Day 5: inside Glacier National Park

On Sunday, June 23 the weather was forecasted for low 70s and sunshine. We skipped all the camp activities and drove the RV to West Glacier. Heather's goal was to see both sides (east and west) in one full day. Driving on Going to the Sun road is the only road that connects the two sides through Glacier Park. There are a few ways to get from one side to the other:

1. Drive your vehicle (however any vehicle over 19 ft is not allowed past a certain turn-off.

2. Take a red jammer tour (1930's open top vehicle). They offer multiple types of tours.

3. Take a free park shuttle that comes every 30 - 60 minutes.

As we drove through the park entrance we stopped at the Park Ranger window to purchase our 7 day park pass for $25.

Heather was disappointed to find out the free shuttle service does not start until 7/1.  It gets a little tricky trying to find parking spaces for an RV in small cute little park towns.  Kevin is doing a great job driving! We stopped in the Apgar visitor center. Park Ranger Becky shared her top things she would do in one day: hike at Avalanche Creek and take a red jammer tour to Logan's pass. Heather quickly called and made reservations for the 2:30pm red jammer tour. It would last 4 hours and cost $150 for the 4 of us.

We had 5 hours to burn, so we decided to drive the RV to Avalanche Creek - the furthest point RVs are allowed on the Going to the Sun road. Park Ranger Becky said it was ~2.5 miles to hike and would take 1 hr. Heather planned 2 hrs to get there knowing our family's pace and how many times we have to stop to take pictures! 

We met a family from Washington state and they showed us a plant called "Devils' club" that is itchy and found along side of the trail and throughout the 700 yr old Pacific Northwest rainforest.

Here's how the boys walked through: 

It took us 2:20 to arrive to Avalanche Lake. Along the way we had two special encounters with deer. They were eating and jumping across our trail and stood  very close to us. 

There are 3 waterfalls that feed into Avalanche Lake, including Monumental Falls - the tallest set of falls in the park. Sperry Glacier is above the bowl that surrounds Avalanche Lake.

We enjoyed a snack, took pictures, and admired the view all while Ryan was whittling a stick.

On the way back we had to pick up the pace if we wanted to make our 2:30 appt. so we hiked and talked more along the trail vs. stopping for photo opportunities. We made it out in an hour with plenty of time to drive the RV and park on Apgar Transit Center.

We enjoyed the sunshine and a snack from the Lake McDonald Lodge. The views were breath taking and these photos hardly do it justice.

Kevin was thankful he was not driving on this road, so he could take in the views. However he did not alway enjoy sitting on the side that looked down the drop off!

We learned how to spot areas where avalanches have occurred as all the tress have been removed and there is little new growth.

When we arrived to the top at Logan's pass (elevation of 6647), the weather had shifted to light rain. We saw a mountain goat eating on the hillside. The boys could hardly believe there was snow on the ground in summer. They enjoyed throwing snowballs. We picked up two Junior Ranger activity booklets for the boys.

We retuned to Apgar Transit Center at 6:30pm. We went out to dinner and talked a out our favorite parts of the day: seeing the deer and the red jammer tour were the highlights!