It was finally time to take the trip Amanda and I had planned over 6 months ago and our flights got canceled the night before we left. Air Canada “helpfully” reassigned us to completely different flights and was sending me through Denver and Amanda through Toronto. A long phone call and a couple hours later we were rebooked together onto a flight going through Chicago O’Hare. Oh, Canada!

As you probably know, I hate the idea of flying and had like two panic attacks last time, so I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. This time, I came prepared with plenty of distractions for the ride. I had crocheting, books, audiobooks, a movie, music, and podcasts. Almost as soon as I sat down on the plane, I put in my headphones, turned on music, and started crocheting. This drowned out the roar of the engines and made things so.much.better. The crocheting gave my hands something to do and kept my attention focused. We landed smoothly in Chicago and I left that plane with a renewed spirit. I had made it through a flight without feeling like I was about to die the entire time! 

In Chicago, our gate changed twice and kept getting delayed due to mechanical issues with the plane. Finally it was announced that we would be getting a new plane. I wasn’t mad about the delays because I’d rather be safe than sorry. I bought some overpriced airport food and we waited it out and watched a guy skateboard through the airport wearing a sombrero. Soon we boarded and were off! It was a pretty smooth flight. The landing was a bit jarring as they braked really hard and it felt like the plane was going to flip or careen off the runway. We made it off the plane, down the interminable darkened hallway to customs, were allowed into Canada, and then sat and waited for our rental car. Once we finally got it, it looked like a glorified golf cart but we threw our bags in and hit the road. 

One of the first sights to greet us in Canada was a car on the side of the interstate completely engulfed in raging flames. Nice!

We got out of Calgary and I have to say, the houses in the countryside were impressive. Calgary is located on the prairie, but it’s different from North and South Dakota and the Montana prairie, but I can’t quite pinpoint in what way. We stopped at a McDonald’s and guess what? They didn’t have a value menu. As we ate our sandwiches we both noted how oddly slippery they were. The way you know you are at a Canadian McDonald’s is that there is a tiny red maple leaf in the middle of the golden M. 

I don’t have that much to say about the drive from Calgary back to the USA and East Glacier lodge except for the very last stretch on MT-49. This road was the hairiest driving we encountered on the trip. Eventually, we came upon a stopped car and three black figures on the side of the road. We started shouting and exclaiming and couldn’t believe we had finally, FINALLY come upon some bears. However, as I pulled my phone out to take pictures we realized the “bears” were just some wandering cattle. It figures. 

We arrived at the overly expensive Glacier Park Lodge and were directed to a room on the third floor. Searing heat greeted us as we stepped onto the third floor landing. Amanda slid the key in the lock, turned it, stared for a second, then closed the door and informed me that there were people in the room. She hurried back down to the desk and I was hot and tired, so I sat down on the floor with the bags and cracked open a bottle of water. Someone from “our” room stuck their head out and I ignored them. Soon Amanda was back with a different key and this time nobody was waiting to greet us in our room. However, the room was blazing hot so I threw open the window and plugged in the decrepit fan they provided. I then changed into the lightest pajamas I could muster up and threw myself onto the bed, sweaty and pissed off at how much we’d paid for this terrible room that had no air conditioning and hadn’t been renovated since the place was built in the Stone Age.

Somehow we both slept through the night and quickly gathered our stuff and left the sweat lodge. I can’t recommend this place. It’s expensive and not worth it. However, it was the only accommodation available so if you must stay there, be aware that there’s no a/c and plan accordingly. There’s no free breakfast, either. 

We elected not to drive up MT-49 to the St Mary entrance to Glacier National Park and instead took the scenic (yet same drive time) route through Browning. I had no idea that the entire east side of Glacier is bordered by the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. I’ve driven through Reservations before, but I have to say this one seemed pretty rough. There were dogs roaming the streets of Browning and most of the houses were in disrepair. I really wish the people on this side of the park would cash in on the fact that Glacier, one of the most visited US National Parks, is right on their doorstep. (From Wikipedia: Because of its isolated location, residents of the reservation have suffered high unemployment. As of May 2016, the Montana Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) Program Preliminary Non-Seasonally Adjusted Data reports the rate is 11.0% on the reservation (for comparison, at the same time, unemployment was 3.6% for Montana and 4.5% for the U.S.). In 2001, the BIA reported 69 percent unemployment among registered members of the tribe. Among those who were employed that year, 26% earned less than the poverty guideline. Browning is a former town in Glacier County, Montana, United States. It is the headquarters for the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and was the only incorporated town on the Reservation. The town was disincorporated on September 26, 2018, after the town’s government collapsed financially.)

We finally made it to the entrance sign for Glacier National Park! They have a nice sign and we were able to get some people to take our picture for us. 

Once we arrived at the tiny visitor’s center, I darted in to ask about renting bear spray. The woman in the gift shop said they didn’t rent it, but I could buy it for $50. I stared, said, “thank you,” and darted out as quickly as I’d come in. We were just gonna have to fight off the bears the old fashioned way. I made my way over to the shuttle stop and a 30ish year old worker there began to converse with me. He gave me some info on the best way to use the shuttle and then a family arrived to wait and they joined in the conversation. The mom was asking for recommendations for places to eat and the guy said, there’s not much around here, but you can get 30 pounds of chicken at the IGA. I laughed outright at this because I thought he was talking about raw chicken. But then later he said again, “You can get some chicken and mashed potatoes at the IGA and it’s good, for Montana food.” I realized he had been talking about fried chicken, but I’m still confused about the 30 pounds remark! Also, apparently Montana food sucks? I have no idea, I didn’t eat out in Montana. We ended up going to this IGA later and got some ramen. This guy lives in Browning and I wonder if he grew up there or had moved there just to work at Glacier. I’m sure he would have had some interesting things to say about the town. 

