Glacier National Park: St. Mary's (East Side)
The only bit of bad luck we’ve run into so far is that the iconic and magnificent Going to the Sun Road, which cuts across the center of Glacier National Park, connecting east and west sides, has not yet opened for the season. The huge rains and flooding that caused major damage to towns in Southern Montana and to Yellowstone National Park have also created late season snowfalls in the mountains in the northern part of the state. The continuing snow and avalanche dangers has put the Glacier plow crew weeks behind schedule. The road, which is usually open by around June 20th will likely not open before mid-July this year. The big delay is a bit of a relief to me as I would have been immensely disappointed if it opened the day after we departed, which, at one point before a recent rockfall, was their published estimate.
Between the road not being open and the high-alpine trails still being covered in snow, much of my planned hiking routes had to be tossed out as they were still inaccessible when we arrived at the park. Still, we woke up to a perfect morning in St. Mary’s, a little town right at the east entrance to Glacier National Park and spent our first morning hitting the Visitor’s Center and making a plan.
It turns out that even if only a few miles of the iconic road are open to visitors, they are still worth driving for the views and vistas!
The first day we did a pretty significant family hike (at least by Official Finkel Kid standards) to Baring Falls, St. Mary’s Falls and Virginia Falls. Each waterfall in this trio got a bit more spectacular as we climbed (and climbed and climbed). Eli used the trail as an opportunity to do some trail running, basically zig zagging past us as we meandered along the way.
The second day, we did a shorter hike, also on the east side of the park to Red Eagle Lake where we saw a beaver in his dam and got eaten alive by mosquitos.
We attended a Ranger program so that Ben could brush up on his knowledge of the geology of GNP (and the rest of us could learn a little too!) and the kids took their 15th Junior Ranger Pledge since we started these adventures last year.
A highlight of these two days was staying at the KOA which not only had good wi-fi, the mark of the highest campsite distinction by Official Finkel Kid standards, but also a large pool and hot tub with nice views overlooking the park. We spent both of our apres-hike afternoons relaxing poolside.
Honorable mention: Sometime around this point in the journey, the kids decided to invest their grandparent travel allowance in matching giant bear paw slippers, the kind of thing you can only buy if you happen to be traveling with your house. The ensuing photo opportunities have been *chef’s kiss.* (Thanks Baube and Zadie!)
