Many Glacier Campground, Glacier National Park, Montana

July 28 – August 5, 2013

A beautiful early morning drive on highway 6 down to Waterton through rolling green hills and the grey blue mountain peaks became more clear with each kilometer. Then south and east on 17, and I entered the US at the Chief Mountain Junction where they had me core my tomatoes and pepper, and took away my last fresh corn on the cob. The Chief Mountain International Highway is seasonal, named after a dominating peak that overlooks the valley, and it is a curvy climb and very rough. In addition, there are lots of cattle grazing on the sides of the road, and a couple of times, an ornery black one stood his ground and made me go around. Baloo really got a charge out of that, barking so loud that I felt like opening the door and giving him an opportunity to have a face off. Maybe he really is a cow dog.

At just that moment when I wasn’t sure if I was at the right campsite, Gaila met me on her bike. She and Dick had been up super early and had already secured us campsites.  It was so much fun to see them again, my travel buddies from Michigan that I had met in Florida and travelled with for a few weeks.  We got right into a great routine – hiking, talking, watching bears on the hillside, moose in the lakes, playing monopoly deal, going to the store for huckleberry ice cream, enjoying delicious food (Gaila’s a great cook) and generally having a fantastic time. Gaila and I went on short scenic hikes while Dick headed for the mountain peaks – a 19 mile hike with lots of big climbs is his idea of a great day.

Many Glacier Lodge - I wouldn't mind staying here

Nice looking labels

View from the lodge - an employee swims the length of the lake every day

Clouds rushing in

You have to be really early to get a site because this campground is so popular. It’s like an Indy 500 around 6:30am as campers go rushing around hoping that someone is leaving. I don’t think it’s quite what the developers of the park had in mind, but hey, once everyone is settled in their spots, or left for another day, it gets nice and quiet. And why stay here?  It could be because of the beautiful lakes, waterfalls, towering mountains, dozens of hiking trails, and Bear claws. What’s that you ask, Bear claws? Yes indeed, but that’s for another day.

Montana cowboy out for a ride and a beer at the lodge - with a knife, cartridges on belt, and 357 magnum in the holster

Cow Moose diving for lake weed

Looking after her calves in between mouthfuls. They were hidden in the bush.

She's spotted me. I think it may be time to go...

Where's lunch?

Driving to Many Glacier Campground from Pincher Creek July 28, 2013

Many Glacier CG, Glacier National Park, Montana, July 28^th

Up at 6 and on my way – another beautiful drive down to Waterton and then South East to clear Customs at Chief Mountain Station. I was able to keep tomatoes and my pepper, but only if I cored them. They took away my corn on the cob and then I was on my way again. It’s a seasonal road high above Waterton Valley and the sacred Chief Mountain dominates the skyline. It’s called the Chief Mountain International Highway but it sure gets rough and there are cattle grazing on the sides of the road, or crossing it – Baloo was pretty vocal about that and I wondered if I would become deaf in my right ear.

I was so happy to meet up with my wonderful travel friends Gaila and Dick from Michigan. They had arrived early and had secured us a great site. It’s really tough to get campsites here in high summer season,and the search for sites starts about 6:30am as vehicles drive in and people look for campers that are leaving. So to put it mildly, there is lots of vehicle noise early in the morning…but otherwise this is a lovely campground with mountains all around, beautiful lakes, and lots of hiking trails.

I loved this Parks Poster

 Gaila invited me to a delicious dinner, and after that we went to the Ranger talk on bears – he had some good stories. One theme that ran through his talk is how efficient bear spray is, if it’s used properly, and secondly, to be extremely careful with it, because you don’t want to discharge it by mistake. Later to illustrate that point Dick told us about a ranger who sprayed a bear, and then got some of it back in his face on the wind. The pain made him forget about the bear and he stumbled to the nearby stream and flushed out his eyes and nose. As he was starting to feel better, he could hear splashing beside him and when he looked over, there was the bear flushing out his eyes….

A quiet time in Pincher Creek July 26-27

Pincher Creek July 26-27

Up at 7 and on my way down #22 to Pincher Creek – short and beautiful - just how I like my drives to be.

I checked in at the municipal campground which is right in town along the creek. The camp host wasn’t in so I checked with my compass to find a site that would be shady in the afternoon. When I went to get water, a big voice yelled across to me – “Are you moving in here?” I turned and said, ”Hi, how are you?
 But she ignored that. Bossy Boots told me that I had to move from the site I had chosen because she said she needed the space for tenters. I acquiesced but wished I hadn’t, especially when the sun was beating down on my trailer that afternoon and evening.

