On the Road to Yellowstone National Park

We left Glacier at 8:00 a.m. for Yellowstone.  We stopped in Helena at a Starbucks to make our room reservations for the next three nights.  We decided to spend the night at West Yellowstone just outside the park and the next two nights at the Old Faithful Inn.  We were lucky to get these rooms as most of the lodging in the park was unavailable.

As we were driving into West Yellowstone we saw groups of kayaks traveling along the very swift running river which ran along side the roadway.  It looked like fun, but only for those with a high skill level.

Since leaving Painesville on April 16, 2011 we have driven 6206 miles to date.  The balance of the day was doing laundry and resting up for our adventures to come.

More later . . .

Glacier National Park -- Day 3

We learned that the drive time from West Glacier to East Glacier was about an hour.  So, we decided to move our location to East Glacier so that we could see this section of the park.  We made our evening's reservation at the Glacier Park Lodge which is constructed with huge 40 foot long Douglas Fir timbers supporting the lobby. This historic building was called "Oom-Coo-La-Mush-Taw", The Big Tree Lodge by the Blackfeet Indians. 

East Glacier is described at the Switzerland of North America and is very beautiful.  We drove to the St. Mary's Visitor's Center and watched a video about the park and talked with the park rangers about possible hikes.  We drove 13 miles on the Going to the Sun highway to St. Mary Falls and hiked the .8 mile one way trail.  We then hiked the Sunrift Gorge trail which was .3 miles one way. Our final hike of the day was Baring Falls which was .7 miles one way. 

We then drove to the Many Glacier Lodge.  Here we saw a mountain goat right on the roadway and big horn sheep up on the mountain side.  The lodge look very pretty.  We could not go inside since is was not yet open for the season. 

We returned to St. Mary and stopped into a grocery store to pick up some food.  The shelves were very bare and there was very little fruit and vegetables.  We asked why there was so little food and were amazed to learn than the store had only opened for the season last week.  The Going to the Sun road is not yet open and there is very little tourist traffic in the town.  Therefore, little food at the grocery store.  

We were very tired and happy to return to our room at the Glacier Park Lodge.  We changed for dinner and had a view of the mountains from our window side table.  It was quite beautiful.

We leave for Yellowstone in the morning.

Pictures can be seen at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/tschick62/201166GlacierNationalParkDay3?authkey=Gv1sRgCO2z76Dsz4jGqgE&feat=directlink

More later . . .  

 

Glacier National Park -- Day 2

You know you are not in Ohio when you carry bear spray repellent in your bike backpack.

The lodge where we are staying is very rustic with a large fireplace and a hunting lodge décor.  We drove to Avalanche Campgrounds on the Road to the Sun to begin our day.  This is the 50 mile long road that joins the Western to the Eastern parks.  It is considered one of the most scenic drives in the world.  This road is not fully open this time of year due to snow and or avalanches.  We learned at breakfast that on weekends before the start of the main season the road is open to bicycle traffic only.  This is a unique opportunity to bike on this road without having to be concerned with car traffic.  We took advantage of this chance and road our bikes 8 miles one way up this road.  We stopped many times along the way to take pictures of the surrounding snow covered mountains, the many waterfalls, and the raging McDonald creek which runs parallel to the road.  The water in the creek was crystal clear and we could actually see the creek bottom.  We were very lucky to see a black bear crossing the road in front of us just 2 miles into our ride.  Fortunately, the bear was not very interested in us and we did not have to use the bear repellent.  We stopped at the Loop and decided to hike the Loop trail.  We left our bikes at the trail head and proceeded to hike about 30 minutes into the trail.  Once back at the trail head, we got back onto our bikes and proceeded to ride the 8 miles back to the car.  Fortunately, this mostly downhill.  We had our second bear sighting along the way.  This time we were able to get much closer which resulted in some very good pictures as the bear was crossing the road.  What a thrill!!

We lunched at the lodge and decided to hike the Avalanche Lake trail.  This 2 mile one way trail took us along the Avalanche Gorge and river which is fed by Avalanche Lake.  This hike through a heavily wooded area with many up and downhill sections cumulated at Avalanche Lake.  The lake is surrounded by several mountains which make for a very picturesque sight.  We returned to the car very tired, but pleased with our efforts.

On the way back to the lodge we stopped at McDonald Falls to once again see and hear the raging crystal clear water of this river.

We had a full day.  We will be leaving in the morning for East Glacier where we will spend the day and night.  This will give us the opportunity to visit this side of the park.

Pictures can be seen at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/tschick62/201165GlacierNationalParkDay2?authkey=Gv1sRgCLrPsPeiuIeS_wE&feat=directlink

More later. . .

Glacier National Park -- Day 1

We said goodbye to Seattle at 8:00 a.m. this morning to start what would be an 11 hour drive to Glacier National Park.  We make several stops along the way to take a break and to have lunch.  There were no signs on the highways leading to the park entrance so we were glad to finally see the sign marking the entrance to the park.  The visitor’s center was closed so we drove to a boat ramp on Lake McDonald.  The view was wonderful and the water was crystal clear.  We continued up the Road to the Sun to the Lake McDonald Lodge where we will be staying.  The lodge is located on the North end of the lake and is very rustic.  The views from the lodge and the boat docks include the snowcapped mountains in the background.  We are staying in a cabin just down the shoreline walkway from the lodge.  It is quite cozy.  We had dinner at the lodge which included a glass of Moose Drool beer for me.  We paused during dinner to reflect on how fortunate we are to be able to be in such beautiful surroundings. 

