31 July - Visit to Glacier National Park and Got "Screwed" too!

31 July
Today we visited Glacier National Park.  What a beautiful place, but it was a full day, to say the least.  We departed the campground at 0915 hrs and returned to the campground at 1708 hrs, which is nearly 8 hours total, mostly driving.  We drove 335 miles including inside Glacier Park and a little side trip as we got "screwed" near the Lake McDonald Lodge!  Somehow we picked up a screw in our rear right outer dually!  We heard something strange leaving the lodge area and I got out to look but could see nothing.  Later on our way out of the park we were stopped for a photo opportunity and Doreen spotted the head of a screw sticking out of our tire!

I did not pull it out for fear of really opening the wound.  Also, our tire pressure monitor system did not detect any loss of pressure.  We were about done at the park so we headed into Columbia Falls and stopped at the Les Schwab Tire Center, which is a popular chain out here.  I explained our situation to the technician and he found and extracted the screw, then tested it for leaks.  These truck tires are thick and the screw was not that long, luckily, so it did not penetrate the tire and cause an air leak.  Whew!!  Oh, and no charge from les Schwab.  Nice folks!

No leaks!

The screw in relation to a quarter.

The drive to Glacier was very scenic.  Much of the drive was very hilly and followed the Clark Fork river.  We had trees on both sides of the road.  By the time we entered the Indian Reservation area the vegetation was golden brown and the fields were filled with rocks.  Other than maybe some grazing, there does not seem to be much use for this land.

The drive took us past Flathead Lake, which is very long.  We stopped at a tunout and took some pictures with the lake in the background.

We entered the park at West Glacier Entrance.  The lines were not too bad, but we had to take the entrance for the tall vehicles as our pickup exceeded the regular entrance restriction.

 We made our way to the Apgar Visitor Center.  The parking lot was jam-packed with regular vehicles and with RV's.  This makes sense as this is where you can board the shuttle bus that takes you through the park.  Unfortunately they do not allow dogs, even in a kennel, otherwise we would have rode the bus!  We were fortunate that someone was leaving right when we turned into the lot, so we got a parking place right away.  We parked and checked out the center, plus Liberty also checked out what little grass we could find!

Soon we departed the visitor center and headed up "Going to the Sun Road".  Most of the turn-outs were on the lake side, so we figured we would catch them on the way out of the park.  As we described yesterday, due to the size of our truck we could not go all the way through the park.   The road from there to Rising Sun is restricted.

From the West Entrance we could only drive to Avalanche Campground.  They have a turn-around there for the tour buses and any other large vehicles, so we turned around at the Avalanche Creek Transfer Point and headed back down.  

I am glad we decided to enter the park from the west as I believe we saw more of the park than if we had tried it from the east entrance.

On the way back down (and on the way up), there were several construction areas down to one lane, so we had some time to look around while we waited for the flag person to signal us on.  The forest is very thick but there are many trails to enjoy.

One of the turnouts along the road is at McDonald Creek and McDonald Falls.  Surprisingly there were a few open spots there so we parked and headed down the trail.

There is a foot bridge that crosses the creek and leads to Upper McDonald Creek Trail.

We walked across the bridge and captured some great pictures of  McDonald Falls.  The water is crystal clear!

Taken from the parking area

From the bridge looking upstream

Look at the clear water

From the bridge looking downstream

Postcard scenery!!

Our next stop was the Lake McDonald turnout and beach.  This seemed like the best access to the lake.  It was a short hike to a beach area that was primarily fine gravel.  Again, the water was perfectly clear as you can see from these pictures:

Panoramic view of Lake McDonald from the beach

Colorful rocks under the water

A few more scenery pictures before we left:

So, we headed back out the west entrance and to the tire shop in Columbia Falls.  Once we finished up there we headed south on Highway 93 for St Regis.  On the way up to Glacier National Park this morning we drive through the town of Lakeside and I noticed something a bit unique!!  I had to stop on the way home.  At each end of the town there were police cars positioned along side of the road with speed radar on the dash.  I could have sworn the one on the south end was occupied by a police officer who might have been snoozing.  On the way back the car was still there, so I pulled up behind it and investigated!

Digital speed measuring sign on the pole below the speed limit sign.

How appropriate, but unusual plate for a police car!

Ah!!  Maniquin in the driver's seat!  Cool sunglasses too!

Complete with speed radar on the dash!

Undoubtedly this gets the attention of tourists like us!  As you can see, it is parked right along side the road.  Glad I stopped to take pictures!

We continued driving south and admiring the scenery.  Doreen noticed the smoke (white against the blue) above the mountains as we approached St Regis.

We will drive fairly close to the fire tomorrow when we travel to our next stop.

Our stay here at Nugget RV Park has been nice and made visiting Glacier National Park much easier.  I am glad we decided to change our plans to include this campground.  Tomorrow morning we head for Ft Harrison Army National Guard Base in Helena MT.  The drive is about 183 miles and will take us between three and four hours including a doggie stop.