Sunday, October 4, 2009

Positively Glacier


We were off to a slow start Saturday morning, not quite glacial but close to it. It’s so tempting to scuff around in our PJs and stocking feet in our cozy little cabin all day. Phil made eggs and bacon for breakfast and used the complimentary coffee which had an odd vanilla aftertaste. I worked on the blog and wavered between wearing my thermal tee shirt under my turtleneck or not. I finally decided not to and am happy to report it was the right decision.

We checked in at the Glacier Raft Company Store and met Carston, the manager, who showed us the lay of the land on a framed topo map and welcomed us into the back room to use the wireless internet access. It took me forever to upload photos onto Blogger, (What’s up with that?) so Phil browsed around the shop while I cursed all things technological. They have great WPA style prints of Glacier National Park and 50% off summer clothes.

Finally, we headed off for our first view of the park itself. At the west gate, we drove under the tracks while a freight train lumbered along the railroad bridge on top of us and then pulled into the lot of an elegant glass and steel structure which turned out to be a visitor center for Alberta Canada. After we finished scratching our heads over that, we took an essential two mille round trip detour to check out the golf course and some of us were happy to find out that it’s still open even though the gas station, restaurant and grocery store have been closed for weeks.

Finally, we got to the entrance and paid $25 for a 7 day pass. They let us know that the Going to the Sun Road was partially closed but there was still access to Logan Pass from the east side. We continued on to the visitor center at Apgar Village and got some nifty brochures about hikes in the park and studied the 3-D map including white patches indicating all the glaciers.

We liked the look of the Village Inn, a funky 50’s bi-level which overlooks Lake McDonald but agreed that the lake itself was both awe-inspiring and ominous. The bone-chilling wind whipped up whitecaps on this big honking lake and on the far shore gray tree trunks swathed the steep slopes. We wondered if the pine beetles that have done so much damage in the California forests were destroying the trees here too, but later we learned there was a devastating fire in 2003.

We soldiered on to Lake McDonald Lodge, built in 1914 in a charming mixture of Swiss chalet and craftsman woodsiness. The place was completely shut down, but we peeked in the windows at the rustic lobby. All the stuffed animal heads were draped in dustcovers, making it a perfect setting for a haunted Halloween party or filming Jack Torrance going berserk again in The Shining Part 2.

No comments:

Post a Comment