Paul and Julie on the Road: INTO MONTANA & GLACIER NATIONAL PARK July 30

Leaving Washington state, we drove north through Idaho and then east to Montana with plans to spend the month of August seeing this beautiful state. Our first introduction to the beauty of Montana was our stop at Kootanai Falls. It's not easy to find space for the RV and car when we want to make an unexpected stop, but Paul did a super job getting both into and out of the parking lot giving us an hour to hike to this beautiful river and falls area.

Our campground for the next five nights was at Logan State Park, a small, charming park. Our first site had a great view of the lake but was also set in the full sun, even the awning couldn't give us respite from the heat. So, we walked early morning and late afternoon, seeking shade the middle of the day elsewhere in the park.

As we walked around that first afternoon we noticed that so many of the vehicles camped there all had their hoods propped up, strange, just didn't seem like all these trucks would be having engine troubles...and of course they weren't. Evidently in this area it is a way of keeping pack rats out of the engine of the car. We did see the evidence of damage they can do on a neighbor's truck. so, like a good neighbor, we opened both the car and the RV hood each day we were there. Too funny, but not worth the risk of chewed wires.

Sunsets were so beautiful, and didn't happen until close to 10PM!

We were able to get an additional couple of nights at the park and a shaded site when someone cancelled a reservation. Sooooooo much nicer to have the shade of the trees to keep us cool.

We were up early Sunday morning, July 30, to drive on over to Glacier National Park and our stay at San Suz Ed RV Park. The park was wooded with good space between sites, but still not the same as staying in Glacier Park itself. But, when we learned that campers were in line by 5:30 each morning trying to get an empty campsite, we knew that wasn't going to work for us. So, we enjoyed our stay just 2 miles away from the gate to the park, a great location.

As I write the memories of those days in the park, I'm saddened knowing that forest fires have now consumed much of the park near this gorgeous Lake McDonald area. How lucky we were to be there to experience it, without the smokey skies that must be there now.

That first afternoon we drove into the park to see the lake, have a beer and ended up taking an evening boat tour of the lake. The wooden boats are original to the lake and the park, a fun way of beginning our visit to the park.

Leaving the campground by 7:30 the next morning we drove the beautiful Going-to-the-Sun Road with hopes of hiking at Logan Pass. But, this park was in high season and even with an early morning drive the parking lot at Logan Pass was full, cars just circling and circling to get a space. So instead, we stopped at almost every pull out along the route for beautiful views of the surrounding mountains, smoke was just beginning to filter into the valleys but thankfully the sky was still a brilliant blue.

Beautiful wildflowers in August!

Small snow pack along the road.

These classic Glacier tour buses were traveling the opposite direction, loved seeing them all along the road.

As we drove east across the pass we found parking at St. Mary Lake for a couple hour hike to the falls. The bear warning signs always make us think twice about the trails, but with lots of hikers we figured we'd be ok. A ranger was waiting at the trail head and as it turned out, she had discovered we'd left our keys in the trunk of our car. What luck for us! Joining her on the hike really added a much more in depth understanding of the history of this part of the park, where there once were beautiful wooded chalets for lodging and food at the turn of the century, now gone.

Such amazing color in the lake!

Stopping for a picnic as we returned, the day was slipping by and it was time to head back to the RV and Foster. The heat of the afternoon cooled off that evening so we just hung out at the campsite.

We decided to try a different way of getting up to Logan Pass the next morning...take the shuttle bus up, leaving the car in the parking lot. It all sounded good, but with the huge number of visitors and the limited capacity of the tour buses, it wasn't to be. We waited for one and a half hours, watched 3 buses fill their 20 seats, and though we were to be the first on the next shuttle it seemed like too much of our day had disappeared. Plus, we wondered what would be the chances of getting on a returning shuttle in time to be back for Foster mid afternoon; we'd made an appointment to see a vet in Columbia Falls.

So, back to the car and on up the road, this time all the way across the pass and to the eastern side of the park at Many Glacier. Oh, what a ride...the biggest potholes I think we've ever seen to drive the 10 miles into the park. We picnicked overlooking Swiftcurrent Lake and then hiked to Lake Josephine. Everything was so beautiful, even the lodge had flowers flowing from their baskets.

The view back towards the Lodge and a lovely afternoon hike.

Returning back across the Going-to-the-Sun Road the afternoon was beginning to cool off and fewer cars along the roads.

We loved this photo...National Park Ranger and the iconic Red Bus on our hike to McDonald Falls Wednesday afternoon. Many of these buses have been in service since the mid-1930s. The drivers are called "Jammers" because the could be heard "Jamming" the gears of the red buses climbing the Going-to-the-Sun Road when the buses had standard transmissions lasting until new automatic transmissions were installed in 1989.