I like being here because I read Annie Dillard’s book of her time spent around Pincher Creek. There’s one main street, a Timmy Ho and other business areas, and not a lot to see so after doing my laundry I decided to walk along the creek.

I saw two young boys about 9 years old in a bike park and one of them came up to the fence to say hi to Baloo. He said his name was Christopher and that I could come in the park with them so that Baloo could run around. He told me where the entrance was and that he would bike up there to meet me. Eric, his brother was also there and he sat on the ground and patted Baloo.  When I asked them about school, Eric said he didn’t like any part of school, not even PE, and that he wished he didn’t have to go. He looked so sad, I wished I could do something to cheer him up, but it seemed as though Baloo sensed his need and curled up beside him as though he had known him all his life.

Chris rode over some of the dirt jumps and told me I could cheer for him if I liked, and I did with lots of enthusiasm. He told me that his aunt owned the best bakery in town and gave me directions to get there. And he was right, the bakery was cheerful, painted a lovely bright yellow with white trim, and the soup was full of flavour and good healthy vegetables, the cheese bun was scrumptious, and everything in the display case looked wonderful. I talked to his aunt and she said that people needed to take the time to sit down and enjoy quality food, and I certainly agreed with her.

Yellow plastic ducks, hundreds of them, floating down Pincher Creek, and people catching them under the bridge – Friday night fun when there’s not much to do?  Questioning revealed that it was a fund-raiser for the museum.

Tonight when I packed up my trailer so that I could leave quietly in the morning, I met a friendly young man and his wife, newlyweds, who were enjoying their honeymoon travelling in a truck and sleeping in a tent. He told me that he was a carpenter and that they had just got a job working at the church so he was teaching his wife how to help with rebar. What a transition! He offered me a hot dog cooked over their campfire. Nice people in Pincher Creek. I asked a lady what it was like to live there all year round. She said it was nice except for the wind. You wouldn’t believe how bad it can get she said.

On the road again…for the perfect little town…

Chain Lakes, Alberta, July 25

Chain Lakes July 25

I decided to leave Banff this morning, too many mosquitoes in this part of the campground – swarms, clouds of them. According to a lady camped across from me she says the mosquitoes are not so bad in Trailer’s Village because it has fewer trees, but from the road it looks like a parking lot. And there is a huge lineup each morning of people trying to get in to any available space.  I checked out a couple of trailheads and the hikers I talked to said they found the mosquitoes pretty bad as well. The access to the #1 recommended hike up by Sunshine ski hill has been washed out so all in all, it’s a good time to leave.

I spent some time mulling over what route to head south on. I wanted to go down the #40 highway close to the mountains but thought there may be flood related closures and #22 is the busy main route from Calgary so I chose #22 as it’s between the other two. And that turned out to be a beautiful drive through green rolling hills, with lots of range land and grazing cows.  I checked into Chain Lakes Provincial Campground in the afternoon because of the beautiful range land surrounding the campsite.

After dinner I heard a lot of cows mooing and rode down the road on my bike to see what was up. There were two cowboys on horses with dogs moving a herd of cattle down the field and across the park road to another field. Some of the cows hid in the trees and there was a lot of action as the cowboys shouted and weaved in and out of the cows, the dogs barked, and it sounded as though every one of the cows was complaining as well. While watching I chatted with a couple from Holland and another one from Calgary and we had lots of fun watching the show, it was just like the movies.

Customs tomorrow so I will have to find a place to stash my firewood, it can’t be taken across the border. And eat all my fruit...

Banff, Tunnel Mountain CG, July 23

I guess he has the right of way

Travelling the Parkway to Banff

Town of Banff, July23

I drove down the parkway today and loved every minute of it.

Tonight I am camped at Tunnel Mountain in the no services area, Village 1 it’s called for $27.40 per night. It’s an extra $6.00 to have  a fire so I skipped that. And it’s a good thing too, because as soon as I stepped outside mosquitoes were landing on all areas of bare skin. I met my neighbour, and we each stood there slapping and scratching as we chatted. He said don’t worry these are just the babies, the big ones come out at dusk. They must have followed me from Crimson Lake.

I will stay here for a couple more days and then head south to cross the border into the US and meet up with my travelling Michigan friends, Gaila and Dick at Swiftcurrent Campground at Many Glacier. It’s a bit of a challenge finding campgrounds because some of them are still shut down with flood damage or at least they have a limited number of sites available. 

