Mountana

July 10, 2015

Montana - a little piece of heaven in the USA!

Montana is as close to heaven as you can get. The rugged mountains and glaciers are the perfection of creation. Because of the harsh winters, the area is sparsely populated. It takes a certain type of person to live through the winters. But the reward is Summer in Montana.

Dolly the Dolphin in Glacier National Park

We started in West Glacier where we camped in the Glacier Campground. Dolly was nestled in the woods. Bebop and Satch were thrilled that we could open the door of our home and outside was a wonderland of forest to romp through and check out all the new smells. They were also quite surprised by guests showing up in the woods. Rosalie and Barry arranged a trip to Glacier at the same time as us so that we could all meet up. Along the way we picked up a couple of bottles of fine Oregon wine and the four of us enjoyed fine wine and Cajun food. For some reason, our campground had a 4-star outdoor Cajun restaurant. We enjoyed various dishes, starting with Fried Green Tomatoes. It was a wonderful way to start off our time in Glacier.

Rosalie and Barry join us for Cajun Food in Glacier!

Satch & Bebop in Glacier

The next morning, we headed into the Park. We're a little discouraged that the National Parks have a "no pet" policy on most of their trails. But they have good reason - this is bear country, and bears and dogs can be adversarial when they meet. It would not turn out good for either the dog or the bear if they got into it, so dogs are designated to certain areas that are safe. Our options are leave the dogs in the RV all day while we go hiking, or take them on off-the-beaten-track trails. We opted to include them. Our first hike was on a biking trail through Glacier. It was great to be in the midst of this magical forest.

US 89 in Montana is not a highway

After our hike, we closed up the Dolphin, secured everything and headed to the East Side of Glacier. Dolly is too big to go across the park on the Going to the Sun Highway, so we too US 2 around the South end of the park and headed North on US 89. As soon as we turned on to the highway, it turned into a one-lane gravel road. It seemed we must have made a wrong turn somewhere, as this is a US highway. Trucks use this road. It went on and on for 20 miles or so. One lane with hardly any traffic. No signs. Not even workers working on the roads. We were confused, but our GPS told us we were on the right road. And then, suddenly, the gravel road turned back into a two-lane US highway. After talking to people who live in Montana, it turns out that this is something they do a lot. They completely demolish a road down to its core and start it all over again. It was bizarre.

We finally reached our destination and set up camp on an Indian Reservation in St. Mary's. We happened to be staying during North American Indian Days with a large celebration for United States and Canadian tribes called Blackfeet Nation. Going into the grocery store was interesting, because the aisles that had liquor were blocked, as all liquor sales are forbidden. Being on the Reservation also means that you are governed by the Indian bureau and not the State or Federal agencies. We came across a hippie commune in St. Mary's. They had taken over an old abandoned trailer park and were supporting themselves running a little outdoor Mexican restaurant. We stopped in and enjoyed a couple of veggie burritos. Very tasty!

Many Glacier Hotel from atop a hill. The views are amazing!

Next on the agenda was an area called Many Glacier. It's in the Northern tip of Glacier. At Rosalie and Barry's suggestion, We drove back to the Many Glacier Hotel, sat on the deck sipping Huckleberry Cocktails, and looked out over an amazing landscape across the lake to huge mountain peaks and glaciers. Truly stunning. We sat and watched the sun set behind the mountains.

Going to the Sun Highway - not for RVs!

The next morning, we arose early and headed across the Going to the Sun road, which is the major attraction of Glacier. We had the dogs with us, so we did not go on the major trails. We did hike along St. Mary's River, which did allow dogs. The boys were glad to romp in the crystal clear water. This is the first time where they've been in pure water like this where you can romp and drink at the same time. Once they realized they could do that, there was more drinking than romping.

Butte Boondocking!

We returned to our campsite and made a big batch of cowboy popcorn on our campfire. We arose the next morning and headed on our journey to Yellowstone. It's a little too far to do in one day. We live by the rule of 3's: Drive no more than 300 miles per day; Arrive at your campsite by 3:00, and Stay 3 nights. So, we split the drive in two and pulled into a Walmart parking lot in Butte, Montana, where we joined a dozen or so other RV'ers in a tradition called Boondocking (free camping). We sat in the parking lot listening to early albums by Paul Simon, Jefferson Airplane and capped it off with some Miles and headed to bed.With the morning light, the engines started firing up and we all found our way out of the lot and on the road again.