Day 51 - Glacier National Park - Windy and Cold

Today was our big day for Glacier National Park. But before I discuss today, I must discuss last night. The east side of Glacier National Park gets some very high winds. I’m not sure if the valley channels the wind or if it is just the weather, but the RV was rocking back and forth all night long. It kept Sheri and I up quite a bit because the howling of the wind was pretty loud and the movement was enough to make you a little uneasy. Thankfully, the kids slept through it with no problem. I asked the locals if this was normal and they said it is fairly common to have high winds.
Today we started the day by boarding the free shuttle bus and taking it to the other side of the park (about a 2 hour drive). We then took a scenic lake cruise (via a 70 year old boat) on Lake McDonald (the left over water from a melted glacier). After a lunch stop we boarded the bus again and took it to a short hike. Much to our surprise, Bailey and Brandon did the 0.7 miles without whining a bit. Just goes to show you their legs are stronger than they sometimes lead us to believe. This evening we went to a ranger talk on Bears. Not as impressive as the talks in Yellowstone or Grand Teton, but informational and still worth going to. I had two encounters with animals today. A black bear was sitting beside the road as I was driving to the 7:30 ranger talk. Coming home from the talk a bull elk (or a very large buck) ran in front of the car. It happened so fast it was hard to tell what it was. Thankfully, I didn’t hit it, but it was the closest I’d come to hitting one in a while. Glacier National Park is much different than the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. The road that cuts through the park allows for breathtaking views. The road is cut right into the side of the mountain so it almost feels like you are flying at certain points because there is no shoulder and you look straight down. The views are as stunning as Grand Teton, but from above not from below. Since Glaciers cut the valleys they are shaped differently and not as jagged as other parts of the Rockys. The weather is quite different here. We were getting hail at the top of the mountain (6600 feet). Some folks reported snow today in some elevations. For the ranger talk tonight we were all in our winter coats (elevation 3300 feet). San Diego sounds good right about now! But we’ll have to wait a month before we get there.