Glacier National Park: Many Glacier

From St. Mary’s, we headed deeper into the park to spend two nights in a section called Many Glacier. This piece of our stay was thanks to our friend Adam Doppelt: Our fast fingers were thwarted when we first tried to reserve this campground. But, Adam knew how to write a script to ping the site and alert him to a cancellation. So, several months ago, he texted me one night to say he got a ping – and I jumped from bed to the computer and scored this beautiful site.

Many Glacier is nestled between the Swiftcurrent and Grinnell valleys and has beautiful views in every direction. The Director of the Great Northern Railroad came to this area in the early 20th century and declared it the Swiss Alps of the Americas. The scenery inspired the construction of a very Swiss-styled hotel right at the base of Swiftcurrent lake.

 The hotel provides some additional activities and amenities that we wouldn’t access in a more typical camping area. The kids and I took a horseback ride on the afternoon of our arrival. Ben declared this “just like hiking, but without the work.”

The second day, we hopped two little ferry boats, which departed from the hotel, to Grinnell Lake. I had hoped to hike to the Grinnell Glacier lookout, which is supposed to be spectacular, but this trail was also still closed due to late season snow and avalanche danger.

This, it turned out, was a bit of a lucky break for us because the weather soured that afternoon with big gusty winds and rain, which would have made for a miserable experience on a trail, but a really lovely experience when you are camping in a trailer and you have a good book, a warm blanket, and a hot chocolate.

 The weather mostly cleared around dinner time, so we were able to cook out and make a campfire.

Also, because this is just a classic Eli thing and this blog is a place to record the trials and tribulations of our travels, I’ll share one more story from Many Glacier:

 Eli rode his bike to a trail to go for a run while we were horseback riding. He locked his bike and put the key in his pocket. At the end of his run, he reached in his pocket and discovered, not a key, but a hole in his pants.

 Over the next twenty-four hours, while conferring with various staff of the parks department and local police jurisdiction, he eventually met up with a ranger to try to release his bike from its prison. This Ranger’s solution was not to cut open the lock, it was to CUT DOWN THE TREE. To be fair, Eli did protest this solution and was told the tree was likely going to come down anyway because it was growing into the parking area.

So, Eli now has his bike back (lock affixed until we can return to Evanston and open it with the second key) and Glacier National Park is short a tree. (Maybe we can make a contribution to have one planted in honor of our family and his bike?)

Eli’s unsuspecting selfie from the trail, before discovering the hole in his pocket.

RIP tree. You were lost before your time.