The day dawned overcast and chilly, around 60 degrees. It rained a little bit last night so we had hope the smoke would be on hiatus today. It was. Yah!! We started our morning off with a Greek Yogurt parfait with huckleberries and granola for breakfast. It was soooo good! Came back to the room and made our PBJ sandwiches for lunch and was on the road by 8:00.
Our first stop was Avalanche Lake. Even though it wasn't sunny, it wasn't smoky either so we figured we'd hike down to the lake, supposedly about a 5 mile round trip, fairly easy hike with a nice view at the end. In the parking lot a guy two cars over said something to Bob about the Subaru. He had never driven one before and got it as his rental. He loved it. The conversation went from there and we ended up hiking most of the way with him (Mark) and his 10 year old son, Michah. They were great. Micah was a great kid who just love doing all kinds of things and he certainly was a trooper on this hike. Like Mark said, most of the people you meet hiking are great people because jerks don't usually hike. LOL
The hike itself was fairly easy, albeit a bit boring. There just wasn't much to look at along the way. When we got to the lake, we could see how under different conditions it would've been incredible. But with the overcast skies and dry season, the water was very low and, while it was pretty it could've been a lot prettier. (You can see the difference in the water level from the photo above.)
We snapped our pictures, rested a bit and headed back. We took a couple of wrong turns - I know, imagine that - and that 5 mile hike turned into a little more. It's all good.
Back at the car we dove into our PBJ sandwiches and enjoyed sitting down. About noon we started driving the rest of the way down Going to the Sun Road (hey, I didn't name the thing, just journaling about it). Again, we got glimpses of how beautiful this park is. We stopped many times and took lots of shots but with the clouds and no sun, they aren't going to begin to show the majesty that is Glacier.
As we climbed the temperature plummeted. We watched it go from the mid 60's to upper 40's at Logan's Pass, which is about 6200 feet elevation. And the wind was starting to get strong.
Shortly past Logan's Pass we started seeing patches of blue sky and sunshine!! We got so excited! The more we drove the bluer the sky got! You should've seen us doing the happy dance! As we got closer to Goose Island we saw the remnants of the Reynolds Fire. Wow. It's hard to wrap our brains around the devastation. It was everywhere. And this was a small fire in comparison to the others.
Of the three fires in the park the Thompson Fire is the largest. The last time we heard a figure on that fire they said it had burned about 16,000 acres. Everyone around here says the only thing that will put them out is winter. Snow. That's what they wait for. Until then it just has to burn. So sad.
Look at that blue sky!! What a difference it makes!
By the time was got to Goose Island the wind was whipping. At St. Mary's Visitor Center it was probably gusting 35 mph. St. Mary's Lake is on the eastern side of the park. Lake MacDonald, where we are, is on the western side. As we were leaving the visitor's center we felt droplets of rain, and boy could you see it coming. The sky was dark and thick. We barely made it out of there before the bottom fell out. I had said the car needed washing. The rain we got last night made a mess of it, probably from all the smoke in the air. Well, it got washed. We got so excited about the blue sky and sunshine on the way to St. Mary's I had visions of getting all kinds of gorgeous shots on the way back. Nope. Wasn't meant to be. We didn't stop one time. There was quite a bit of traffic on the road. Between the rain and the traffic it took us about an hour to cross the park.
Back at the room about 3:15, we unloaded the car, unpacked our bags and headed to the lodge. After all, it was pint time!! The lounge was packed so Bob got our beers and we grabbed a spot on the couch in the lobby and started uploading pictures to see if we got anything worth saving. After about an hour we slipped in and got a table so we could eat dinner. Both of us ordered a pasta dish that sounded really good - it was. Then Bob ordered a piece of huckleberry pie for dessert. It also was very good.
We waddled back to our room, I showered and we went through pictures again. I'm sitting here thoroughly enjoying the sound of rain and a thunderstorm (and snoring) in the background while journaling. Hopefully I'll get to bed a little earlier tonight. Hopefully, this rain will keep the smoke at bay for another day and tomorrow will be bluer and brighter than today. :)
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