We have finally arrived at Glacier National Park and are staying at the KOA about 3 miles from the entrance. We stayed here in 2017 around the end of September and had the park almost to ourselves. They close on September 30 for the end of the season so not many people were still here when we arrived and most of their activities and amenities had already closed for the season. Very different this time, the park is packed and all the activities they have here are still open and busy. This is a KOA Resort which is their highest level of KOA. They are like any other resort, the place to spend your entire holiday not just a stop over while traveling. They have pools, hot tubs, restaurants, hiking trails and all kind of activities planned for the family. This is one of the most beautiful parks we have stayed in during our travels. Not only is the location beautiful but they have done a great job with the layout and the landscaping.
The drive here is very hilly and curvy especially around Flathead Lake. Once we turned off the interstate and got on a two lane road the scenery really changes. You are driving through the Flathead Indian Reservation for much of the distance and there are lots of wildlife viewing areas, mostly for water fowls. Once you reach Polson, Montana you are at the edge of the lake and from there to almost Kalispell you are in what Bruce refers to as the gauntlet, it is a challenging drive as you are driving around the contour of the lake going up and down hills and around sharp curves for about 30 miles. There are not really any spots for us to pull off to let traffic pass, you just have to keep going. There are a few pull outs that they call cell phone pull overs that cars can use. You don’t have cell service though most of the drive, I guess at those spots you can pick up a signal. We did not have a problem with us causing a backup behind our RV but we got stuck behind a group of cars for about 10 miles. The lead car was driving below the speed limit and since there is no place to pass everyone was stuck until they turned off.
We got here on a Thursday which was a day earlier than our original reservations. When we called to move it up a day they were unable to get us in the same space for the entire time so we had to park in one spot for Thursday evening and then move to the spot in our original reservation on Friday morning. We saw several other RVs move on Friday morning so guess we were not the only one changing plans. While it was packed on Thursday morning, probably half of the spots emptied out on Friday morning. After moving spots we left for the day to run some errands and when we got back the park was full again.
Friday we went to pick up our fishing license and complete the paperwork for our fly fishing trip. Then we drove back to Kalispell to do some shopping and go out to eat. Right before we headed back here we went through a fast food place to get something to drink and I could have reached out my window and picked cherries off the cherry trees. They are known for their cherries in this part of Montana. We passed several cherry orchards on the way here around the Flathead Lake area and they use them in their landscaping at many places. Below is a picture of the trees in the drive through spot.
This area is also know for their wild huckleberries. They use them in pies, ice cream, jellies, preserves, muffins, pancakes, etc. We had a RV move in next to us , they were driving what they called a retro Winnebago, it was painted red and white. They were an older couple with a couple of dogs. Bruce went over to help them on Saturday morning, we noticed they were leaking water really bad around their water connection not to mention they were using the wrong type of water hose. They had a regular garden hose rather than one that is for drinking water. We had just cleaned all the containers in our basement storage bays and discovered a few extra of the drinking hose so he gave them one. They said they never drink the water in their RV they always use bottled water. They had a relative mention the water tasted bad but did not realize it was the hose. Anyway they bought us a container of Huckleberry Preserves as a thank you gift and brought it over on Monday morning before they left. I tried it and not sure if I really cared for it, it was very sweet. I thanked them before they left and might be tossing out the preserves. I will let them get cold and try them again before tossing.
The couple left and it wasn’t long before we had a new neighbor. We had noticed this RV come into the park yesterday evening and park somewhere else. It is extremely old, looks like it could fall apart. It is missing doors over some compartments and looks to be held together with some type of bonding tape in a few areas. The RV is pulling an open utility trailer but no vehicle on the trailer. It has a bike and a couple of dog carriers and a few other items all stored at the back of the trailer against the ramp.
They pulled in and turned off the motor but no one came out to hook it up to the water and electric. We had no plans for the day so we were here at the RV most of the time so we were able to observe what was going on next door. After a couple of hours an elderly lady emerged with two dogs on their leashes. We recognized her as someone we had seen walking around earlier this morning. When she returned from her walk she tied the dogs up outside (against the rules). She came in and out several times during the day mostly to get buckets of water to water a bunch of plants she was hauling and to water her dogs and last but not least to give water and food to the live turkey she is hauling around in one of the dog carriers. We have the windows open on our RV so we got to listen to the turkey this afternoon. I wanted to walk to the other side of her trailer and see what she might have in that dog carrier but we have not heard anything.
Finally late this afternoon she came out and plugged in the electric cord. She still has not hooked up any water or hooked up to the sewer. I did see her headed out later, looked like she had stuff to head to the showers. When she returned she got her bike down and left for a ride. We guess she is by herself and suspect she might live in the RV full time. Curious to see if she is still here tomorrow.
We went to the restaurant in the park for dinner today and it was very good, we had ribs and a ribeye steak. I had some excellent tricolor corn on the cob. Don’t go there to eat if you are in a hurry. We had fast service and the food came fairly quick but then you have a long wait for your bill. The problem is young waiters that are working here because they like being by a national park so they can do lots of hiking. With each new customers you have your normal greetings then they have to know where your are from, when did you get here and have you been in the park yet and if so where did you go. Depending on your answers you get to hear of places they have been and hikes they have taken and get suggestions for the rest of your stay. Sometimes they even sit at someone’s table and look at pictures on the persons phone of views from various hikes and pictures of animals they have seen. Fortunately we were not in a hurry and the weather was nice since all the tables are outside.
Our waiter suggested we drive up to Logan’s Pass where we could see mountain goats.
In addition to the restaurant they have an ice cream shop and a little store. They have different activities you can attend almost every night. They have live music at the restaurant some nights and some night they have it over at a big tent. You can tie die shirts, go to a fly fishing class or attend a Raptor presentation.
We left to go into the park early Tuesday morning and when we returned our neighbor had moved on and taken her dogs and turkey.
By the end of the week it had gotten much smokier in the area. It seemed to clear up some during the night as you could see thousands of stars in the sky. They keep it pretty dark at the park so there is no light pollution so it makes it great for seeing the stars.
