August 29/30 2011 Cut Bank and Fort Benton, Montana

We left Glacier. We stopped in Browning, MT on the Indian reservation and viewed a very nice plains Indian museum. Then on to Cut Bank. Not a lot going on there. We bought groceries and went to Walmart.

Double D gopher ranch, river view RV park, the only one in town

a statue overlooking the highway,Cut Bank River

crested wheat grass and penguin with another penguin. The caption under the penguin is ‘Welcome to Cut Bank, the coldest place in the US’

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We then traveled to Fort Benton. We toured the old fort there. fort Benton is the farthest the steamboats could go up the Missouri River from the Mississippi. It was the birth place of Montana. all trails lead to and from Fort Benton. The old fort was a fur trading post. Burnt Spoon was our tour guide, complete with his buckskins on.

Scenes from the reconstruction of the trading post. a 100 year old adobe wall, the whole fort was built from adobe

,the recipe for trade whiskey. It was prohibition but they smuggled up the alcohol, and the inside of the fort.

John at the Missouri Breaks interpretive center. Paddle fish live in the Missouri

the yellow buffalo tracks on the road between the museums. There were 4 museums. old homestead town

John in the jail and the padded cell in the jail

The Hornby buffalo from the Smithsonian. It was the buffalo that was the model for the buffalo nickel, Watch out John for the bear!

the homesteaders were on a whole wall, one of them was a Palmer

August 28 2011, Glacier-Two Medicine Lakes

We drove south to the Two Medicine lake area of Glacier. I wanted to take the boat across the lake and hike to Upper Two Medicine lake. If we could walk. . .

Lower Two Medicine Lake, Running eagle falls

the general store. It used to be the chalet when they brought people in by horse back. John in Two Medicine Lake

Twin falls and Upper Two Medicine Lake. You can’t see them, but there are moose at the far end of the lake.

Me swimming in the upper lake. It was really hot. The lake felt good. The valley walls around the lake.

This is the boat we came over on. We picked another 2 quarts of huckleberries on the way back. Singing to make sure we did not see bears. As soon as we got on the boat we saw a bear swimming in the lake. Pretty close to the huckleberries!  seed pod

Two Medicine lake in the afternoon and English/Blackfeet bathroom signs.

August 27 2011 Glacier-Avalanche Gorge

Today after our marathon hike yesterday we can not walk, particularly down hill. We drove to the grove of cedars hike and Avalanche gorge. On the other side of the pass from us, long drive, but very lovely.  Very damp. Cedars grow on the west side of the divide where it has more moisture. Old growth trees.

butterfly and avalanche gorge

Avalanche gorge falls.  John in the falls at the bottom on our hike from yesterday. After our hike we returned to the swimming hole we found the day before and found another nice hole just upstream from the one from yesterday. Everyone who came down that hot hill stopped at the water. Guess we did not have an original idea.

Sue in the falls.  Also sign for Heavens peak.

Falls on the way home and wild goose island

some sort of short forest creature with a hat at Avalanche Gorge

August 26 2011 Glacier Highline trail and Granite Chalet

We hiked the Highline trail. It starts at the top of Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun road and ends at the Loop, 2200 feet lower (with a rise of 800 feet in the middle)and 12 miles later. We took the car to the Loop, then took the shuttle bus back to the pass, which took  2 hours and half since there was construction on the pass. Thru the construction in the car and back thru it on the bus.  We left camp at 8 am, started hiking at 1030.

The highline trail. The first part is called the garden wall. It is a cliff. Notice the garden hose handrail in the first shot and the Going to the Sun road below.

John in the wildflowers, Looking down at the road below


, Suep and John on the trail, the pass, which was 800 feet above where we started.

Wild flowers seen on the hike

waterfall near the second pass, bear sign-lots of bears are sited on this trail

the view to the valley below with a rain storm, Columbian ground squirrel

another view down, more rain

the first view of Granite peak Chalet. You can only get to the Chalet on foot or horseback.

there were carpets of wildflowers. the last photo has the chalet near the top of the photo

a begging chipmunk, Granite peak Chalet

back of the chalet, a deer


the way down, 4 miles, 2200 vertical drop was thru a burn area. It was thick berry bushes-prime bear habitat and very hot. The views were beautiful of the valley below. We were exhausted by then and the hike down was in the hot unrelenting sun in the burn area. At the bottom of the hill is this stream, we promptly dove in. Very refreshing.

Ah Yes