Happy Independence Day! The loud flapping sound outside of our coach told us two things. First, that it was windy. Very windy in fact, such that I had to roll up our awnings lest our Airstream become part of the Jetstream. Second, that many of the other campers had raised Old Glory atop campers, tents and trucks in a show of patriotic spirit. We also saw a San Francisco Giants flag on one of the RVs – “Beat LA!”
The rumor proved correct this time – the “Going-to-the-Sun Road” was officially open. Our plan was to drive it east to west, over the top to Lake McDonald and back. We also wanted to stop at Logan Pass, which sits on the continental divide. And perhaps try to kayak on one of the lakes in Glacier, but that would depend on the wind.
The drive was spectacular. Giant gushers of snow melt poured off the side of the mountains and onto the roadway. Only one or two of the pullouts were big enough for my truck, so we mostly rolled down the windows and snapped photographs when we could. The GttSR is absolutely worth it and opened just in time for us, as we were heading east the following day.
We stopped at Logan Pass and walked Timber where he got his first introduction to snow. He was in bliss.
At the pass it was 65 degrees, but the ground was deep in snow. Angela had really wanted to take the Hidden Lake Trail when we originally planned the trip, but the trail was beneath at least three feet of snow. The park service had placed trail markers up the face of the mountain and over to Hidden Lake Overlook, so we decided to try it. The hike was arduous. Each step up was a half step slide backwards and the steeper parts risked a nasty tumble or fall. I led the way kicking my toe hard into the icy cover to make a soft and relatively level step for the boys and Angela behind me. But about a mile and a half in, there was a slick and narrow stretch that had many ‘crawling’ across. A slip to the downside of the trail would have meant a tumble of 30-50’ down the face of the mountain. Another decision point for us. I asked a group of guys coming back down whether it was worthwhile to continue. “Oh, yeah,” they agreed. “There are mountain goats just over the ridge.”
So we continued, though not all of us wanted to.
It was steep and slow work. Really. Work. There wasn’t much to see other than a vast field of snow and a trail of hikers behind us like ants on their way to a fallen apple. Each step required deep concentration and grit. We made the mistake of underestimating the length of the hike, and left our water back in the truck. But we persevered.
After nearly two hours of step after mindless step, we finally found the end of the marked road, an overlook of Hidden Lake and…a small herd of mountain goats, shedding their winter coats and guarding a kid.
NOW it was worth it.
Back at camp we were worn out from the drive and hike, hungry and thirsty, but excited about what was billed as the “biggest fireworks show east of Glacier National Park.” A bit worried that the wind had grown stronger during the day and the grasslands surrounding us were very dry, we set up chairs to celebrate the 4th. The miscellaneous pops, cracks, whizzes and screams of the amateur fireworks had begun to take a toll on Timber, so we cuddled and soothed him as much as we could.
The firework show was launched across the road from the park and it seemed that its main audience was the campers. But townies with loaded cars and pickup trucks piled in around the RV park to set off their own fireworks while everyone waited for the big event. Asher and I were sitting outside the coach when a very large (illegal?) firework was launched. Up it went into the sky just as the wind gusted, and down it came … fast. Twenty feet from the ground it finally exploded sending hot cinders across the RVs and into the field next to us. Sure enough, fire – a big fire less than twenty yards from our coach. People were scrambling to gather buckets of water and fire extinguishers, stamping out what they could with their shoes and kicking dirt onto the flames. Asher ran inside the coach and I got ready to pack up the truck and go if necessary. It wasn’t. After about 20 minutes, and with the assistance of Ronan, we helped extinguish the fire so close to the only home we own.
Asher and Timber watched the real fireworks from inside the truck … just in case we needed to make a fast getaway.
