Arrival at Glacier National Park

Thursday August 20, 2015      Day 23      Glacier National Park, Two Medicine Campground, site 99

160 towing miles

 We were able to stay connected last night because we were on a level site.  Put down the stabilizers and jack to keep us from rocking.  That helps us with a fast getaway in the morning.

 Left Holland Lake at 7:10 with a fresh cup of coffee in the cup holders.  It seems when we leave early, we always leave at 7:10 instead of 07:00.  Very nice drive all day, but everything is hazy and smoky all the way to our destination.  It got worse the farther north we went. 

 This is boring for the average reader, but the geeks and nerds will want to take out a map and see where I went today.  We left the campground and proceeded on MT-81 north to MT-35 towards Kalispell.  But before we got to Kalispell, we jumped on MT-202 north to US-2 east.  The same one that crosses the southern part of the U.P.  It was very hazy with smoke by then.  Went through the entry town of West Glacier and all its touristy stuff and continued on to East Glacier.  US-2 follows the southern boundary of Glacier National Park.  What a beautiful ride that is.  Along this section we saw fire trucks, tankers, lots of forest service vehicles, and other official looking stuff. 

 

We arrived at Two Medicine Campground at 11:30.  There was quite a number of sites available.  Quite a surprise.  We arrived here last year at about the same time and they were full.  We got a site only because we caught someone leaving and pulled in behind them after they left.  This time we must have had 20 or more sites to choose and they were good ones, too.  We ended up with one of the best views in the whole campground.  We are right on an arm of Pray Lake at the base of Rising Wolf Mountain.  Look at these photos of our campsite and the views we have from here:

 

 

 

View out our window.  The bridge crosses the arm of Pray Lake (in the background) and goes to the north side trails along Two Medicine Lake.  There is a rope across it indicating the trails are closed.

 

View of our site from the campground road.

 

Site 99 at the base of Rising Wolf Mountain.

 

This is where we sat out looking over the arm

 of Pray Lake watching little trout jump.

 

Made some hamburgers when we got here because we bought stale Hostess Fruit Pie wanna-bes at a gas station because we were hungry after some time on the road.  So hamburgers was a quick protein injection.  Made them on English muffins for lack of rolls or hamburger buns.  But they are really good that way.  We toasted them on the grill, not a toaster.  We don’t have one with us and that is a luxury we don’t need camping.  Although people in these monster fifth wheels have all that stuff.

 

While the burgers were cooking, a ranger walked by and I talked to her about fishing opportunities.  I inquired about where I could get a Montana fishing license and she said it wasn’t needed for fishing in the park boundaries. That was good.  Glacier National Park is not really a fishing destination.  Most of the fishing is in lakes and they are not heavily fished.  But if there is water and it has trout, I like to try my luck.  Fished the water between Two Medicine Lake and Pray Lake.  Pray Lake is like a lower section of Two Medicine Lake with a little channel connecting them.  An extension of it is in front of our campsite.  I cast my 5 wt. fly rod into Pray Lake where the channel connects.  Was having no luck for a long time, trying everything and then put on a small PMD (pale morning dun) a little pale yellow fly that imitates a mayfly common to the west.  I started getting a lot of hits, but caught only one.  They were tiny brook trout.  My Montana fly fishing book says you have to use a canoe or float tube and troll to get the big ones.

While walking around the lake to go fishing I took some shots of the surrounding mountains.

Pray Lake looking west towards Sinopah.

 

Taken from my fishing spot.  The little dot on the

left at the base of the mountain is the Oliver.

 

The gravel bar where I fished from. 
Good shot of Rising Wolf Mountain.

Met our neighbor next to us was a 24 Airstream.   She was a woman in her 60’s by herself.  Her husband works for Boing (she’s from Seattle) and travels overseas a lot.  She likes to camp and he don’t, so she takes off when he’s gone.  Her name was Tanny (not Tammy).  She and Marsha hit it off right away.  She likes to knit and showed off her handy work.  Marsha likes to sew, especially quilts.

We wanted to see her Airstream and she showed it to us.  It was a 2006.  It had some features that were nice that our Oliver didn’t have.  A 3 burner stove with oven.  A wider dinette.  And the whole thing was a little wider.  But I could see no other features that I thought were better than the Oliver.  It had no outside storage access.  Used mechanical stabilizers.  Much less interior storage.  It also had dents in the exterior aluminum from tree branches.  Fiberglass doesn’t dent.  Her Airstream trailer was very good looking with only minor cosmetic imperfections.  She asked to see our Oliver and we showed it to her.  She was so impressed she has decided to sell her Airstream and save up for an Oliver.  She liked the idea that fiberglass doesn’t dent.  She also like the quality of the construction, the lack of seams and fasteners, and the tremendous storage available. 

She asked me about helping her learn fly fishing.  Her 90 year old dad was an avid fly fisher for steelhead on the west coast and authored a book on it.  She had a copy of the book.  Steelhead fishing is real big on the west coast.  For those who don’t know, steelhead are rainbow trout that live most of their lives in the ocean and come back up the rivers to spawn in the fall.  They sometimes return to the sea but many over winter in the river and return in the spring.  They don’t die after spawning like salmon.

Learned that US-2 between West Glacier and East Glacier was closed to all traffic today.  We were lucky to get through this morning because it is a long way around without U.S.-2.  The closure was due to the fires getting closer to the road.  An alternate road would be the Going to the Sun highway, but you can't pull a trailer up that road due to length restrictions.  We would have stayed at Apgar if the road was closed when we got there.

We made some salsa cod and my zucchini, squash, and onion vegetables on the grill.  The ranger stopped by while I was cooking to let us know there was a ranger program tonight at 07:30 about moose.   On the way to the Campfire, as it’s called, we met three college age kids who had just arrived in a small car with tent camping stuff.  They had MI plates (just one plate, there is no front plate in MI) and were from Grand Haven.  There are two other MI trailers in this campground.

The moose presentation was very good and I learned a lot.  She told us there would be a ranger led hike tomorrow at 12:30 to Aster Falls.  On the way is a guaranteed moose place.  We decided we would go.

We also learned that the Two Medicine area trails to the north of Two Medicine Lake are all closed due to the fire danger, but the trails south of the lake are open.  Because of the absence of hiking opportunities and the smoky, hazy views, a lot of would be hikers stayed away.  That’s why the campground is not as full as it would be.  Cut Bank Creek campground and Rising Sun Campground near St. Mary’s are also closed due to fires.  Only two campgrounds filled yesterday, Fish Creek on the west side and Many Glacier on the east side.

In spite of the fires and the less than optimal views, this is a very special place and I am so glad to be here.