Here's That Rainy Day...

We spent the night at North Cascades National Park. We made a campfire with some wood left by our site’s previous occupants which meant that we made an apricot cobbler! It was a leisurely night, but we did attend a ranger program on the human history of the North Cascades region. There were two company towns in the area (Diablo and Newhalem) that were isolated from the surrounding regions during the construction of a dam and hydroelectric power plant in the early 20th century.

In the morning, we strolled along the Skagit river on a loop trail. The river water is unusually clear due to the dam blocking much of the sediment.



We stopped in the visitor center and watched a film on the area. The remoteness of the North Cascades mountain range has been preserved; without mountain climbing gear, there wasn’t much to do but drive through and admire the scenery. We drove the park road, stopping at many of the overlooks.



The rest of the day was spent driving through Washington, Idaho and into Northern Montana. The drive was direct with one stop for Chinese food and gas in Idaho. Luckily, the scenery kept changing from prairie to mountain. We can’t get used to that kind of variety as we head towards the midwest...

Arriving right outside Glacier National Park in the late evening, we set up the car and went to sleep.

We got to take showers in the morning and headed into the park where we were on a mission to find breakfast. Our expectations were exceeded at Eddie’s Restaurant in Agpar Village. We stuffed ourselves and went to see Lake McDonald for more unusually clear glacial water (this seems to be a common occurrence at this part of the trip.) Noticing a boat rental establishment on the shore, we couldn’t help ourselves and rented a canoe for a paddle on the lake.



When we returned to shore, it was just starting to rain. We returned the canoe and jumped in the car to drive the “Going to the Sun Highway.” We stopped at many of the overlooks and scenic views but clouds were blocking the more distant peaks. It was our first rainy day of the trip; we really can’t complain!



Arriving at Logan Pass, we intended to hike to Hidden Lake. Rain and temperatures in the forties made us change our plans. We listened to a ranger talk on the disappearance of glaciers in Glacier National Park. They’ll be declassifying two this year and expect to have no glaciers left in fifteen years. In 1850 there were 150 glaciers in the area, now there are 25!

Across the continental divide, we drove on and stopped to overlook Jackson Glacier. The characteristic blue ice was very visible this time of year.



Our last stop in the park was a view of Saint Mary Lake. The clouds were beginning to break now that we were on the “dry side” of the park; they still hung in the mountains to our back though.



We’ll be driving through northern Montana for the rest of the day. Our goal is to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota tomorrow. There’s supposed to be lots of buffalo and wild horses!