We chatted with the family and continued the conversation on the shuttle. They were from Atlanta and had been at Glacier for a week already, and were staying for another week! They hadn’t seen any bears, but they saw mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and marmots. The kids were probably all about 12 and under, and they told us this was “a trip, not a vacation. A vacation is a cruise or going to the beach. This is a trip.” These kids know what’s up!

We rode the shuttle to Logan Pass and saw the sights along the way. I have to say, I heard a lot about how scary it is to drive on Going to the Sun Road. Even though we didn’t do the entire road, in the end we only missed a small section and what we did drive on wasn’t scary at all. So, I want to ease your fears and say that there’s no reason to worry about the drive and people seem to be really blowing things out of proportion. If you crave a truly high-adrenaline drive, drive up to Spruce Knob in West Virginia. 

At Logan Pass, we took a picture with the Continental Divide sign and started on the Highline Trail. We arrived at the Pass at probably 9am on Monday morning and the parking lot was full (take the shuttle!) but the trail wasn’t overly crowded. We were happy to see some people since we didn’t have bear spray. 

You get views right away on the Highline Trail, and there is a section where you’re on a cliff overlooking the road. I didn’t expect to be looking down at the road, and this was cool. There’s a rope thing to hold onto if you are nervous, but I never felt unsafe on this section. This is a long trail, but the good thing is that you can do as much or as little as you want. We went about 1.5 miles and turned around. 

Once we completed this jaunt, we got back on the shuttle and back to our car. Then we were off to the coveted Many Glacier section and our boat tour! You have to have a reservation to get into Many Glacier, however they sell out really fast, so book a boat tour and you’re in! We arrived early and checked out the lake, dipped our feet in, and did a tiny bit of the Nature Trail around the lake. As we were waiting for our boat, a group of people were using binoculars and looking up at the mountain. I asked what they were looking at and they said, it’s a black bear! I gripped my binoculars to my eyes but I had my doubts about it being a black bear, it looked like a rock to me. In the midst of this, someone else announced that there was a moose across the lake. I swung my binoculars over there and sure enough, there was a moose – and I think it was a male – standing at the water’s edge. I spent my time looking at the moose because it was real, but I don’t know if I can truly count this moose sighting because I could barely see it without the binoculars and didn’t have that great of a view with them. It was a rather unsatisfactory first-time-seeing-a-moose.

The boat ride was nice. We boated to the end of the lake, then did a short hike over a hill to the next boat/lake and went across that one. I have no idea what this lake was called. The guide, named Gavin, said that “Sometimes in the summer there are so many berry bushes that we get three or four grizzlies on the mountain.” I didn’t know if I was supposed to be impressed by this number, it didn’t seem very high to me. 

There was a woman on the boat tour who looked like Michelle Duggar down to the way she was dressed.

After our boat docked, we said goodbye to Many Glacier and went back to the St Mary entrance and checked out a couple of viewpoints including the Jackson Glacier and Wild Goose Island. I saw a guy get out of an Ohio car wearing an OSU shirt. I said, “O-H” and he said, “I-O.” It started raining so we hit the road and stopped in Browning at the IGA for groceries, saw some more stray dogs, and then started our trek along the southern edge of Glacier to get to the other side. 

We had been advised by the Atlanta people and the shuttle guy to take Highway 2 to Coram, instead of taking the Going to the Sun Road across Glacier, and so this is what we did. Our motel in Coram, the Evergreen Motel, was clean, comfy, and had a full size fridge and couch in the room. Right away I could tell that West Glacier was the better side of the park for lodging and food. There were tons of pine trees, some little recreation businesses, and it just had a much happier, healthier vibe than East Glacier. Everything I had read about said to start your trip in West Glacier, and I can see why. I think I’m going to do a post with tips on visiting Glacier in the future, where I’ll go into this in more detail. 

I saw a pileated woodpecker while I was waiting for Amanda outside our hotel. We set off around 7:00 and entered Glacier, aiming to do the Trail of the Cedars/Avalanche Lake hike. When we arrived, Amanda stuffed our golf cart car into a tiny parking space, and we started walking through the parking lot, minding our own business and ready for the day. 

This is where it gets spicy. 

We were almost ready to cross the road to get to the trail when we both breathed in and started coughing. I remember sputtering, “What was that?” and that whatever I had breathed in was extremely sharp, spicy, painful, and…peppery. We stumbled to the sidewalk and I realized that I couldn’t open my eyes. When I tried, they burned so badly that they automatically closed again. I started crying really hard, partly from my body trying to clean out my eyes, partly from fright, and Amanda had me lean over so she could pour water over my eyes to wash them out. 

Someone had discharged their bear spray, and we were the lucky ducks who found the cloud. Thankfully Amanda somehow didn’t get any in her eyes, and thankfully I didn’t have my contacts in. The water pouring finally helped and after about 5 minutes of utter madness, I was able to open my eyes. My eyebrows felt like they were on fire and the skin around my eyes felt like I’d just gotten a ton of botox. Amanda was having the same issues but with her nose and mouth. 

We hit the trail and I wanted to grip everyone who passed by the collar and grit out, were you the one? 

Thankfully nothing else horrible happened on this hike. Avalanche Lake was a lovely spot and it was a good reward for a hike that was slightly challenging, but not ruthless. After hanging out at the lake for a while, we booked it back down the trail, cautiously made our way through the parking lot and headed to the small Visitor’s Center for a few postcards and then to Freda’s Bar/West Glacier Cafe for coffee and lunch. 

Next, it was off to British Columbia!