We got to Apgar campground in Glacier about 3, finally found
a site with a large enough tent pad, and close to the washroom, and set up
camp. We had supper, loaded all the
totes into the cab of the truck, and by that time it was dark and we went to
bed. It dropped to the 40’s over night,
but we were quite comfortable in the tent.
Each night got colder.
I was ok – I had the 2” memory foam pad on top of my air mattress. Shelley was in pretty good shape – she had a
foam pad, too – but she got cold the last night. Diane did fine the first 2 nights – the third
– it dropped into the 30’s and she got quite cold. I had my big quilt in the back of the truck –
just because I hadn’t taken it out before we left. We folded it in half and put on top of her
air mattress and the last night, she slept comfortably.
Yes, it was cold. I
had all the stuff necessary for morning coffee, tea, whatever so we could grab
it and start the water heating without delay.
Tucker we wrapped a blanket around him and held him close until he
stopped shivering – the last morning we put him and blanket in chair, then
covered all with a sleeping bag – he didn’t warm up until after we got on the
road headed home.
OK – so we’ve covered the weather. We arrived at the park on Monday
evening. Tuesday, we stayed in the park –
drove as far as we could on the Going to the Sun road – which was only about 15
miles. It was a pretty drive – for most
of the way, along Lake McDonald – it was so smoky it was hard to see the
mountains across the lake. At the end
of the road, we parked and Shelley and I took the short hike through the
ancient cedar grove. It was so quiet –
and so awesome. I got fascinated by the
root systems where trees had toppled. I
took several photos.
We returned to Apgar and perused the village. Checked out all the souveniers. I’m still looking for a souvenir
T-shirt. I guess I’ll just have to iron
on a photo of Mountain Goats I took last time.
Wednesday, after another good night’s sleep, and we were off
to drive around Flathead Lake. It was a
very enjoyable drive – about 100 miles altogether. And, still…. Smoky!
As we walked around town, several people stopped us to pet
Tuck and ask about him. One lady
actually called us to stop, she had been following, trying to catch up so she
could see him up close.
Thursday morning the plan was to drive the 25 miles to
Whitefish just to check out the town – we’d learned by then that we couldn’t do
the walk in the treetops as it was only open Friday, Saturday & Sunday –
and we were headed home on Friday.
Shelley had noticed the sign for Polebridge - 24 miles, and was intrigued by the name – I
kept wondering where I had heard it before.
That morning our neighboring campers told us they had driven up to
Polebridge where there was a wonderful old general store with fresh baked goods
and hot coffee. So we decided to go
there first. We left the campground at
9:30 a.m.
We drove through an old burn area – I believe from 2003. The regrowth as doing quite well. The
fall colors were beautiful – green and yellow trees, and old homesteads, and
new cabins. As soon as we turned on the
road to the general store, I knew where I’d heard “Polebridge” before – my cousin’s
2011 calendar had a winter photo of it.
We drove down the hallway of trees to the bright red false front general
store. And, indeed, it had fresh baked
goods – and delicious coffee. The area
was a natural clearing in the middle of the forest – basically on top of that mountain – and you could see for miles to the
distant mountains. They had cabins for
rent – a stage for entertainment and a half-moon house for visitor’s
convenience. On the porch were 2
payphone – for use when they worked – which they weren’t that day. Anyway, the phone boxes were wood barrels
hung on the wall with the front cut out for the phone. Very quaint.
It was surprising how many people
lived in that isolated area just a few miles from the border (border crossing
closed - permanently)
We are all so glad we did it! It was an outstanding drive – no clinging to
the side of the mountain – we drove through beautiful color. While the trees just turn yellow, shrubs and
other low growth turn orange and red – the contrasts were breathtaking. We stopped at a beautiful small lake – clear
as glass – you could see the fish! We
had “Jack – (GPS) set up and followed his instructions. We kept driving and driving and
driving. The whole time, we only passed
3 vehicles. We stopped for a bit at
another lake just to drink in the view.
We got back on the road, and kept going, and going, and
going – this took quite awhile since my highest speed was about 22 mph – most of
the time it was half that. Then, we
came to a fork in the road – 3 roads.
Jack said, actually insisted, we take the right fork …….. but, that was
already barricaded for the winter. We
started down the center fork on a wing and a prayer – we had some disagreement
in the truck on whether we were headed in the right direction. I turned Luv around – not too bad cause this
was obviously a logging road and had lots of turn-offs. We sat back at the fork in the road. Contemplating, Diane had the compass, and
said we were headed SW – I was looking at Shelley’s Montana Atlas, and noticed
it showed longitude & Latitude, and I checked Jack and got the L&L of
where we were and found it on the map.
Looked like the middle fork was the right one, so we started out again. (Jack continued to insist we make a u-turn,
but he was easy to ignore)
Friday morning, we packed up and headed for home. We continued our adventure by taking a
shortcut from the downside of Roger’s Pass to Wolf Creek. (Roger’s pass – the last time I drove down
it, my brakes failed – if you don’t think that was an adventure – think again!)
I’d never been on this road – it was beautiful
short-grass prairie, it was afternoon and the shadows on the hills were
something to behold. At one photo stop,
I turned to get back in the truck, and there on the other side of the road,
just inside the fence line were 2 deer, and they very politely stood still long
enough for me to get a shot or two.
When it started getting dark, we popped onto the
highway. We drove along with the sun
setting behind us and a full moon rising ahead.
And that, my dear friends is our Glacier Park adventure for 2012
Until next time,
Bear Hugs
Luv ‘n Boots and Tucker too
And don’t forget Little Bear
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