I decided to take the laptop with me
this time so I can journal while we were out at the park. Turns out
it is coming in handy because we are sitting on the road, at about
5500 ft, waiting for road construction. A worker came by and said it
would be about a 15 min wait. While we wait, let me describe, to the
best of my ability what we see.
As I said before we are at about 5500
ft elevation. To my right is an almost vertical drop down the side of
the mountain. Also to my right is the most beautiful view of Glacier.
Right in the middle about 3000 ft down is a creek that snakes through
the valley. Behind the creek is a snow covered peak that look as if it
has had a coliseum carved out of the side. To the right of that is
Heaven's Peak at an elevation of 8900 ft. The snow covered top is
draped with the shadows of the small cotton ball like clouds and baby
blue sky blanket the horizon. To the left of the creek is another
snow covered peak with a paper thin ridge pointing to the heavens.
One side is bathed in sunlight while the other sleeps in the shadows.
To the left of the car is a small
waterfall in the valley of two mountains. Pine trees rise out of the
rock and the smell is unlike anything I have every smelled before. It
looks like a post card. Cone flowers and trumpet vine mingle
together. Birds and bugs fly in unison. There is not too much more to
describe there except at the beauty. Why are mountains so beautiful?
If you think about it, it's just rocks. But for some reason they are
beautiful. Is it because they are mysterious? I can't answer it,
maybe you can.
We finally moved on after about 15
minutes. I had looked at the map and although Glacier is considerably
smaller than Yellowstone, the road is much more windy and at a
considerably lower speed limit. Upon further investigation, we
figured it would take us 2+ hours to get to the trail we wanted. We
were not expecting that. We did not bring the dogs. We did bring
lunch, but when we realized how much longer it would take, we ate it
on the road.
Our plan was to take a 2 lane highway
outside the park home. BIG mistake! I was sitting in the front seat
and it was so windy that I was getting car sick and our elevation and
the straight drops down from the side with NO rails what so ever made
it even worse. I'm not afraid of heights mind you, but it's the
plunging to my death part that sort of makes me nervous! That and the
darn cows! The switch backs were so tight and we came around a corner
to hit the brakes for, you guessed it, cows! One popped into the road
and froze, looking both ways. Then Tony would go slow and the cow
would start to walk. Tony would stop and the cow would stop! It was
like a 4 way stop nightmare but with cattle! We were finally able to
just go around him/her(it was a small cow, so I was unable to tell.)
It took us almost 3 hours to get back
to the camper.
Now we know why no one really uses the
east entrance to Glacier. It takes to damn long to get there!
All in all, it was a good day with
gorgeous mountains, a few large deer, and high, narrow, windy roads
with beautiful waterfalls and flowers. We did get a glimpse of one
glacier, but we were too far to get a good picture. Hopefully
tomorrow we will actually get to hike to one! We have our bear spray
ready. Glacier is home to over 400 grizzlies and over 1000 black
bears. They actually said the big horn sheep are more aggressive
towards humans than the bears and drowning is the number one cause of
death here. Good to know! I would love to see a bear, just not up
close and my worst fear is drowning, even more so than getting
attacked by a bear!
Let the good times roll!
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