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After leaving Eastern WA we headed to Missoula, MT to explore a bit within the Lolo National Forest and the Missoula area. We stayed at the Square Dancing Center and Campground just outside Lolo, MT. It was a great little campground nestled in the trees with everything we needed and everyone was really friendly. No, we didn’t do any square dancing. All dances were canceled due to Covid.
We had never visited the National Bison Range before, so we decided to go check it out. It’s a bit of a drive but it’s worth it and has nice views on the way. If you want to see bison, it’s the place to go, they are everywhere. We also saw some caribou, deer, and elk. On our way there we saw a few bighorn sheep right on the edge of the road.
Next we headed up to Glacier National Park, we stayed at Moose Creek RV Resort. This campground is a few miles outside of the west entrance to the park. It was a nice little campground but expect to be packed in tight and it’s not cheap, nothing is around there. But, we weren’t there for the RV park, we were there for Glacier NP. Make reservations well in advance.
Now for the park, all I can say is “wow”! The park is amazing! The views are some of the best I’ve seen. The Going to the Sun road is something everyone should see at least once. The first couple days had some smoke from somewhere on the west coast, it all seems to be on fire. But soon the wind shifted and blew all the smoke out. We took full advantage of the smoke free days while we could.
We were there over for Labor Day weekend and the following week. One thing we immediately noticed about the park was how busy it was. There were people everywhere and traffic was horrible. They normally run shuttles to all the stops around the park but due to Covid all shuttles have been canceled. This meant everyone was now driving and there wasn’t very much parking to begin with. I wanted to hike the Hidden Lake Trail from Logan Pass but was turned away a few different times, once even heading into the park at 6 am. All parking was taken within a mile of the pass. I had to get up at 3am and was driving into the park by 4am in order to get a parking space at Logan pass. The parking lot was half full when I got there, it’s crazy! I hiked to the overlook in the dark to take some pictures of the lake at sunrise. It was beautiful!
One morning I woke up early (not 3am early) and headed to Bowman Lake just to check it out. First let me say that a Honda Fit should probably not be on this road at all, it’s in really poor shape (after Polebridge). I almost turned around a few times, there are enormous potholes. I don’t know how the car made it out of there in one piece. But, when I got there I was treated to one of my favorite views yet!
One day while touring the park we were looking for a pullout to stop for lunch. Everything was full, we just kept driving for miles. Everything with a view was packed, then we came along a pullout with no view and no one parked at it. We stopped to have lunch and check it out. We walked down the hill and through the trees and we had this place on Saint Mary Lake to ourselves. How awesome is that?!
Unfortunately, the smoke came back the day before leaving, except this time it was way worse. While I did some complaining in this post, Glacier NP is amazing and I’m glad we were able to experience it and will probably go back. Just not over Labor Day weekend.
Next, we’ll head south toward Yellowstone National Park!
Amazing pictures! It looks beautiful!