Day 1 - Friday, September 24, 2021

To orient myself to the park on this first day I drove the scenic Going-to-the-Sun Road. I started on west side and drove 50 miles to the east side, and then turned around and drove back. The entire trip took about 6.5 hours mainly because I was stopping and taking a lot of pictures.

Starting with Lake McDonald on the west to Saint Mary Lake on the east and mountain passes in the middle, the drive is breath-taking, not to mention a little nerve-wracking at times with the winding turns beside what appear to be cliffs that fall forever. There were streams, waterfalls, tunnels, broad valleys, and towering peaks. And, did I mention wildlife? Along the journey I saw a Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Mule Deer, Mountain Goats, a Black Bear, and a pair of Grizzly Bears. Unfortunately, may camera skills let me down with most of the wildlife, but I’ll be trying again. What I wasn’t expecting on the drive was how many other people were visiting the park also. This is the last weekend in September and the park is shutting down with the anticipation of winter, but you’d never know by the number of people. Getting a parking spot at many of the overlooks was near impossible, especially at the more popular places. If it is this crowded on the last weekend of September, I can’t imagine what it must be like in mid-August.

Day 2 - Saturday, September 25, 2021

After experiencing big crowds in the park yesterday I decided not to plan anything big for Saturday. I spent the morning doing chores around the RV, and then around 1:30 set out to do a little shopping and then see about taking a short hike (if I could find a parking space).

While not needing anything in particular, I decided to check out a little grocery mart in West Glacier Village. Decided to get a couple bags of chips for snacks, and also a dozen eggs, which I like as a snack food when traveling. Guess I should have checked the price before I picked the eggs up…I was charged $6.49 for one-dozen Grade AA Large eggs. Lesson learned, they will be an expensive snack. I then went into Glacier Park and stopped at the Apgar Visitor Center to purchase bear spray. After seeing three bears yesterday I decided bear spray might be a good investment.

I then ventured to the other end of Lake McDonald and found a parking spot at the Johns Lake Loop Trailhead. Johns Lake Loop rated is rated as a “Less Challenging Hike,” which is just my style. The trail started as a paved path until it started following McDonald Creek when it turned to a dirt. It was a great trail with several places to take pictures along the way. I’m not sure how far I walked, I was on the trail for a good one-and-a-half hours, but that includes several stops for picture taking. I didn’t do the “loop” because I wasn’t sure where the loop really was, but also because I got to one of the waterfalls that I was looking for, then I turned and took the trail back to my truck. I may try to do the whole loop tomorrow or Monday. It was a beautiful fall afternoon and I’m glad I took the hike I did.

Day 3 - Sunday, September 26, 2021

Against my better judgment, I set out to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road again. I knew the park would be very crowded on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I was right, it was worse than Friday. But, I decided I’d just drive the road stopping only sparingly. I almost turned around after about 20 of the 50-mile trip. There were some crazy, dangerous drivers and walkers out there. I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents or injuries when the park is crowded.

I did stop a few times, when there was plenty of room to park, and the fall colors were amazing. I saw one bear. The bear was stopping traffic at a hairpin corner, so I did manage to get one picture out the driver’s window of the truck while I was stopped on the road. A park ranger was present to keep the traffic moving the best she could.

I may try to drive the road again tomorrow. I am hoping that the crowds will be way down since it is a Monday and I some more of the park facilities are now closed for the winter.

Day 4 - Monday, September 27, 2021

Hoping for less of a crowd than the past couple of days, I optimistically set out with a goal of visiting things I hadn’t seen already. My optimism waned as I entered the park and started driving on the “Going-to-the-Sun” Road, as a long line of vehicles formed and parking spaces along Lake McDonald’s turn-off were full. At about 15 miles I decided it wasn’t worth fighting the crowd and turned around. On my way back I found a parking spot at the Johns Lake Trailhead, and decided to take the 2-mile loop trail.

The beginning of the trail had a little incline that had me breathing pretty hard, but then the trail turned and things got easier (not that they were that hard). The trail passed Johns Lake (appropriately so), but it was difficult to get a decent picture of the lake without walking through a lot of mud. When the trail crossed the “Going-to-the-Sun” Road I recognized the area as where I had turned around on the trail on Saturday. Today’s problem, the bridge to cross the creek and continue the trail was closed off for repairs. So I followed the road to the McDonald Falls and on to the trailhead parking lot. Though the temperature was in the upper 50s, I worked up a pretty good sweat and felt good about the hike.

I returned to the RV park to contemplate what the rest of my day might entail.