But Wait, There's More -- West Glacier
June 29-July 3, 2025
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| Bottom photo is Pops with one of the bikers he traveled with. |
Our time on the east side of Glacier was all used up, but before we headed west, we had one final activity planed. You would think a town named Saint Mary would have a Catholic Church, but it was in Babb where we found St. Mary’s Mission. Babb, Montana (population of 130) was only ten miles down the road from Saint Mary and they had an 11:00am Communion Service. The deacon who led the service gave an amazing homily. Although Deacon was a little difficult to understand, he connected his call to be a deacon to the Sunday readings. It sounds like he has had quite the hard life. He was even involved in an accident where doctors told him he was likely going to lose his leg. It was clear, he believes it was a gift from God doctors were able to save his leg and he was able to learn to walk again. It was following this accident when he received the call to be a deacon. When he first heard the call, he thought to himself “I’ve got to find a way to get out of this!” You could hear a chuckle coming from all of the parishioners in this tiny church; everyone could relate. After all, don’t we all try to escape from difficult challenges? It was a powerful message on listening to the quiet messages from the Holy Spirit and bravely taking action.
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| Small in size, MIGHTY in their love of the Lord! |
Logistics were a little tricky for getting to church. The service didn’t start until 11:00am and we had to be out of the campground by 11:00am. When I talked to the gal at the campground office about a late checkout, she brainstormed with me to find a resolution. Being busy season for campgrounds, sites have been fully booked for a year, so late checkout really wasn’t an option. What did work out was for us to park the RV at Saint Mary’s Visitor Center, just a couple of miles away, and ride with Brandon’s family into Babb. Who would guess the national park doesn’t mind you leaving your RV in their parking lot?!
Following the service, Brandon’s family drove Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTTSR) while we took the RV on a camper-friendly route to West Glacier. GTTSR has a vehicle size limit of 21 feet. Having driven GTTSR in the past and knowing what lay ahead of them, we were so excited to hear their reaction to this engineering marvel!
Our hot dog dinner, followed by the nightly campfire, was filled with lively conversation of the day’s highlights. It’s really hard to pick a favorite spot along this road. Lake McDonald, The Loop, Weeping Wall, Bird Woman Falls, Triple Arches, Haystack Falls, Logan Pass, Avalanche, Lunch Creek … how do you pick a favorite?
Having traveled and met so many delightful people across these lower 48 states, I have to say that the very friendliest people come from the midwest. For example, during dinner,, Suzie wandered over to say, "Hi"! She had noticed our Iowa State license plates, and couldn't resist coming over to meet us! Suzie, an ISU alum, and her husband had brought their three daughters to visit Glacier. It wasn't too long before one of their daughters and her husband had joined us also. Admittedly, I think the daughter was hungry and may have come over to fetch her Mom to come "home" and get their own dinner ready! Regardless, you do meet particularly great folks in campgrounds!
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| Lake McDonald |
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| Haystack Falls |
One of the most impressive features of this road is how it was constructed to blend in with the landscape. There is no better example of this than the Triple Arches. To be able to span gaps in the mountain, this series of arches was cleverly designed to support the road.
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| Triple Arches! |
The next morning, Dick and I snuck off to the Lazy Bear Café for a cup of coffee while the rest of the family caught up on a little sleep. West Glacier KOA is rated as one of the top KOAs in the nation and it’s easy to see why! You name it, and they’ve got it! The outdoor café offers a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu. Across the street is an ice-cream shop which includes huckleberry ice-cream to die for. Swimming pools, adults-only hot tub, nightly live music, landscaped campsites … need I say more?
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| Lazy Bear Café! |
Once everyone was up and ready, we drove to Apgar Village and did a little shopping. This historic village is now filled with little shops and delightful eateries. Of course, now that it has finally warmed up a bit, I found the perfect sweatshirt to purchase! Content to have my shopping done, I had time to play in the shallow water off Lake McDonald’s shoreline with Zoe, Brandon and Dick. It’s such an iconic setting!
Today’s timed entrance pass into the park was from 11:00am-1:00pm. These passes are so competitive to get! They become available to purchase 120 days in advance and cost $2. I remember sitting at the table with the laptop open to the site, ready to click the button the second the reservation window opened at 9:00am CT. Even then, the 7:00am-9:00am and 9:00am-11:00am passes were already gone. This was a little foreshadowing of the crowds we were to encounter at the west entrance! Just a note: no passes are required at the east entrance!
