Mittelstaedt vacation 2011 W. Glacier National Park

Mittelstaedt family
Vacation 2011 F
West part of Glacier National Park - Montana

Monday - 4 July 2011
arrived in late afternoon

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Campsite - West Glacier KOA - just outside the National Park
This is a well developed KOA.

Our next door neighbor was a lively fellow from Calgary, Alberta, Canada who welcomed me with a very western Canadian Howdy.
We set up camp then headed out of the KOA to Glacier National Park looking over the Apgar camp area

At the first corner where you turn left to enter the park.

The engrance to Glacier National Park - West side.
The first campground you come to from here is called the Apgar campground.

This Escape trailer looks much like a Casita or a Scamp.
This is the first one I ever saw.

We drove on the Going to the Sun road until it was blocked
There was so much snow that they were still un-blocking the upper reaches of the road.

This was at the Avalanche trail head
We turned back and drove to the Hungry Horse area for gas, then back to the KOA for supper.
There was celebratory fireworks noise well past midnight from 4th of July celebration.

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Tuesday - 5 July 2011

Got up - breakfast - then drove around the southern edge of the Park
to the East Glacier National Park entrance at St. Mary.

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Explanation - - This part of the vacation travel was planned on-the-fly
and accommodated both my sisters schedule to meet her over the following weekend
and the geography including available roads in this comparatively thinly inhabited part of USA.
We drove from Butte MT to West Glacier on the 4th of July and as we often planned,
had a secure camping spot reserved in a close-by KOA so if the National Park was full
(could easily be the case in mid-summer, especially holiday weeks such as 4th of July,
we would have a place to park the R-pod.
Upon arrival and camp setup we reconnoitered West Glacier National Park for amenities and camping space.
We also drove the Going to the Sun road, which goes through the park to the other side, as far as one could.
It was closed because the upper reaches had not yet been dug out of the deep snow
which it receives each year.
On Tuesday, 5 July we drove around the southern edge of the Park, which follows a river and is much lower
(and thawed) through some very narrow and winding road to the village of St. Mary and the St. Mary entrance to E. Glacier N.P.
After setting up camp at the Going to the Sun campground we drove up to the blocked end of the Going to the Sun
road, then backtracked to the St. Mary River Falls trailhead and hiked to the upper falls.
Then back to camp and supper.
On Wednesday we drove into Canada and visited the Waterton Lakes National Park - returned to USA,
and drove to Browning MT for less expensive gas... and to see the setup of North American Indian Days
on the Blackfeet indian reservation. We helped setup a tipi there. That evening we drove back to camp for a late supper.
On Thursday 6 July, we drove back around the southern edge of Glacier N. Pk and camped in the Apgar campground.
We also hiked the Rocky Point trail on the western edge of the lake. That evening, after dark we had the first rain
we encountered on the trip. Not much rain, but notable in that it was the first we encountered.
On Friday 7 July we drove West crossing through the northern tip of Idaho to camp just inside Washington State
at Newport WA.