Glacier Park Chat
One week in GNP (Sept 16 - 22). First two nights on the E side at Jacobson's Cottages. Second 2 nights in the Many Glacier area at Swiftcurrant Motor Inn. Third two nights on the W side at the Village Inn in Apgar. Only one and a half day of good weather, the rest was overcast with rain and snow showers
I just want to point out that this was our first trip to GNP and thanks to all on the message board, I've picked out some of the easy hikes for us to try. I also have sore arms and hands from clapping so as not to surprise any animals as I was a little scared...lol.
After getting our rental car from Alamo (nice, quick service) at the Kalispell airport we picked up a few groceries and decided to head straight to Going To The Sun Road...good decision because it was closing the next day (earlier than expected) because of the weather and construction. The drive was beautiful. It was snowing at Logan Pass and I wasn't dressed for it just wearing the clothes I got off the plane with...oh well. We still got out and took many amazing pictures. The clouds really add a lot, but I would prefer a clear day. We didn't see any critters that day, but we also didn't know how to spot them yet either.
The next day we checked out the Two Medicine area. Running Eagle Falls, Appistoki Falls, Scenic Point (wow, we just decided to venture onto this one without looking at what kind of hike it was, as it gained over 2300 feet...wow) saw a moose track up there too. We also did Paradise Point off of Two Medicine Lake, we saw moose tracks and there was some kind of a grouse in the middle of our trail, it wasn't afraid of us until we started to walk around it, it just move to the side of the trail. It was there where we ran into some nice people from the area that spotted mountain goats and bighorn sheep...after talking with them we became able to spot animals easier.
Jacobson's Cottages were Very clean, just like I read about. Suzann at the office was just as nice as could be. We really liked it there and recommend it. Plenty of room for us as the sink counter/mirror was not in the bathroom but in the bedroom part. I've read a lot of good reviews of Serrano's restaurant, Suzann also recommended it and I couldn't wait to eat there. We arrived just in time, there was one table available and after that the line started. This was late in the season and the place still packed in the people. I now understand why. We both started off with a margarita, it was the best one I've ever had! The servers were very kind, they offered us habanero paste with our chips and salsa since we've asked for our dishes to be prepared "hot and spicy". Wow, the food was delicious and just as we ordered it...we just had to come back the next day to sweat some more. Also, it was our 1st year anniversary, so they gave us a couple free margaritas! I highly recommend this place, and if you like your food hot like we do, ask for the Pollo Picado "hot". We had breakfast at the Whistelstop, delicious huckelberry stuffed french toast...got there just in time as this was their last day for the season.
Enroute to Many Glacier we toured the east side of the St. Mary area. Baring Falls, St. Mary Falls, Sun Rift Gorge, and the Sun Point nature trail are all worth visiting. We stopped at the Park Cafe for pie...it was very good (my husband thought the slices would have been bigger because of the rave reviews...lol), I had the banana cream and he had the pecan.
Arriving at the Many Glacier area we spotted a grizzly sow and one cub about 2 miles or so east of Swiftcurrant lake on the side of a mountain. They were over 1000 yards away, amazing, my first bear(s)! After watching them for a while threw the binoculars we drive on about a mile to see more cars stopped on the side of the road as there is a black bear and two cubs eating on the hillside right near Many Glacier Lodge only 200 yards away from the road. This was the place to be!
We then check into our room at the Swiftcurrant Motor Inn; small room, one double and one twin bed. The shower head was very low, no TV, but it had the basics and was in a very good location. We decide to head down the Swiftcurrant Pass trail to Fishercap lake, we could walk to the trail head right from our room (I learned from someone on the message board that there were regular moose sightings here), my husband is a big 'moose' fan. We're about 5 minutes down the trail when he spots a moose. It crossed our trail, then another appeared as we were still walking, it ran across too, less than 50 yards away! It was a cow moose and her calf, we watched them as they entered the lake and were eating ...what a sight that was! A deer appeared at the lake and the little moose calf ran after it and scared it off...lol. After watching them for a long time, we drive to Many Glacier Lodge, the black bears were still on the hillside and we could see them from the deck at the lodge. We both decided that we would stay at the Many Glacier Lodge because of the huge, gorgeous lobby and fireplace with the amazing views (also beer is cheap at the convenience store). We spotted mountain goats there as well.