We set our sights on hiking the Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche trails today. With a later timed entrance, it took some patience and perseverance to find a parking spot near the Avalanche Trailhead. These two trails connect and both are amazing. The Trail of the Cedars is a mile-long loop trail which winds through ancient cedars and past a gorge with a waterfall. Along the trail, there are haikus posted along the trail, pointing out the natural beauty in such a creative way! Another sign pointed out these cedar trees were young when Mozart was composing!
At the half way point, Avalanche Lake Trail branches off, which led us uphill, beside Avalanche Creek. Breath taking! This trail is a treat for the eyes and ears! The single drawback to this trail is its popularity. As I was relishing the sound of the water rushing along in the creek running beside us, a group passed us with their play list polluting the air. I had to remind myself “different strokes for different folks”. Once we arrived at Avalanche Lake, I wished I had brought my swimsuit! It is such a beautiful lake nestled into the mountains!
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| Josh decided not having swim trunks wasn't going to slow him down! |
Back at the campground we had a spaghetti dinner and showered up. It’s really amazing how easy it is to cook a full dinner in our tiny home! The oven roasted carrots while the Instant-Pot® cooked meatballs. The toaster was busy preparing garlic bread and the range top boiled water for the pasta and heated marinara! In no time at all, we were all feasting on a fine Italian dinner! Nothing like fresh air to work up an appetite and make simple things taste fancy!
Getting our toes wet in Lake McDonald and Avalanche Lake whet our appetites for more time on the water. What better way to quench this appetite than take a float down the middle fork of the Flathead River?!
We opted for a float over a white-water experience for a couple of reasons. One being Dick and I are still recovering from the terror of white-water rafting on the New River in New River Gorge National Park a few years ago! The second and most important reason, being this rafting experience was a float, even Zoe was able to join us!
During our float through some of the most scenic spots you can imagine, we saw of family of hooded merganser ducks. Our guide shared with us that, occasionally, a mother merganser will abandon her young. When this happens, another merganser will adopt these orphaned ducklings! He said he once saw a mother with 30 ducklings!
Probably my favorite quote of the day came from nearly four-year-old Zoe. As we were going through a small segment of the river where the water ran a little faster and the raft was doing a little bouncing, little Zoe cried out, “Oh, Yeah!” It sounds just like the Kool Aid Man® from the commercials! I have to agree with Zoe -- a mini-white water experience was fun!
I’d never heard of the movie, “The River Wild” staring Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon, but the guide told us the scenic portions of the movie were filmed in the same stretch of the Flathead River we were on. Dick and I were able to stream the film a few nights later, and it’s a great movie!
We decided to spend the better part of another day in Whitefish, Montana which is about a 25-minute drive from West Glacier. There we found Whitefish City Beach and spent the afternoon playing in the water. Eva’s favorite thing was trying to trick us into believing there were little creatures in the water called Lidiabii’s (Eva has quite the imagination!) that were nibbling on us. Turns out it was only strings of seagrass Eva was secretly brushing our legs with. Pops was always up for a practical joke, so he would have approved of this little trick!
After being in the sun for a couple of hours, Dick and I walked a city trail along the river to downtown and did a little window shopping while the others continued enjoying more beach time. I found a really cute piece of art showing a bicycle climbing GTTSR with Haystack Falls in the background. It was a bit overpriced, but it still found its way to the checkout counter. Now to figure out a place to hang it once we are home!
Thirty-five years ago, Pops spent the night in Whitefish. In his journal, he writes about meeting John while having dinner at the Buffalo Café. John invited him to his place to shower up and chat on the porch with him for a while. Pops always had a way with people. I don’t think Pops ever met a stranger!
