that turned out not to be an option.
We made many trips to the side of the park called Many Glacier and the Swiftcurrent Valley. It is named for the glaciers on surrounding mountains and was a good place for us to see bighorn sheep and moose and other wild animals and birds. There is the Lake Sherburne Dam as you enter the park and just beyond is the Many Glacier Hotel which was built by the Northern Railway in 1915 to help promote tourism along its tracks. We could see Grinnell Glacier which is one of the largest in the park. In addition to the hotel there are some chalets, and a small motel which has of all things, an Italian Restaurant. During our first visit we got to see some mountain goats which many folk do not see this time of year. We also invested in a good set of self focusing binoculars which helped us both in Yellowstone and here. Our necks were stiff at night from stretching to see if we could see all the many falls created from the melting glaciers and any other wildlife while looking up at the majestic mountain peaks.
The tremendous range of topography in Waterton-Glacier supports a rich variety of plants and wildlife. Almost two thousand plant species provide food and haven for more than 60 native species of mammals and 260 species of birds. We loved watching a bull moose eating away at some berries and bushes as we drove back from one of our outings to Many Glaciers. In the 1980’s the gray wolf settled into Glacier for the first time since the 1950s. I think we saw one and photographed it…or it could have been a husky, we just weren’t sure. We planned on showing the photo to a ranger and see what they thought. Debra’s convinced it was a husky. We have a picture of it…maybe you can tell.
It was sad to learn that now strip-mining and oil, gas, housing and logging projects proposed are underway near the park’s respective borders and endanger the habitats of both water and land animals, including elk, bighorn sheep, and the threatened grizzly. Park officials and conservation groups are working with the U.S. Forest Service, the Canadian government, the Blackfeet Tribe, and private companies to protect critical habitats. I know I for one have become more aware of these types of things during this trip and intend to increase my contributions to the National Parks and Conservation Society.
The Wednesday evening before we left, a wind & rain storm came barreling through and the wind gusts were so bad we had to bring in the slide outs. It was like what we would call a nor’easter at home. Thursday the wind finally died down in the afternoon so we could make our last outing to Two Medicine, a short high mountain scenic highway, inside the park’s southeastern border which is surrounded by brightly colored cliffs and huge beautiful valleys.
The last night we were there we ate at Johnson’s restaurant up on the hill across from the little café. We hadn’t thought about it till we met these two guys who let us in on the secret of Johnsons. They have specials every night and are served family style. What a meal…their bean soup was absolutely the best!! It was like eating in a bunk house with lots of family memorabilia. Lester Johnson was quite the trailblazer in the area and well known. He had recently died at the age of 96 and his wife was still alive at 91. Some of the children were still running it.
The morning we were to depart, as we were leaving the campground for breakfast at our favorite cafe, there was a gorgeous rainbow that was so low to the ground it looked as if we could find the end just across the road into the woods. A fitting end to our trip.
We loved every moment of this stop and wished we were going to be there longer for the warmer weather to get to go through Logan’s Pass and to cross-over into Canada. But if all goes well we will return!! We encourage all our friends and family to make this trip soon before we lose these wonderful glaciers which are a study in ecology in themselves. We learned a lot about the circle of life at the park and how the whole park is dependent on the glaciers in so many different ways. Next stop...Mount Rushmore via Devil's Tower and Little Bighorn!
Ride from Gardiner, MT to St Mary, MT
We left Gardiner, MT (Yellowstone NP) on May 28th headed for Great Falls, MT for our overnight stay enroute to Glacier NP. We arrived in Great Falls in a pouring rain storm that they said had been going on for two days!! Was fun getting set up at our site and getting the dogs "to go" in that kind of weather. But, mountain women that we have become - we zipped right through it and found out the important stuff...such as where to get a good breakfast for the next day! You never know when you will see something special and while out with the dogs, something flew into the bushes right in front of me that I had never seen before..a pheasant. What a beautiful multi-colored bird…very majestic looking. Anyway, Great Falls is pretty much a military town as Malmstrom AFB is there which gave us a chance to go to the commissary and load up on groceries for the next week. Don’t think I have ever seen so many casinos (only have slots and KENO) on one street which was the main street of Great Falls. Think I lost count at 15!! Then it was off to the Base Exchange for some thick, warm hiking socks; then to the local outdoor store for some hiking boots, since it seemed the weather in this part of the country is so unpredictable. We were lucky as they were on sale since they were already gearing up for spring and summer….
The next morning it was on the road again for Glacier and the St Mary KOA Campground. The drive up was quite a diversity of terrain as we went from miles and miles of flat wheat and green alpha fields (the main stay of that part of the country) on I-15 then turned onto state roads 287 and 2 which was still pretty flat with nothing but cattle range and very poor looking ranch houses. The small city of Browning was the only town in-between, but there in the middle of all this run down town was a pretty big Indian casino (we didn’t stop)!! We kept saying to each other this was not what we pictured this area to look like. We had left the morning before with beautiful mountain peaks and bison in the road or prong horn deer grazing in the fields to these flat lands. But we then turned onto 89 and then, all of a sudden, the terrain changed...we could see the tops of the snow covered mountains, and we were headed around and around up a narrow mountain road in a light blowing snow. Then we got to St Mary, a little hamlet which consisted of a big lodge & gift/sports apparel store for us touristas, a gas station, two very small country restaurants, a gas station & general store, and a Norman Bates looking small motel. There would be no Chinese take-away here! But to our amazement, one of the three eating establishments in town was the Park Café, a little place just down the road which made really good healthy meals and about 18 different homemade pies and of course your dinner meal came with which has become my favorite - wild huckleberry ice cream with chocolate syrup!! There was also a small food market that hadn’t opened as yet and some old looking trailers. We were very much worried at that point as to how this KOA was going to look…boy were we ever pleasantly surprised! It was just great! It became a favorite. We just stood outside for awhile and took in all the beauty to which we were privileged to see. What a country we live in….have we said that once or twice before? Can’t say it enough!
The next morning it was on the road again for Glacier and the St Mary KOA Campground. The drive up was quite a diversity of terrain as we went from miles and miles of flat wheat and green alpha fields (the main stay of that part of the country) on I-15 then turned onto state roads 287 and 2 which was still pretty flat with nothing but cattle range and very poor looking ranch houses. The small city of Browning was the only town in-between, but there in the middle of all this run down town was a pretty big Indian casino (we didn’t stop)!! We kept saying to each other this was not what we pictured this area to look like. We had left the morning before with beautiful mountain peaks and bison in the road or prong horn deer grazing in the fields to these flat lands. But we then turned onto 89 and then, all of a sudden, the terrain changed...we could see the tops of the snow covered mountains, and we were headed around and around up a narrow mountain road in a light blowing snow. Then we got to St Mary, a little hamlet which consisted of a big lodge & gift/sports apparel store for us touristas, a gas station, two very small country restaurants, a gas station & general store, and a Norman Bates looking small motel. There would be no Chinese take-away here! But to our amazement, one of the three eating establishments in town was the Park Café, a little place just down the road which made really good healthy meals and about 18 different homemade pies and of course your dinner meal came with which has become my favorite - wild huckleberry ice cream with chocolate syrup!! There was also a small food market that hadn’t opened as yet and some old looking trailers. We were very much worried at that point as to how this KOA was going to look…boy were we ever pleasantly surprised! It was just great! It became a favorite. We just stood outside for awhile and took in all the beauty to which we were privileged to see. What a country we live in….have we said that once or twice before? Can’t say it enough!
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