Glacier NP - West

What a great park!  So many amazing views and vistas, tons of hiking trails, just fantastic.  But not a lot of glaciers.  They are melting and it is expected by 2030 the glaciers will be gone.  We started on the west side of the park and spent one week in Hungry Horse.  From there we headed to the eastern side and spent a week in St. Mary.  This post is from the west side.  We took over 100 pictures on the est side but I've selected only a few.  And I'll let these few do the talking.

'Nuff said!

Reynlods Creek Fire - Glacier NP

About the time we got to Hungry Horse on the west side the park the Reynolds Creek fire had been burning a few days.  It started on July 21st. It was about 3,600 acres and working its way eastward. The Going to the Sun road had been closed at Logan Pass because the fire (on the eastern side of the park) was burning close to and across the road.  All activities and trails were open on the west side we just could not take Going to the sun road all the way across.  We could see smoke but other than the road closure everything was normal.

We had actually planned to not take the road all the way as we were scheduled to be on the east side in St. Mary the next week.  So the road closure did not hurt our plans.  We drove to Logan Pass did some great hiking and went back to Hungry Horse.  By the time we got to the east side of the park in the town of St. Mary we could see smoke and as the wind shifted the entire area we were in filled with smoke.  At times we could not see the mountain on the other side of the lake.

Here are just a few pics...

Smoke as seem from our campground in the evening.

A tent city sprung up where all the fire fighters slept.  It was interesting to see 10 - 15 truck loads of fire fighters coming out of the park each night.  There were over 600 personnel fighting the fire.
This is a very small portion of the tent city.  By the time we left there were still 300+ personnel working the fire

We had little hope of the Going to the sun Road opening before we were to leave St. Mary.  On our last day the road opened and we took the drive from St. Mary to Logan Pass.  It was amazing to see the burned out forest.  The fire burned down to and across the road in several places and burned down to the lake several more places.

 These pictures of the burn were all taken from our car as we drove thru.  There was no stopping on the road way. But the fire burned down to the road and across it then burned on down to the lake.

Each morning our campground got a report on the previous day's fire activity and a plan for that day.  The report included lots of information.  For one it seems that this fire was started by an illegal campfire that some one had left unattended.  Over all close to 4,000 acres burned.  The fire was not out when we left and most locals said it would smolder and burn until the first good snow fall in early winter.  The report also indicated that up to the day we left the fire had cost $10.4 million.

In the scheme of things this was a very small fire compared to all the fires in California, Oregon and Washington, but as minor as it was nationally, it really hurt the local economy because so many tourists did not come.

Missoula, Montana

Missoula was just a stop over but we did plan to stay for a week.  Diana has a relative who attended The University of Montana, which is in Missoula.  So after many texts back and for we had an idea of things to do.

We hit one of the local breweries (of course) and found a great beer.  Then we found a Greek Festival that just happened to be going on about 2 blocks away then discovered a great ice cream shop near by.  Stopped back at the brewery and got a growler filled.  Day one was great!

On the campus of the U is a large hill/mountain.  The students have placed a large M on the side of the hill that faces the campus.  One of the things to to was to "hike the M".  It was a great hike with great views of the valley.

We attended a baseball game.  The Missoula Osprey hosting the Helena Brewers.  This is a summer league of the advanced rookies.  A fun night but not great baseball.  We had some rain during the 4th inning and then a great rainbow came out and lasted a long time.