So Much to Do . . . So Little Time

Avalanche Lake Hike:  Our Great Falls connection, Chris and Tracy, suggested that we visit the Avalanche Creek area on the west side of Glacier Park, so we made it a day-trip destination.

The creek is on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, just beyond Lake McDonald, the largest lake in Glacier Park.

McDonald Creek flows into Lake McDonald from the northeast and has some beautiful falls and rapids that are easily viewed from the highway.

We arrived early and nailed down a good parking spot at the trailhead just outside the Avalanche Creek Campground.  From there we walked through the Trail of the Cedars, a beautiful grove of old growth cedar and hemlock trees, to the Avalanche Creek Gorge where the creek flows through a narrow rock channel.  This is low-water season so try to imagine what this might look like during the spring melt.  We'll have to come back another year for that.

The trail followed Avalanche Creek along the gorge and through the cedars for about 2.5 miles.  It was slightly uphill most of the way but the trail was pretty good (and very popular).

We noticed two important things during this hike; (1) there was absolutely no litter anywhere and (2) other hikers were very friendly.  Nearly everyone we passed had a smile and a "Hi".

Bonnie found a nice hollow log for a brief rest along the trail.

It was a great relief, especially to our burning feet, to finally arrive at Avalanche Lake.  Tucked away in a steep valley surrounded by mountains, this pretty little lake was our ultimate getaway.  There were no roads, no traffic noise, no electricity, no houses or mini-markets, etc.  But, thanks to modern technology, it was not beyond cell phone range.


Avalanche Lake looking northwest toward Heavens Peak

Ice cold water, so clear it didn't look like water at all.

We hiked to the far end of the lake, extending our total hike to about six miles, which was well beyond our "normal" range of about six city blocks.  Our feet burned and muscles ached, but it was worth every painful step.

As we got down to lower elevations, we were able to slow our pace and find a nice log to sit on while cooling our tennies in Avalanche Creek.  Very refreshing!

We spent several very nice days in Glacier Park this summer, but it was time to say "Good-bye" and continue on.  We'll be back agian.

Whitefish:  The Great Northern Railway was once the center of activity in Whitefish.  It built a beautiful large depot and operated a major maintenance facility and roundhouse.  Today, the Great Northern is long gone, replaced by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and most of the old rail facilities sit idle.  Since the railroad's priority was freight, it had little need for the depot and was considering tearing it down.  Fortunately, the Whitefish Historical Society stepped forward and arranged to buy the old building for $1.  Today, it remains a central attraction, adjacent to Depot Park, and still serves traveling rail passengers (AMTRAK).  The historical society established a very nice railroad and history museum in one corner of the depot where the freight office used to be.  Ron spent at least an hour chatting about local railroad history with a couple museum docents who were more elderly than he, and had seen it all.

About a half mile from our RV park is the "famous" Blue Moon Bar & Grill.  This place has been here since the late 1940s.  It offers great food, live music and dancing and even a live rodeo once a week.  The Blue Moon caught Ron's attention with its sign advertising "Beer and Burger for $7".  The food was excellent, so we returned for Friday night "Prime Rib" and it too was excellent.  Bonnie says it's the best prime rib she ever had.  It's true . . . you can't judge a book by its cover.

Whitefish City Beach is a popular place in the summertime.  Parking is very limited, so late arrivals either walk a long distance or go elsewhere.  It's a beautiful lake and very nice little City park.

City Beach on Whitefish Lake

Whitefish Lake

Bigfork:  The Labor Day weekend began with the "Rumble by the Bay" car show in the small town of Bigfork on Flathead Lake.  Bigfork (pop. 1,400) hasn't grown much over the years, but has transformed itself into a tourist town of world-class art galleries, fine dining and live theater.  It's impressive that a town of this size has 50 shops, 25 restaurants and 16 art galleries.

1951 Hudson Hornet

We had lunch and browsed through several shops and galleries, but our primary mission was the car show.  It was a good one with more than 300 cars lining the downtown streets.

Every hour, on the hour, all the cars with loud pipes were directed to start their engines and rev them up at the same time to create the "rumble" . . . and it certainly was.


September has finally arrived and it's feeling more and more like fall.  Schools are back in session, tourists are folding up their tents and heading home, and our little RV park now has a few vacant spaces. 

Today is Labor Day.  We thought it would be a big deal, but not around here.  There are no parades, no fireworks and even the swap meet at the local drive-in theater has wrapped up its season.  The only "special event" we could find was a Labor Day Inventory Reduction Sale at a mattress store.

That concludes our two weeks in the Whitefish/Kalispell area.  We probably said it before, but we'll say it again . . . "We love this part of the country."

We'll sign off with a photo of Brown Mountain on the south side of Avalanche Lake.  A few days after our hike, lightening struck  and touched off a forest fire in this area.  The Avalanche Lake trail is currently closed while the fire burns.  We hope the fire will be contained before it destroys much of this beautiful landscape.

Brown Mountain at Avalanche Lake