With the late-afternoon clouds breaking on a mid-June day in Glacier National Park, spruce, fir and cedar trees that line the shorelines reflect off the still pristine waters of Lake McDonald, the Glacier’s largest body of water.
John Grindrod/The Lima News
On our final Wyoming morning on a national-parks vacation, Lady Jane and I packed up, ready for another 500-plus-mile driving day to get to West Glacier, Montana, and Glacier National Park.
Both in Wyoming and into Montana, the posted speed limits are often 80 mph and houses are at times more than a mile apart and livestock graze over endless ranch land.
Once back in West Glacier and seeing the national park entrance just a few hundred feet down on the other side of the road from the parking lot turn in to our lodging, I certainly thought I’d found the perfect place to stay.
However, I would discover upon our check-in that there’s a whole lot more to a lodging choice than proximity to an attraction. Now, my first impression was positive. The rustic hotel, built in 1914 by the railroad that runs through the national park just across the road, was up a hill surrounded by stands of trees.
While I think you can add historical flourishes on the exterior and in the lobby and hallways, at a rate of over $250 per night, the rooms should have some modern conveniences.
Once we lugged our bags up the stairs from the elevator-less lobby and used the real room key to enter, starkness awaited. Aside from the fact that there was no air conditioning (which we didn’t need in low 50-degree mid-June temperatures although a month or two later, would have been a far greater issue), we saw other unpleasant surprises.
The room was tiny with slanted and creaky floors. Additionally, there was no TV, microwave, coffeemaker and, besides the bed, seating available except for two straight-back wooden chairs. We saw two pair of ear plugs on the night stand, undoubtedly provided to lessen the noise from frequently passing trains. Trying to use a Wi-Fi also proved fruitless as well because of its weak signal. The train noise, I can forgive, as that’s what I would call an unavoidable locale characteristic, but I couldn’t forgive the rest. The room kind of reminded me of a hotel-room set from “Gunsmoke.”
Before we headed across the street to see Glacier, I stopped by the desk and canceled our second night there. Although I was assessed a $30 cancellation fee, canceling that second night was the better option than staying at that hefty rate.
As for the park, unfortunately, due to 6 inches of recent snow that fell at Logan Pass, closing Going-to-the-Sun Road at Avalanche Lake, we couldn’t make the entire 50-mile drive that crosses the Continental Divide on its way to the east entrance. However, what we saw before the road-closed sign was stunning.
Glacier’s largest body of water, Lake McDonald, immediately showed us what the park is most noted for, its pristine waterways. The snow-capped Rocky Mountains reflected off the still waters as did the spruce, fir, hemlock and cedar trees that border the lake on its south and north shores. Following the 10 miles it takes to travel past the lake, we were then treated to the cascading waters of McDonald Falls.
Unfortunately, due to recent precipitation, we didn’t take any of the trails that would have led us to other lakes named Snyder, Johns and Howe. Should we ever return, we’ll hope for drier trails to explore them.
Thanks to the extended light that June provides, we were able to admire quite a bit of the park’s beauty, although admittedly there was much we weren’t able to see. It’s just hard to fathom 6 inches of snow closing the main road in mid-June for this lifelong Midwesterner. By dawn’s earliest shafts of light, we began our 2,000-plus-mile journey home.
After overnighting in Bismarck, North Dakota, and then again in Portage, Wisconsin, it was time for me, as always when I travel west, to be annoyed by the frequent tolls on I-90 going through Chicago and then again more tolls in Indiana after crossing the line. Until I expend my final exhalation, I’ll remain angry that roads paid for by taxpayer money require tolls for taxpayers to use.
Seven days after I pulled out of my drive, I pulled back in 4,200 miles later, thankful I didn’t bump into anyone and thankful no one bumped into me. Despite the weariness of the road, I felt fortunate to have seen so much natural beauty as can be seen in Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.
John Grindrod is a regular columnist for The Lima News, a freelance writer and editor and the author of two books. Reach him at [email protected].
