Glacier National Park August 2019

FLATHEAD LAKE & BIGFORK:

On the way to Glacier, drove mourned the eastern side of Flathead Lake.  It is the largest natural fresh water lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48.  It has 200 square miles of water and 185 miles of shoreline.  We were hoping to kayak in Flathead Lake, by the weather turned cold and the water choppy.

We were able to walk around the village of Bigfork, a cute town on the east side of Flathead Lake.   Really nice art galleries and of course, no one starves.  A myriad of restaurants to choose from.  We had to take the iconic photo with the Big Fork.

We were lucky to find some fresh fruits and vegetables here in Big Fork.   Flathead Lake Cherries are sold all along the road side.  This growing area has perfect weather for growing cherries.  We of course stopped and bought the sweetest Ranier Cherries we have ever eaten.  The growing season is July and early August so we lucked out.

Further up the road we found a Hutterite vegetable stand.  These vegetables were picked fresh at their local colony that day (65 miles from Big Fork).   I had heard of Hutterites, but admit, I didn't know much about them.   Part of traveling is learning about the locale and its people...so away to the internet I went.  The Hutterites share common roots with Amish and Menonites.  But the Hutterite religon believes in the community of goods.  All material goods are held in common.  All members of the colony are provided for equally, no assets are kept for personal gain.  They believe that all their work is to benefit the community and is a form of service to God.   So happy to have stopped for delicious food for our body and food for thought.  Praise God.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK:

With only a few days to visit the park, we decided to take a Red Bus tour.  Our tour bus traveled on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  The road is fairly steep and has beautiful scenic views.  Tom was able to enjoy the scenery instead of gripping the steering wheel on the steep narrow road.  We chose a shorter tour to Logan Pass, in lieu of going the entire route to the Eastern entrance of the road.

      

Our Red Bus tour started at the Agpar visitor center.   First stop was Lake Mc Donald.  Immense glaciers carved the Lake.  It is 10 miles long and 464 feet deep.   The Kottenai People, called it "Sacred Dancing Lake".  We were able to see the stones that were used in dancing for their ceremonies, found along McDonald Creek.

                               


We ended the tour at Logan Pass - 6600 ft elevation.  Once again we were on the Continental Divide (Yellowstone 2017 was our first pass over).  Unfortunately cloud cover came in and were not able to see the mountain scenery.   But luckily the stop before the skies were clear and we were able to watch 3 or 4 mountain goats with the shaggy white coats and black horn scale the rugged rocky cliffs.   Our tradition when visiting National Parks is buying a stuffed animal for the grandkids to play with.  This trip added Mac the Mountain Goat to the menagerie.