Back in the USA! Our first destination was Glacier National Park, which is in the northwest corner of Montana, in the Rocky Mountains. We had heard last year how beautiful the park was, and we were not disappointed! Unfortunately, Glacier Park, known for it's glaciers, has only 25 glaciers remaining, and it has been predicted that most of the glaciers will be gone by 2020 due to melting! There are only about 12 glaciers that can be seen from the road and the rest can only be seen by hiking quite a distance into the backwoods. One of the largest visible from the road was Jackson Glacier.
On one of our days in Glacier, we took the famous "Red Bus" tour. There have been 3 generations of the Red Bus, first starting in 1936. When the last generation of buses started to break down, the park wanted to get rid of them. After protests, the buses were refurbished by Ford Motor Company at the cost of $250,000 each! Each coach holds about 12 passengers. They are convertible, so unless it is raining, the top is down and it is great to be able to see the mountains and scenery above you as you are driving. At certain times, when the vehicles are stopped, the passengers are allowed to stand up in the bus and take pictures. The vintage coach drivers were called "Jammers", because they could be heard jamming the gears on the original stick-shift vehicles when driving up and down the mountains.
Our tour went along the "Going to the Sun Road", which traverses the park from east to west. It is considered one of the most beautiful drives in the country. The road is narrow and winding, and is built on the side of the mountains. At Logan's Pass, in the middle of the park, the elevation of the road is 6600 ft! It is an amazing road with spectacular sights. All I can say is that I'm glad we didn't try to drive our big truck in there, and relied on Evelyn, our Red Bus tour guide! Had we driven, probably both Art and I would have had heart attacks! In some areas, there seemed to be only inches to pass by the other vehicles going the opposite direction!
After deciding we needed to get some exercise one day, Art and I planned to take a "short" hike within the park to see the St Mary's Waterfalls. While riding a shuttle to the trail head, we met a nice couple, Judy and Bob, (she a patent attorney) who were also planning to hike in the same area, so we joined them. The trail was marked "easy", but it seemed steeper, longer, and more dense than we had anticipated. There were bear warning signs along the way, and before long, we ran across some fresh droppings with berries in them. Since bears are real berry lovers, we became a little nervous. A lot of hikers bring bear spray, which, of course, we didn't have. However, I got out my "Off " insect spray, hoping the bear wouldn't know the difference, in case of an encounter! All of us also talked loudly the entire way, since bears like to know you are coming and not be surprised! Although we didn't run into a bear, we were face to face with a weasel, which Art managed to catch a picture of. We ended up walking over 4 miles, and finally did make it to the waterfalls!
While driving on the "Many Glacier" road in the evening, we were able to spot Grizzly Bears coming down from the mountains, looking for food. Before dusk, the bears get more active, so your chances of seeing them are greater. They are very large, but move quite fast. No matter how many you see, it is still thrilling to see them in the wild! On the way home we saw the most beautiful harvest moon rising over the treeline. A perfect ending!
During our brief stay in Great Falls, we made a trip to the Charles Marion Russell Museum. Russell became known as the "Cowboy Artist", and was a gifted painter, writer, and sculptor. He moved from St Louis to Montana as a young man, having always been fascinated by the Old West, and drew and painted while working as a cowboy. His love of the West and respect and sympathy for the Native Americans was evident in his artwork. The museum was very well done and also housed large exhibits of other Western and Native American artists and artifacts, as well as a great exhibit on the American Bison.
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