It seems like a lot has happened since I last wrote, so I'm going to take the cop-out road and split it into two posts (it IS my birthday, so make a few allowances please). The entire time Doc and I have been out (and really since we started planning 2 years ago) our ultimate plan has been to make Glacier National Park the last stop past the Continental Divide and start slowly making our way home. The reason for this being that Glacier was the farthest North (the direction we were headed) and also meant to be one of the neatest stops. After all, Doc had the privilege of going there before and was going to show Glacier off to me. Well, as we started heading up from Phillipsburg we kept getting discouraging news from passersby: Going-to-the-Sun Rd. was not yet open. For those of you who, like me, had no idea what the significance of that is: it is not only the ONLY road that cuts all the way thru Glacier Park, but it is also the crucial hinge upon which the Red Jammer circa 1930's open-air bus trips hinge (something that Doc was really hoping we could do as a day-long activity). So we decided to do the logical thing and use the shuttle system the NP has set up that takes you to the point where they have finished clearing snow and turns you around to come back. After such luck with the shuttle systems at both Bryce Canyon NP and Zion NP we were pretty confident that it would stop us at a few places and then we could catch the next shuttle that went a bit farther... or so we thought. Turns out that the buses were only running every 30 minutes from the main hub and we arrived RIGHT AFTER one left! No biggie, 30 minutes isn't too long... until someone informed us that we had to put our name on "the list" to even get onto a shuttle. So we did... and found out we were the FIRST people on the list to NOT get on that shuttle. So there went another half an hour. By this point we are slightly tired of sitting on concrete benches at the bus stop, but our hopes were still high. After all, I had been told over and over by people we encountered that Glacier is BEAUTIFUL. I still hadn't seen it though, because we were in a forest that pretty much obscured the view. Thus, the anticipation about actually SEEING something. So we get on the bus and go halfway up, at which point they stop at a picnic grounds. No big deal, we'll just keep riding to the top. Here's the rub: the bus driver proclaimed that NO ONE could stay on the bus and that it was a mandatory stop. Reason being that there was a line of over a hundred people at the top stop waiting to get on shuttles. What you don't know is that all the shuttle buses only fit 12-15 passengers! So we got off and waited for about thirty minutes to get on the next shuttle to go up, got to look around for fifteen minutes, and then got in the 150-person line to come back down... or so we thought. Turns out the middle point stop (which supposedly had great hiking from it but was no treat to look at for those of us starting out in the late afternoon) was mandatory BOTH WAYS! So we came back down after 45 minutes waiting at the top and waited another 30 at least to go back to the main hub. Needless to say, first impressions are very important and I was not impressed. After that ordeal, we decided for the first time since Mrs. Doc left us that a hotel and, more importantly, a shower, was in order.
Thankfully the next day redeemed Glacier for me. We went to a less-traveled entrance on the opposite side of the park called Many Glaciers and enjoyed a lovely hike to Red Rock Falls. We even saw a Grizzly Bear up on a ridge and a Mountain Goat. Pretty nifty, and that's before we even got to the falls, which were also very pretty. We camped that night at a private campground about 2 miles away called Duck Lake. I'm going to go ahead and make that the must-stay spot if you're ever in the area. The campsite was $20 and even though it was one of the busiest weekends of the year at the park there were only about 7 out of this campground's 30 sites filled. Furthermore, we were less than 5 feet off the lake in our campsite and were far enough around it that we got to watch the sun set over Glacier on the other side. Outstanding. We did decide to make that the final night of our trip pre-turning to come home, but I promise there have been more worthwhile exploits that you should read about. Are you ready for the punchline? Okay... so Going-to-the-Sun Rd. opened THE DAY AFTER WE LEFT! Can you believe it? So I need to go back and get my Red Jammer on at some point.
No comments:
Post a Comment