Montana

The drive through Montana offered gorgeous views of the Swan Mountains and a 360 degree view of the sky. It's no wonder its called "Big Sky Country". The green landscape can seem never-ending however. There's no houses in sight and every ten miles or so a clump of five mail boxes rests crooked and rusted against each other. There are also more cows and horses than people (so we saw).

We stayed at a Motel 6 in Helena before heading Northwest to Glacier - for a one star hotel it was clean and the room was a decent size as well as the bathroom. What surprised me in a good way was Motel 6's  "green initiative" (as every good American company has these days) offering recycled products in their rooms. It's refreshing to see a corporate establishment, especially so far in the middle of nowhere - that does not rely on Kimberley Clark a company that was (until recently) infamous for turning Ancient forests into toilet paper. The rest of the state (at least where we stopped in for groceries) offered little organic products which is disheartening.

We stayed at Glacier Natl. Park for two nights at the Rising Sun Campground which is in the shadow of one of the Lewis or Livingston mountain ranges. While setting up our tent we were approached by a Park Ranger and told to be extra alert of bears as three were in the campsite the evening before because of the surrounding Huckleberry bushes. After setting up our tent and battling some heavy winds to do so we made a delicious dinner of Four Cheese Agnoletti and Mushroom Agnoletti in an olive oil, basil, garlic and parsley sauce with chopped plum tomato thrown in. It was by far the best dinner we have made on the road and thinking about it now is making my mouth water.

Our second day in Glacier we hiked the Iceberg Lake Trail - a 10 mile hike climbing 1,200 feet up to Iceberg Lake where Icebergs (although few) are still visible. Squint your eyes long enough against one of the three ridges that make the walls of the Lake and you will see small white dots making their way from side to side - these of course are Mountain Goats which reside here. An older gentleman who was kind enough to let Jack use his binoculars to view the said Goats had a few gashes on his leg. When inquired by another hiker the old man simply responded "I saw a Grizzly over there and I wanted to get closer...". There's never a dull moment on the trail.

The Largest Remaining Iceberg at Iceberg Lake

Making your way up to the lake you are treated to dozens of kinds of wildflowers, small streaming creeks and waterfalls Moose feeding down below, a tree top view of pine trees for miles, and of course Glaciers in the distance.

After our hike we made another tasty dinner of vegetarian chili over a bed of Basmati rice topped with oregon cheddar cheese. For dessert we treated ourselves to Boysenberry pie with vanilla ice cream for Jack and Raspberry Cherry pie with a big glass of Soymilk  for me at the Park Cafe (which was highly recommended to us by a gentleman in Bozeman). The pie might as well be the best we've ever had and the atmosphere of the cafe was warm and inviting. All of the food they made looked absolutely delicious and we were kind of bummed we filled up on Chili beforehand. The cafe offered tons of veggie options from Thai Baked Potatoes, Greek food, Wraps and Omelettes.

Glacier Natl. Park has been our favorite hike and park so far. The trails are well kept and although busy you do get to meet some pretty interesting people as a result. Glacier which used to be home to some 180 Glaciers only has 26 left and all of them are expected to be melted by 2030. I would highly recommend seeing this park more so than others as the full beauty of this park is fleeting.