HIking, Rain, and Cold Nights--August 25-27, 2008

Monday was a cold morning, but the weather soon warmed. We chose two short hikes for our adventure. The first hike was John's Lake Loop Trail. It would take us past John's Lake, across Going to the Sun Road, past 2 waterfalls and back to the car. The trail started in a dense old growth forest.

We could see John's Lake, but there was no way to get close to it (too muddy) and the trees prevented a good picture.

Right after we crossed the road, we saw Sacred Dancing Cascade.
We crossed the bridge to continue to McDonald Falls.
Once we crossed the bridge, we were hiking on a multi-use trail. Horses were the other users so we had to watch our step! We stopped to explore McDonald Creek as we made our way toward the falls.
McDonald Falls were larger than Sacred Dancing Cascade! We enjoyed the tranquility of the area. Everyone else was stopping at the overlooks to see the falls. We were the only ones hiking.
Once we returned to the car, we headed to Trail of the Cedars. It was a nice boardwalk (wheelchair accessible) that wandered through the cedar forest for a .6 mile loop.

There were many benches for people to stop and take in the scenery and the sounds. As we neared the halfway point we crossed over Avalanche Gorge. The trailhead leading to Avalanche Lake was just beyond the gorge. We hope to hike that later in the week.
We returned to camp for lunch and some relaxation. The two hikes were about 3.5 miles. Early in the evening we hiked to the transportation center (1/4 mile) and then to Apgar for an ice cream treat. This would be the last nice day for a cool treat. The temperature again reached the low 80s, but that would be the last day that would happen until the weekend!

Rain and cooler weather was predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday. The weatherman was right! The temps at night dipped into the lower 40s and the heat came on before bedtime. We piled the blankets on and slept pretty good. Tuesday morning we turned on the generator as we didn't get enough solar to make up what we had used. With the generator on, we plugged in the electric heater and got toasty!

Tuesday was a good day to explore other places and keep warm. Whitefish was about 20 miles from Glacier so we took a drive. Whitefish had a nice downtown with interesting stores. We walked around, then sampled the offerings at Great Northern Brewing Company. The first sample was free! I tried Huckleberry while Bob sampled Buckin' Bronc. Bob ordered a pint of his sample and I sampled another--Highlander Ale. All was good then we heeded the bartender's advice and ate lunch at Downtown Pizzeria. We hadn't had pizza in a long time and the one we had was great.

It was still raining when we returned to the rv so we 'chilled' until later in the evening when the skies cleared. We walked along the path to Apgar and walked around the campground loops. Once the weekend crowd left, there were plenty of sites. About half of the sites taken are occupied by tenters--brrrrrrr!

Wednesday was cooler and just as rainy as Tuesday. Bob picked out some geocaches that were labeled 'park and grab' and off we went toward Columbia Falls. The rain continued and there was a definite chill in the air.

When we returned to the park early in the afternoon, a sign posted at the ranger station said the road to Logan Pass was closed. We inquired as to the reason and it was because the road had to be plowed! It snowed at the upper elevations Tuesday night! The ranger said as soon as the road was clear it would reopen.

We returned to the rv for a late lunch and bundled up to keep warm. We have been in a lot of cold this trip, but this is the dampest. I think it feels colder than when we were at Grand Teton National Park.

Thursday the weather is supposed to warm again. We'll let you know!