Road Trip Day 6

We awoke this morning out in the open, having lost the tent in the middle of the night. We cleaned up and got an early start up the Going-to-the-Sun Road. A good thing, too, because by the time we got to the top at Logan Pass, the parking lot was filling rapidly.

We walked about the visitor's center for a bit, then headed up the trail to Hidden Lake. It wasn't a very long hike, but it was spectacular. There were a lot of other people walking up, but as we went further, there were fewer people. Near the top we encountered a gaggle of professional (or at least very enthusiastic amateur) photographers. There was no shortage of subjects for their lenses. Aside from the spectaular scenery, a family or 2 of mountain goats were meandering around, apparently taking little notice to the hiker-people about.

While we were at the overlook at the top, a small animal came up and started wandering about. Having just seen the displays at the visitor's center below, some children started clamoring "A Hoary Marmot! Look, a Hoary Marmot!" The Marmot (I don't really know if it was all *that* hoary) wandered around the viewpoint some more, with the children following it all about, parents in tow. Soon we headed back down the trail, across snowfields and some boardwalks, back to the now-crammed parking lot at the visitor's center. There was a bunch of Bighorn Sheep just below the parking lot; this was quite an attraction for the tens of people who were blocking the cars trying to find a spot.

After relinquishing our coveted space, we continued down on the Pacific side of the Continental Divide. The Going-to-the-Sun road is narrow, windy, steep- yet magnificent. Too soon we were at Lake McDonald Lodge, where we stopped for a while to sit on the shade on the side of the lake and relax for a bit. We had some picnic lunch before we continued around Lake McDonald to Apgar Village, where we hired a canoe and paddled about for a bit. We were enjoying ourselves until we realized that the wind was blowing us away from the landing- perhaps we ought to stick a bit closer? After a few futile tries at gaining "ground," we managed to keep the bow pointed into the wind and made headway.

By this time we were pretty tired, so we headed out of the park, and south through Kalispell, and past Flathead Lake. By late afternoon, we had arrived in Missoula. We found an inexpensive downtown hotel and had a tastly, relaxing dinner at an awesome italian place. Stuffed, we headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

July 17, 2003 11:59 PM