Two O’clock Creek Provincial Park Campground – July 21st

It’s 10:20 pm, Sunday, and still light out.  I am sitting outside by my campfire, site 19, with mountains all around me. Today I packed up and left Crimson Lake. But first I talked to some of the other campers about the hail storm last night. Many of them had broken ceiling vents, and some had their expensive awnings torn and broken.  One guy said a hail ball broke through the ceiling vent and landed on his bunk bed. And he said there were dents in trucks, especially the Fords and Toyotas, they had suffered the worst, but us GMCs  he said were ok. I haven’t checked the roof of my trailer, because I don’t have a ladder, but there are at least 4 dents the size of a toonie in the back wall of my trailer and lots of little dents in the front.

I packed up and said goodbye and then headed west toward the Rockies. 93 km west of Rocky Mountain House I stopped in at Nordegg. It’s a small town that used to thrive when they mined for coal, but that all stopped after the railways started using diesel. Now there’s a motel with a gas station, ($1.22 per litre) a couple of food vans, the coal museum, and its cafe which makes great pie and serves Seattle’s Best Coffee. There is no place to park or turn an RV so I just drove on the field /lawn and hoped when  I headed out, it would be ok.

My plan was to stay at the provincial Two O’clock Creek Campground in the Kootenay Plains Ecological Reserve. It’s a beautiful drive especially by Abraham Lake. I found a good campsite and headed out for a walk right away. I asked two different people if there were bears around and they said oh yes, it’s bear country and they are all around. So I didn’t go off in the bush too far! It’s very open here, huge meadows with beautiful grasses and wild flowers, a ridge that people use for a climbing wall, and mountains all around.

Everything seemed perfect until I turned on the water pump, and there was no noise, and no water. I reached up to turn on a light, but no light. And the fridge packed with all my new groceries was not working either. I plugged in the truck to see if I could get the battery charged a little bit, but there was no juice coming through.  Maybe the lightning from last night may have cooked my electrical system. Sheeit.  Here I was with fresh groceries, all ready to go hiking and stay in this beautiful place = so much for the best laid plans. It looks like the best option is to turn around and head out first thing in the morning, back to Rocky Mountain House. It’s getting dark now, and I can hear drums being beat in the distance. It could get pretty chilly up here tonight. At least my sheets have dried out.

A very fun suspension bridge!

Last night at Crimson Lake - A T-Storm and a Moose

Thunderstorm at Crimson Lake – and a  Moose

It’s best to leave a place at an exciting moment, and my last night at Crimson Lake was just that.

But even earlier that day when Baloo and I were walking to the lake to take its daily measure I saw a huge fake moose in the main day use parking lot. I thought that was pretty cool on the part of Parks Alberta as today was a national celebration of parks across Canada,and lots of fun activities were planned such as sand sculptures, geocaching, and a scavenger hunt, all topped off with a big chocolate cake. But back to the fake moose, as we drew closer Baloo went ballistic, and that woke up the big boy, who started and then with a big shake of its antlers in our direction, it took off for the woods. I wonder how close I would have got if Baloo hadn’t started to bark?

It was a fun day and there were lots of junior girl forest rangers to help out, they have a pretty neat job for the summer, staying in camps and helping out on park projects. I talked to their leader and she told me that she had biked along from Alaska to San Francisco, with no money, just to see how that would work out. She camped on the side of the road in the forest, and sometimes she met people who offered her meals and a place to crash, and on occasion she stopped in a town and worked for cash. But her main source of food was outside of grocery stores because she said they chuck out so much stuff as soon as the date is expired, but the food is still completely edible. Wow, what courage! And on another trip she walked 300 km in the desert in Israel. And she wants to go back and walk some more.

My favourite family were back for the weekend, and they won the sand sculpture, they created the life cycle of a frog, sculpting the four stages. One of the 3 girls found me on the beach. "Janice" she said, and reaching up, gently took my hand and led me to their sculpture.  There are four kids, they are bilingual, and love being out in the forest and camping.  They are so respectful and yet a ton of fun. I will certainly miss them.

So, the cake was done, the party was over, and then came the dark sky. It looked and felt really strange to me so after a moment of indecision, I pulled down my awning.  I stepped inside the trailer, and the door banged behind me as a big wind came rushing through the trees. It got really dark and then hail began banging on the roof and walls of my trailer. I pulled my ceiling vents down and then sat and tried not to be scared. The hail sounded like golf balls being hit against my trailer. When it hit the vents I was sure the glass was cracking. I couldn’t figure out an escape route so I got out my cycling helmet and put that on. I looked in the mirror and thought boy does that look stupid, but it sure felt better, and I was keeping it on.   After 10 minutes or so, the hail stopped, and the rain came down in buckets. My fire was barely smoking, and the ground was all flooded so I decided to go to bed. The rain had come through onto the foot of my bed, and it was really wet, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow.