Montana is surprisingly lush. Looping around the Glacier National Park from the west to the east entrance, we drove through this huge valley. Meadows roll gently to infinitive. Those eerie snow caps, in June with ambient temperature hovering on the 80s, look strangely familiar. Gosh, this is a giant golf course: undulated landscape, water hazards, out-of-bound vegetation, and snow-white fairway bunkers. Just the scale is not quite right, I will need a golf ball the size of a barn to play here. Imagine the thunderous, “Fore.” I smile wryly like a SimCity monster.
This Apgar Village Inn sits at the south tip of Lake McDonald. Generous balconies connect together facing the lake. What a view — snow-capped mountain reflected on the frigid lake. Kids toed the water and jumped out instantly. The energetic practiced skipping rocks. I just sit there, Moose Drool beer in hand, and take the lake in. It changes. Every time I stepped out of the door I took a picture of the same lake, same angle. “Big Sky,” I thought. “Indeed.”
This trip is as blindly and carelessly planned as it can be. There is a web-site, I clicked on the most popular lodging option, Lake McDonald Lodge, and did not get in. The next most popular one, Village Inn, has vacancies, and I grabbed them. Another travel site offered flights to Kalispell, an airport 25 miles away from the park. On the day, we woke up at 4am in the morning, boarded a shuttle, and ended up Village Inn at 4pm. After a light row in the lake, we ate at Eddie’s, and pretty much collapsed into the beds.
This national park is geologically interesting. The continental divide, the ridge of the America continent, runs through it. Waters flow their separate ways divided by this line. Glaciers shaped much of the landscape eon ago, but the sculptures are still sharply distinguishable. The park has no cell phone signal (AT&T) or internet connections. The rooms have no TV. Being disconnected takes a bit getting used to. But I have not shown any withdrawn symptom on this 3rd day yet. Recharging feels strangely comfortable.
Glaciers are hard to find here. The map shows each glacier far away from main trials. The main attraction, Going-to-the-Sun Road, offers only far-away vantage points. On the west side, where we stayed, the Sperry Chalet trail seems promising. It is, however, a 6.4 miles long and 3400 feet climb strenuous hike. The trailhead is near Lake McDonald Lodge and we braved ahead. 3 hours later, we achieve half the elevation with patches of snow everywhere. The ambient temperature was in the mid-70s and I have worked out several rounds of wet t-shirts. We realized two things: the glacier is probably 4 to 5 hours away and the return hike is another 3-hour deal. That’s when we turn around. A couple of hours later, I was recuperating on the bench next to the shore of Lake McDonald. The beer from the lodge was cool and thirst quenching. Dinner was delicious too.
Unfortunately, an avalanche closed the most spectacular part of the Going-To-The-Sun road. We ended up taking the 2.5 hour detour to the east side. The short road-trip gave us a nice glimpse of Montana and a lot of its sky. Two Medicine was on the way and we stopped to admire the Running To The Eagle falls.
Somehow, sore-legged and tanned, Glaciers gave me the rest. Next time I come, I will make sure the road is open.
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