July 4, 2024

Tammy and I got up an hour late because our watches didn’t change times. We had scrambled eggs, grapes, coffee, and half a huckleberry bear claw for breakfast. The bear claws were the ones my dentist recommended.

We ended up leaving at 9:20 instead of 8:30. Oops! We entered Glacier National Park from the West Glacier entrance. We drove on Going-to-the-Sun Road. We were originally going to drive farther into the park, but when we saw an open parking spot at the Avalanche Lake trailhead, we decided to grab it because it’s one of the most popular hikes. There was a yellow warning sign because people had seen a grizzly on the trail recently. The hike was pleasant and the trail ran alongside a creek. The rocks in Glacier are amazing colors… teal, red, mustard yellow, and other variations of these. 

Tree roots on an overturned tree… wide but shallow!

We made it to the top and had lunch along the shore of the lake. We took a bunch of pictures. There was a Stellar’s Jay that kept landing in the tree above our heads. The chipmunks were persistent and hoped we would spill our lunch. There were several kids swimming in the lake.

We headed back down. Along the way, a guy casually said, “There’s a bear over there.” I asked, “Did you say you saw a bear?” He casually responded that he was in the woods and pointed. We saw him come down to the trail we had just walked on. We got a few pictures as he calmly lumbered down the trail. There was a group of about 30 people who were all gathered together. Some people shouted a warning that a bear was coming to the people who might be in the bear’s path. It was pretty cool to see.

We finished our hike uneventfully and took a picture by the grizzly warning sign. 

We continued driving on Going-to-the-Sun Road. The views were gorgeous! Mike took the sides off the jeep so we could see better. It was great for taking pictures! 

We stopped at many overlooks for photos. We saw Heaven’s Peak with steaks of snow on it.

We saw a black bear (with brown fur) walking along the road. We stopped in the line of cars and watched him approach. He was really close to me (we were all in the jeep). I reminded Mike that I didn’t have a window! I was a little scared the bear would try to climb in the jeep with me, but he just walked by.

We stopped at a pretty waterfall near Haystack Creek and took pictures. 

We saw the famous Weeping Wall that has water running down all the rock faces.

We stopped at the Logan Pass visitor center and looked at the displays, got our Glacier park stamp, and looked at the shirts. I couldn’t decide so I decided to wait. There was a huge pile of snow outside. The grass was all completely buried and many of the trails from there were closed due to hazard snow. The sidewalks were decorated with colorful rocks!

We decided to turn around and head back to the RV (Yogi). We were glad we did because we saw a mountain goat right below the visitor center. We stopped to take pictures and then we spotted a hoary marmot. Tammy got some great pictures of it. 

Then we saw three other mountain goats and took pictures of them. It was amazing to see! We walked to a little overlook to see the goats but also took pictures of us at the overlook.

We drove back along Going-to-the-Sun Road. We had beef brisket on buns and mixed vegetables for dinner. Mike started a campfire for us to make s’mores. It was lots of fun! Notice the colorful rocks in the campfire ring.

It got late very quickly. We showered and went to bed. I slept on the couch that converts into a bed. Mike rigged up a curtain around my bed for privacy and to keep light out. It was great!

 Tammy slept above the driver’s seat in that pull down bed. She also had a curtain.