Glacier National Park – August 5th – 6th, 2016

 After the paranoia created by Yellowstone, we woke up at 4:45am and rushed into Glacier National Park to get a campsite at Rising Sun Campground. Along the way we saw a porcupine! We arrived at 6:30am, which was apparently WAY too early because the camp hosts were just waking up. We got a site right away, leaving us wondering, who leaves a perfectly good campsite before 6 in the morning?! Rather than be productive and beat the crowds in the park, we did what any reasonable people would do: went back to sleep.

Porcupine in Glacier National Park.

We got up eventually (lets say before 11am for argument sake) and took the shuttle into the park, leaving poor Tucker at the van (luckily it was a cool day and our campsite was shaded). We started hiking the Highline Trail from Logan Pass (which was stunningly beautiful, by the way), before realizing that the trail follows the road for the first ~4 miles - we’ll just drive it, thanks! Accordingly, we hopped back on the shuttle to The Loop where we hiked to a suspension bridge in a burned over valley. It was pretty, but bouncing on the suspension bridge and cooling off in the glacier river underneath was the best part! The shuttle back to our campsite was PACKED, but we made friends with some fellow travelers. Nothing brings a bunch of sweaty people together quite like being squeezed into a small bus like sardines. 

Panorama from Logan Pass.

Suspension bridge over Mineral Creek.

The next morning, we left the park and found a campsite at a privately owned lodge just outside of Saint Mary. It was a little strange, being that there were abandoned trailers and a stray dog that wouldn’t shut up, but it was better than battling the crowds to get a campsite at Many Glacier within the national park. After securing our campsite, we drove back into the park and hiked to Glendale Lake where we crossed two more bouncy suspension bridges (we may have been seeking them out)! On our return trip, we picked up a super nice couple that was hitch hiking to their car after a backpacking trip (figured we could use the van karma). It is amazing how many like-minded people we’ve met since we have left Seattle.

Glendale Lake.

After picking up some groceries at the not-so-nearby town of Browning on the Indian reservation, we made it back to our campsite, just in time for the excessive amount of rain to soak us and all of our stuff. We hung out inside the lodge with Tucker while it passed and used the “internet” which loaded websites at approximately 30 kb/s (slower than dial-up).