We continued on our way after stopping at a Wal-Mart and not purchasing a thing--what a wonder! We were looking for bear spray, but they didn't stock that item.
We stopped again at a K-Mart in Kalispell and found the bear spray. We wanted to have it for the days we hiked in Glacier National Park. We also filled our propane tank as we didn't know if the weather would turn cool.
As we approached Columbia Falls, we decided that we were going to stay in Glacier for about a week and that we might need bread, milk and fruit before the end of that time. So, we stopped again--as had other campers since this is the last major grocery store before the park!
Once on the road we hoped there would be space available in Apgar Campground just inside the park from West Glacier. We were lucky enough to find a spot and set up camp. We weren't sure how our solar panels would work since we in an area of trees. We tried to find a spot with some sun. As it turned out, we didn't get much solar. All the campgrounds in Glacier NP are primitive--no hookups of any kind. We took the kayaks off the car since we knew we would be traveling Going to the Sun Road.
The lights in the lobby were interesting.
Each panel had a different painting.
After leaving McDonald Lodge we drove back to our campsite and walked to the village of Apgar. It was pretty much a tourist area though it had one of the many visitor centers in the park. 
Since it was Joyce's birthday she wanted to go hiking. The plan was to drive Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass and hike to Hidden Lake. As usual, plans are no good. We had heard many stories (white knuckle) about driving Going to the Sun Road. We can tell you it was not the number one White Knuckle trip for us. The top 7 White Knuckle Roads for us were:7. Going to the Sun Road
6. Montana 49 outside Two Medicine, Glacier NP
5. The road through Douglas Pass, Colorado
4. The road in Colorado National Monument
3. Rodeo NM to Chiricahua National Monument
2. Utah 12 (Hogs Back Ridge)
and the Number One White Knuckle Road
1. Kentucky 1427
Going to the Sun Road is narrow, but at least it has a concrete wall that the other roads didn't have between us and the drop-off! Right now construction crews are repairing the 75 year old road so it is dirt and gravel for part of the way. It was also one lane near the Loop just south of Logan Pass! Here we were stuck in the lane of traffic waiting for the green light to travel the one lane portion of the road.
All along the road, the views were breathtaking. This is the Weeping Wall where water flows out of the rocks. It flows so much in the spring that the entire road gets wet. It wasn't much on the day we drove past.
The three arches that support the road were said to have been the most difficult part of the original construction in 1932. Workers were lowered by rope to place charges to blast the rock to form the arches.
Many waterfalls could be seen from the road.
Once we got to Logan Pass Visitor Center we were disappointed that there were not enough parking spaces. More than 20 cars were cruising the parking lot looking for an empty spot. We finally parked in a reserved spot so we could go in for a few minutes and get some brochures. We knew we couldn't park there to go on a 3 hour hike!This is the trailhead for Hidden Lake. We would have to do it another day.
When we returned to the car, we had a warning from the park service saying we had to move the car. We did and as we left, there were 5 other cars in line to try to get our spot!We continued to drive Going to the Sun Road. We decided to hike to St. Mary's Falls only there were no parking places at the trailhead--bummer. We drove just a little farther and found a parking place at Sundrift Gorge. From looking at the map we saw that the trail to Baring Falls from this parking area met the trail to St. Mary's Falls at about the one mile point, so off we went.
Baring Falls was a short hike downhill from the parking area. To get to the falls, you walked over a tree trunk bridge.
The falls were nice, but we had more falls to visit on this trail.
As we hiked to meet the trailhead for St. Mary's Falls, we had a great view of St. Mary's Lake. Little Chief came from St. Mary Lodge with hikers going to the falls.
The trail followed the lake...
until it neared the creek which is on the right in this picture.
Once again there was a bridge across the stream.
Several hikers coming down the trail said that a little over 1/2 mile was another falls which was even better. So we continued on beyond St. Mary's Falls.
Along the way we saw many thimbleberry bushes. Some of the berries were ripe. Yes, they are edible and very sweet. We have seen thimbleberry bushes most of the summer, but this is the first time any of them were ripe.
Along the trail we passed two other small waterfalls.We finally arrived at Virginia Falls and it was worth the walk.
We were able to get near the base of the falls. We spent a bit of time exploring the area around the falls before heading back to the car. 
Unfortunately, as we passed Baring Falls on the return trip, we missed our turn leading to the parking area. We found ourselves saying that the sights didn't look familiar. We checked the GPS and saw that we missed the turn by about 1/2 a mile, so we turned back and found the trail. If we had continued on to the next area, we could have caught a shuttle back to the car. We walked a total of 6 miles!We finished our drive to the east end of Going to the Sun Road. We drove out of the park and followed the road that led around the park back to West Glacier. That is when we drove on Montana 49. It was a white knuckle ride because there was no guard rail and the road had some vicious breaks from falling rocks, snow and ice!
We finally made it to US 2. We stopped at Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana for dinner. It was a cozy inn that is on the National Historic Register. Amtrak passenger trains still stop at the inn. We overheard the waitress tell a family who inquired about tv that there are no tvs anywhere at the inn and no telephones in any of the rooms. If necessary, one could use the phone at the front desk to make a collect call. After dinner I used my cell phone to return Bobby's call, but I couldn't get a signal in the parking lot.
Finally, after a long, exciting day we arrived at the rv. The signal on my phone was good so I returned Bobby's call and got to hear Christopher and DeAnna sing happy birthday!
We put plenty of blankets on the bed as the temperature was supposed to drop into the upper 40s. While we were hiking, the temperature rose to a warm 83 degrees!
Monday was supposed to be another good day. We hoped to hike some more trails, but not another 6 miles like Sunday!
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