Glacier National Park, MT

Well Browning was a strange place, it had all the hall marks of a town that had been forgotten and yet it is a gateway to one of the most scenic and popular National Parks. Fireworks going off all night, police sirens, hoards of mangy dogs wandering the streets and dilapidated houses and buildings.
The Blackfeet are trying to make a go of it but like many native American populations they seem cut off from the mainstream.
We got going after an inhouse included breakfast, heading North on Hwy 89 and into the Glacier National Park, “Going to the Sun Road”. Only several miles out of Browning we had to stop for roadworks. The stop/go guy was taking off his jumper down to a T Shirt with the outside temp at 8 degrees Celsius. As we pulled up he saw our flag and came over and said howdy. Jeremy Jones Horn, stood and talked to us about his life and ours his heritage his family and everything in between for the 15 minutes before the pilot vehicle guided us through the road works. The roadworks were the most confused and messy construction site we have seen, but it’s obviously creating employment for a lot of people.
The run into the park was brilliant, the roads demand to be ridden on a bike with sweeping well cambered corners and awesome scenery. Soon enough we arrived at the park gates, showed our magic park pass and entered our 7th National Park. Our first stop was the visitors centre, it was now down to about 6 degrees and windy. The visitors centre again was informative and we gained a great insight into what to look at.
It did not take long to see what all the fuss was about, this was another park that was just amazing with spectacular views and geology. Extinct glaciers are all through the park with waterfalls around every corner. There was still plentiful snow at the top of Logan’s Pass, where we stopped for a walk in the snow and to buy a souvenir or two. I think we were all grateful for the light weight layers of Kathmandu and Mountain Design clothing that we have procured over the last trip and this trip.
Now we were in the thick of Bear country and whilst we did not see any today we are on high alert as we walked through narrow paths bordered by thick under brush. I nearly climbed a tree when Carl having walked ahead jumped out from behind a tree. It was the closest thing we saw to a grizzly today, but the b.s…d scared ten years off my life.
From the park we descended quickly and followed the Flathead River through to West Glacier where we stopped for lunch, warmed up and prepared for the end of day drive.
During the afternoon we continued through spectacular country, past and over fast running rivers and massive lakes. Classic Montana style log cabins and old barns dotted the landscape. Montana has it all from vast open plains as described yesterday to mountain and glacier country. The people we have met are so friendly.
We have finally made our way into Bonners Ferry in Idaho, 23 miles from the Canadian border, Carl and I have the domestic duties (laundry) under control. Its wet and cold outside and we are looking forward to a nice dinner tonight.Read more