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| John and Pop's two biking companions. Pop's bicycle is the one with the red panniers. |
Well, you can guess where dinner was that evening! We met up with Brandon’s family at 5:00pm and were there just as the place was opening. Buffalo Café has remained in the same family since it opened in 1979 and continues to be a popular place to eat. It wasn’t long before there was a wait list for a table and it’s easy to see why. Their menu is filled with fresh ingredients and creative menu items. Just to give you a little taste of their menu: I had a delicious Hot Date Burger (topped with bacon, blue cheese crumbles, grilled dates, and spicy sambal aioli). Dick enjoyed a Sour Dough Patty Melt, which had caramelized onions, thousand island, and Swiss cheese on grilled sour dough. Brandon tried their Good Medicine (bacon, caramelized onions, smokey cheddar and house BBQ) while Josh jumped in with their Hell Fire (jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, and chipotle ranch)! Their Huckleberry milkshakes were dessert! No one left with any regrets!
Our final day on the west side was the earliest start of our time together! We had managed to snag a timed entry pass of 7:00am-9:00am for that day and wanted to beat at least some of the traffic! On another day at 8:10am, we had waited in a huge line on Highway 2 just to turn into West Glacier!
Brandon had mentioned that morning how he had hoped to see some wildlife during our time in Glacier National Park. Up to that point, besides deer, ground squirrels and marmots, we hadn’t seen much. Well, his wish was granted! This was the day for wildlife!
We had packed rhubarb bread (Grandma Lu’s recipe) and fresh fruit for a picnic breakfast which we enjoyed at Oberlin Bend Overlook. While there, we had surprise visitors join us – mountain goats! Dick made the quick-witted comment that this was our G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) breakfast! These visitors reminded me of a photo my dad took when he was riding his bike up to Logan Pass. He had come across one of these goats along his long climb of the 50-mile Going-to-the-Sun Road and labeled the photo, “Two old goats trying to climb the same damn mountain!”
Our next adventure along this incredible road was hiking the Hidden Lake Trail. Dick and I had hiked it a week earlier and we were thrilled to see so much of the 12” of snow they received had melted. With a little help, Zoe was even able to make it all of the way to the Hidden Lake Overlook! The trail down to the lake was closed as fish were spawning, meaning grizzles were feeding.
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| Looking for grizzlies feeding on the shores of Hidden Lake |
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| So thankful they now had the snow cleared for this portion of the trail! |
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| So, not all of the snow had melted yet! |
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| Us and our Utah Grands! |
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| Stunning view of our oldest and his family -- also not a shabby photo of the Hidden Lake scene! |
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| It looks like this mountain has fallen or the sea has risen in the last 35 years! |
It must be something about our picnic spots for today, because as we were enjoying our lunch at the Hidden Lake Overlook, mountain goats joined us once again! To make this hike even more memorable, on our way back to Logan Pass, we came across a couple of bighorn sheep.
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| Look close for the bighorn sheep in the center background! |
Jackson Glacier was another stop included on this day. We’d been able to get a quick glimpse of Sexton Glacier, but it was at this turnout that you could gaze at Jackson Glacier for as long as you liked. We all took turns using Pops’ binoculars to get a bit of a zoomed-in look at this disappearing hunk of ice!
Several other stops along the way back down included Bird Woman Falls (where we had a female cinnamon bear and her cub hold up traffic as they crossed back and forth across the road), Big Bend, and Red Rock (a popular swimming hole where we watched a young man jump off a cliff and successfully complete a gainer). It made my heart stop and I’m not even his mother! Haystack Falls and McDonald Falls were our final stops of this amazing day of sightseeing.
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| Haystack Falls |
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| McDonald Falls |
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| Three generations of Peterson men! It was shortly past Haystack Falls that we came upon stopped traffic on the road. It turned out a mother cinnamon bear and her cub were crossing back and forth across the road! Eva was quick to pop her head out of the rolled-down window and snap several photos with my phone! |
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| You could imagine this little one saying "Mommy, wait for me!" as it ran to catch up! |
Wanting to do some last-minute shopping, we made one last stop at Apgar Village. My heart completely melted when Eva pulled out and showed me her prize purchase -- a sweatshirt that matches the sweatshirt I had purchased a few days before.
Ending our time with a final campfire was not only a wonderful way to wrap up a day, but to put a crowning end on our time together in the "Crown of the Continent." Who knows when we will be back again, but I left a couple of things on my bucket list if we ever do get the opportunity!
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| Zoe wanted to go to the playground. Who am I to say "no"?! |
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| One final hair braid for the trip before having to say "See you soon!" |
Up Next: The Road to Salt Lake City!
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