We will be going back to the visitor’s center at the park entrance in the morning.  We have gotten information from the lodge employees about possible hiking trails.

BTW, there is no internet or cell phone access at the lodge.  Not sure how we (I) will survive.

Pictures can be seen at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/tschick62/201164GlacierNationalPark?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIWsw7KQjequqQE&feat=directlink

 

More later . . .

Seattle

We began our day by taking an underground tour of the Pioneer Square location of Seattle.  This subterranean tour begins in a restored 1890's saloon and took us below the storefronts and sidewalks of the city.  It was very interesting and certainly a bit unusual as we learned the history of how this city was developed.  After the tour, we took in Pike Place Market.  This is many times bigger and nicer than the West Side Market of Cleveland and more on the scale of Faneuil Hall in Boston.  There were lots of people and all of the vendors were quite busy.  The market includes numerous restaurants, shops, fruit, produce and flower vendors.  This is where the Pike Place Fish Market is located.  When a customer orders a fish, a market worker will select the fish and then throw the fish being ordered to another worker who weighs it and completes the sale.  It is quite a show. 
We decided to have lunch at Lowell's restaurant which offers views of the waterfront including Elliott Bay and Puget Sound.  The food was great and the views wonderful.  After lunch, we visited the original Starbucks restaurant.  This is where it all began.  The line for coffee was out the door.  Next was a trip to the Space Needle.  We walked to the monorail station stopping along the way at several stores.  Fortunately, the line and wait was short.  The ride to the top took only 40 seconds and the view was spectacular.  We were able to see the entire city and the surrounding waters along with the Cascade Mountain range including Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helen's.  We were told that there are only about 40 days out of the year that you can see Mount St. Helen's.  We felt quite fortunate to have visited Mount St. Helen's yesterday and then be able to see it again today all the way from Seattle.

The weather the past week here is Seattle was quite rainy.  We were very lucky to have a clear and sunny day today to tour the city and have such great views from the Space Needle.

We leave in the morning for Glacier National Park.

Pictures can be seen at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/tschick62/201163Seattle?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2foKzxz86HjQE&feat=directlink

More later . . .

Portland, Columbia River Gorge and Mount St. Helen's

We started the day with our own city bike tour around the waterfront and downtown area of Portland, OR.  The city is very bicycle friendly.  The Williamette River flows along Portland and the city as taken full advantage by locating parks, restaurants and other buildings along the waterfront and it's many bridges. 

We left Portland and headed for the Columbia River Gorge area and visited many waterfalls including the Multnomah Falls which is the fifth highest waterfalls in the United States.  We stopped at Vista House Crown Point to view an overlook of the gorge area.

Our next stop was North to Mount St. Helen's Monument National Park.  It was a 52 mile one way drive from the interstate into the park along a windy road with beautiful views of the Cascade Mountain range.  We visited the Johnston Observatory Center which faces the North rim of Mt. St. Helen's.  We watched a movie on the events which lead to the eruption of the volcano and its aftermath.  We listened to a ranger talk about the changes which have occurred since the volcano erupted. 

The weather throughout the day was off and on rain.  At Mt. St. Helen's the low cloud ceiling created an eerie fog which made driving difficult at times.  We felt we were on top of the world at 4000 feet elevation with nothing but some of the most beautiful mountains we have seen surrounding us. 

We left the park and drove to Seattle where we will be spending the night.

Pictures can be seen at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/tschick62/201162ColumbiaRiverGorgeAndStHelens?authkey=Gv1sRgCNfVud7D08yuiwE&feat=directlink

More later .  . .

Crater Lake

We left Crescent City, CA this morning and drove to Crater Lake in Oregon.  We were surprised to drive into a snow storm as we approached the higher elevations of Crater Lake.  This area receives an average of 44 feet of snow each year.  The snow mounds along the highway were very high and it felt as if we were driving through a tunnel. 
We stopped at the visitor's center and then went on to the Rim Village.  We had lunch at the cafe and stopped into the gift shop.  We then drove to the Crater Lake Lodge.  This historic 71-room lodge originally opened in 1915 and is located on the edge of the caldera overlooking Crater Lake.

We had received information regarding a couple of snowshoe trails from the ranger at the visitor's center.  So, we decided to take a hike.  We drove to the location on the West Rim Drive where the roadway is closed for the winter and began our hike.  It snowed the entire time during our hike and it was quite beautiful.  We were disappointed to not be able to actually see Crater Lake due to the falling snow and fog.  Just as we got back to our car, the snow stopped and the fog lifted.  We climbed up the snowbank and looked out onto the beautiful Crater Lake.  We learned that the lake was formed as a result of a volcanic eruption leaving a collapsed crater which eventually filled with water from the snow melt.  It is the deepest lake in the United States. 

We left Crater Lake and then drove to Portland where we are spending the evening.  It was another great day.

Pictures can be found at: https://picasaweb.google.com/tschick62/201161CraterLake?authkey=Gv1sRgCJizoJjRyf7SFA&feat=directlink

More later . . .