8/1

Our northernmost National Park for the summer leg our our journey. We got some good insight from a Denver friend about where to find ample places to camp so we headed north of Columbia Falls up a washboard dirt road. It was a little tough going at first, we are very gently with Flossie on the dirt roads, so lots of cars were passing us all the way up. We pulled into the Big Creek campgrounds a little before noon and it looked like the 20ish places were already occupied, we weren’t worried though because there was ample places to boondock along the way (only downside there is having no easy access to water). We found the camp host to ask for suggestions and very similarly to Yellowstone, he told us to sit tight, meet him in the overflow, and he’d find us a space. Unlike Yellowstone though, this guy ran a much tighter ship, we camped one night in the overflow with only two other trailer campers (no tents), then were able to secure a dedicated spot once some people cleared out on the other side on Sunday morning. Do people always camp like this? It’s physically and emotionally exhausting!

Once settled, (the first day still 🤪), we ventured over to the northwest entrance to Glacier and hiked a little ways on the Bowman lake trail. This glacial mountain lake was unreal. It was completely calm and crystal clear with no watercraft allowed, and the surrounding huge mountains looked too perfect, almost like a fake backdrop for an 80’s photoshoot. There were also less people along this portion of the park than what we had experienced in Yellowstone so the signs were good for a longer stay.

8/2 after moving a second time to our longer term permanent spot (we’re getting good at it at least), we made a good breakfast then headed 20 miles back into town for groceries. Later we took a backroad into the main portion of Glacier and made a beeline to McDonald Lake. We found a dirt road on the backside after sifting through the regular park traffic. Drove up a ways then back to some shore to get our feet cooled off. Skipping stones is becoming a current favorite pastime so finding perfect flat stones in crystal clear lakes is key. Camden spotted a tiny snake in the water and we did some glassing behind his new binoculars as well. We came home and made a gourmet steak dinner and tried for an earlier bedtime to get an early start hiking on Monday