Many Glacier

Ted called the campground early to make sure it was open.  We got ready and drove the mile or so to the national park campground.  We checked in and drove to the pretty site Ted had found for us online.  We parked in the sloping lot and the levelers couldn't finish leveling because the site was uneven.  We have had that happen before and manually set the jacks to be close enough.  When we did that, the large slide on the drivers side only would go out a little bit.  We tried a few times, thankfully was able to get the slide back in, and I went back to the Ranger's Station to see if we could get another site.  They gave me a list of sites that would be available for the time we would be here and I went to look at them.  In the meantime, Ted drove the motorhome to the dump station that was flat, put the jacks down and was able to open the slide.  I found one site that was fairly level, I thought, and went back and they reserved it for us.  Someone was already in the site but was supposed to be out by noon.  It was ten o'clock by now so we drove out to the visitors' center and left the motorhome before driving to Many Glacier.

The road to Many Glacier is eight miles up the road following St. Mary Lake and another twelve miles in following Swift Current River, Sherburne Lake and then Swift Current Lake.  The water in the river was really roaring with class three rapids in places.  Turquoise Sherburne Lake was formed by a dam.  All along the road were pretty yellow wildflowers and the towering mountains that are hard to describe.

Swift Current River

Dam At Sherburne Lake

Sherburne Lake

Wildflowers Beside Sherburne Lake

Sherburne Lake Dam on Return Trip

We drove in past the Many Glacier Hotel built in 1914-1915 by the Great Northern Railroad from native stone and huge logs. This Swiss style hotel sits right on the shore of the Swift Current Lake and has a magnificent  view of all the mountains surrounding it.

Many Glacier Hotel

Many Glacier Hotel from Water 

Beautiful Stonework on Hundred Year Old Building

We drove to the ranger station for my stamp and chatted with a volunteer who also had wooden kayaks.  We then drove to the boat launch to finally get our kayaks in the water.  The day was quite windy and St. Mary Lake had whitecaps but this lake was nestled in at the base of mountains and quite calm.  We chatted with a couple from Spokane as we both prepared to paddle.  There were other people on the water in rented canoes and kayaks but we felt like we had the place to ourselves.  Every angle of the mountains showed some new feature and I took over a hundred photos.  It was so great to be on the water again and so awesome to be paddling among the giants.  The photos don't do justice to the actual scenery.

When we were almost back to the boat launch, I noticed some movement high on the side of a mountain.  Hoping to see mountain goats or sheep, we got out the binoculars.  It was six people way up by the snow fields climbing in shorts.  We kept watching them off and on and they had turned back by the time we left.  This mountain was really steep and must have been really scary coming down.

Climbers Were at the Bottom of Center Snow Pack When First Viewed

Climbers Almost to the Top of Photo When They Turned Around

We drove around the campground at Many Glacier to check it out but there were no sites big enough for our rig.  We saw a couple of deer but no other wildlife except what we think are prairie dogs or some close relative.  We came back to St Mary and moved the RV to our campsite before sitting outside with drinks and a snack and just enjoying the sunshine and the view.  Since we will have no electricity for the next five days and are trying to save the batteries on our electronics, it was early to bed.

St Mary Site 138