Rocky Mountains and Flat Plains....and Tires

Well we drove all day Sunday and made it right outside of Glacier N.P. Sunday Evening. Along the way we had scenic views of the snow covered Rocky Mountains that met rolling green plains. About 40 miles south east of the park we turned down a dirt road that Jon had picked out on the map. The road led to a dam at the southern tip of Glacier N.P. but still outside the park. The dam is also located on National Forest land which means free camping. Right next to the dam is a beautiful volunteer maintained campground which was just perfect.

On the way to our camping spot

Our Campsite

We pulled into the dam area around 8 p.m. but since the sun doesn't go down till about 10 we still had some time to cast a line. No bites. Looking at the campground it was obvious we could have our pick of just about any site. While looking for a site we met Cliff who was part of the only other family camping at the campground. Cliff maintains the sites and gave us plenty of advice on which site to pick and where the best spots to hike and fish are! We set up camp and made some dinner and a fire and called it a night.

Mac and cheese and cheesy
potatoes for dinner

On Monday we got up around 8:30 a.m. and Jonathan made us some pancakes and coffee...mmmm. Afterwards the twins started up, and I do mean up, above the dam to the fishing spot Cliff suggested. I stayed back and did some laundry, but we were able to stay in touch using the walkie talkies. I soon joined them and we hiked for about two miles with scenic views the whole way. Sidenote: ironically the boys have been looking for a snake to play with the whole trip...on the way to meet them I came close to stepping on two...just gardner snakes I believe. We also saw a fox many times mingling with other campers, and we were told it even played with a ball some children left out at one point.

At the top of our hike we saw some thunderstorms moving in so I headed back to camp to try and save the drying laundry, but weather changes quick in the mountains and we all got caught in the storm. After we got back from the long hike we made some much needed food and then went back out to fish...and bathe. The water was cold, takes your breath away and your heart starts beating really fast....With the laundry still wet and the views beautiful we decided to stay one more day at this remote little site. Monday night we were treated to a thunderstorm off in the distance circling around us. Since it was off in the distance I was able to get some lightening shots.

That leaves us with today; we left the site this morning hoping to make it to Glacier N.P. by afternoon, however we had to plug a tire that had a hole in it first. After plugging the tire we started driving on the 18 mile freshly grated gravel road back to pavement where we picked up another flat tire, this time with two holes. We changed it out for the spare since the plug wouldn't hold and ventured on. We found a tire place about 12 miles out of the way and they were able to get one of the tires patched properly but Jon had to buy a new tire for the one with two holes because we just didn't trust it. Now we are on our way to Glacier...Unfortunately we hear the Going to the Sun Road is not passable because they are still plowing it but we can still drive on part of it which will be nice. Will update again soon.

-Adam

Laundry

Changing a tire with a view