The next day we did the Many Glacier boat tour that took us across Swiftcurrant lake, a short hike to Lake Josephine, onto another boat to the hike to Grinnell lake led by a ranger. I really liked this one! I felt much better being in a big group of people. My husband spotted a grizzly from the boat with his binoculars, but it soon went into thick brush where it couldn't be seen by anyone else. Grinnell lake was very pretty and we spotted a bear track, old bear scat, more mountain goats and learned a lot from the ranger.
When we drove out of the Many Glacier Lodge parking lot, we noticed the black bears were still in the same area as we drove to our hotel for another ranger led hike to Red Rock Falls. Our ranger was sick, but he was very informative and led us to Fishercap lake before going back to his cabin to sleep. It was just fine as we had about 10 people in our group and the falls were pretty. We had dinner at the Swiftcurrant Motor Inn Restaurant, fabulous pizza! After that we decided to drive the road past Many Glacier Lodge to see if we could spot anything again. Sure enough, a grizzly...no cub this time. This was an amazing place!
The next morning we wanted to check out Fishercap lake again. We heard that a bull moose has been spotted there in the mornings...as we walk to the parking lot we see a couple with a huge telescope. (There are also deer in the motel area amongst many other little critters.) They've spotted two grizzly bears on the side of the mountain behind our motel and let us take a peek...amazing! They told us that the grizzlies looked to be two yung bears that have only been on there own for about a year...but, they looked huge to me! As we head to the lake we see many "fresh" signs of moose...and I'm getting nervous. Down by the lake we're told that we just missed the bull moose. Good for me as I was paranoid about the bull (husband was bummed) and also thinking the grizzlies maybe getting thirsty and heading for the lake. So we're off to West Glacier.
It was a long drive from the Many Glacier area to West Glacier due to the Logan Pass area road being closed. Along the reservoir, I spot some bear tracks, cool, but no bear. We saw lots of open range cattle either just on the side of the road or in the middle of it...they're not in any kind of a hurry to get out of our way. We ran into a guy that said he saw a grizzly and two cubs near the reservoir area and then 7 cattle got together to run AT the bears ...the grizzlies were chased off by the cattle...that would have been a sight to see!
We finally make it to the Village Inn at Apgar. Every room overlooks Lake McDonald which was nice...again, I wish it wasn't raining but, at least we came prepared. The room here was even smaller yet, we couldn't believe it...lol. Just one double bed this time, still no TV, but we had the basics, the shower was just right and we had a nice view. The W sideof the park is lower in altitude than the Many Glacier area and the mountain sides were all treed so there were no mountain goats or sheep to watch for.
I had made reservations for a Lake McDonald boat ride so we left early to check out the Lake McDonald lodge first before we depart. It was smaller that I thought it would be, we liked the Many Glacier Lodge lobby and area much better. The boat ride was OK, very informative and we did see a bald eagle.
Had dinner at the West Glacier restaurant, I didn't care for it but thought the breakfast might be better. At breakfast, the blueberry pancake was good (and huge) but the coffee and sausage weren't good at all. Oh well...off to hike.
We headed to the Trail of the Cedars, then to Avalanche lake...loved it! We wanted to do the ranger led Highline hike after that but, due to the 3 inches of snow on the road, it was closed about 2 - 3 miles before Logan's Pass. On the way back down, we took more beautiful pictures and spotted about 4 piles of bear scat on the side of the road. We got out at one of them, when my husband noticed it was "fresh" I quickly jumped back into the car again. We had time for one more small hike before dinner so we did the Johns Lake loop, the 2nd half of that one is along McDonald creek which was pretty.
Our last day was short as our flight was at noon. I wanted my picture taken by the GNP entrance sign so we parked and walked accross the street, only to scare a deer that was right there which in turn scared us until we found out it was only a deer. Pretty thing and it didn't run far.
To sum up - This is a beautiful place! People are very friendly. We loved the Many Glacier area the BEST and we will stay at the Many Glacier Lodge next time, not in September though. We saw 9 bears (3 black, 6 grizzly), two moose, mountain goats, big horn sheep, deer, a bald eagle, many other birds and little critters.
Thanks for reading!!
