The kids and I drove to Kalispell, Montana on Friday - eight hour drive with Spokane being a good lunch stop and halfway point. We were disappointed the hotel pool was closed. But we found this amazing playground and realized this was much better anyway. Kalispell has a cool downtown area all done in brick and it was neat to check out the town. We had a delicious dinner at the Mackenzie Pizza Company and got to watch Olympic diving in the restaurant which was perfect. We settled into the hotel for bed and prepared for a big next day of going to Glacier National Park.
We woke up early (felt even earlier with the time change), drove the remaining hour to Glacier's west entrance, and hopped on the Going to the Sun Road after getting the paddle board water use inspection completed. The scenery was breathtaking and the road was narrow and windy, true to all reports. We stopped at a number of pull outs to take pictures. We were hoping to hike to Hidden Lake at Logan Pass, but the parking area was full, so we adjusted plans and drove all the way out to St. Mary, out of the park, north to Many Glacier, and back into the park to explore that area instead.
Triple Arches.
Siyeh Bend.
Jackson Glacier through the gap.
We reached the Many Glacier area at the end of a nine-mile dirt road (construction this year). We did a hike around Lake Josephine and got to see moose, and even a baby moose, eating the willows in the lake. It was really cool. We had decent weather, but I want to return earlier in the summer when there is more snow on the mountains and hope for a clear day to really appreciate each of the mountains.
One of our new favorite parts of exploring National Parks is to check out the historic lodges. The one at Many Glacier did not disappoint. It's columns were made of giant tree trunks and it had a really interesting double helix wooden staircase.
Before heading back into East Glacier, we stopped at this overlook on the Blackfeet Reservation, near St. Mary. It was a stunning vista and well worth the extra couple miles of driving.
Then, just as we went back into the park we saw a grizzly bear while we were driving. It was really cool and we stopped and watched from a distance.
We wrapped up our day at Rising Sun Inn - it ended up being the perfect spot. The kids got to ride bikes and our room was cozy and comfortable. Good thing because it started raining that evening and never stopped. So glad we were not camping!
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