Finne's Follies: Going To The Sun

This year we took the road less traveled across the country on our annual trek from Minnesota to Spokane Washington -- across U.S.-2. I was against it when Mark first brought up that he wanted to go this way. I was worried that we would have trouble finding campgrounds and fuel stops. Apparently I was under the impression the route was akin to a wagon trail. But ultimately I gave in and we started to plan the trip using our new wonderful trip planning application called RV Trip Wizard, an app I highly recommend, by the way.

Every fear I had turned out to be unfounded. U.S.-2 is actually a paved road-- who knew? As a matter of fact, we found more camping opportunities on that highway than we did on I-90, our usual route. The going was a bit slower, but when you're retired and your whole life is travel, slow is good.

And this year we were able to check off another box on our (at least my) bucket list -- Glacier National Park.

Glacier N.P. has been on our list of places to see for a couple years now, but in previous years we either waited too long to book a campground and found them all filled up, or our schedule put us in the area too late in the year. This year the timing was good and we thought we were planning well enough ahead, but when we started looking at campgrounds in the area we were finding the daily rates were so high we might have to sell a child to afford a three-day stay. But we didn't give up. Eventually Mark found a campground in Selby, Montana, offering half-price rates for Passport America members. And we promptly became Passport America members.

So, Selby, Montana, isn't exactly close to Glacier, but we determined it was close enough-- a drive of about an hour and a half. The campground turned out to be owned by a Best Western motel. It was a dreadful little parking lot with no amenities whatever, but it gave us full hookups, and that was good enough for our needs. After all, we weren't there for the campground. Still, half price for that place was $30 a night. Unbelievable!

Trails West RV Park in Selby, Montana

We learned ahead of time about the new rule for the Park of having to get a pass. Ideally, when you know in advance the day you will visit, getting a pass early is best, but the Park does issue a certain number of last-minute passes you can apply for the day before, so that's what we did. Mark called first thing the morning before and we got our entry pass with no problem.

As you may or may not know, the highlight of Glacier N.P. is the scenic road called "Going to the Sun Road." And the views were phenomenal. Everyone should try to visit at least once in their life.

The Park promises lots of wildlife, but don't expect to see much (if any) in an automobile tour. As I fervently looked around me during our drive, hoping to spot something, my mind harkened back to the memorable line in Jurassic Park, where Jeff Goldblum's character says, "There will eventually be dinosaurs. Right?" Well, in our case, there weren't any... mountain goats, bighorn sheep, bears, moose. We did see a ground squirrel. That was cute. Sightings of the other wonderful creatures are best made in off-road hiking, something we old fogies will likely never do.

Logan Pass Visitor Center is the central stopping point on the scenic highway. We arrived there a little before noon, and even with the limiting of the number of visitors in the Park, it took us about twenty minutes of circling the parking lot to find a spot to park. If we ever come back, we may decide to take advantage of the Park's free shuttle service that you can take up to Logan Pass from either entrance. The shuttle is a hop-on-hop-off bus that allows you to get off at certain stops and wait for the next one (15 or 20 minutes). A quick walk around the grounds and a visit to the gift shop, and we were on our way again.

It was a long day, but worth every minute. My favorite pics are tacked on to the bottom of the post.

My original trip plan had us dry-camping at rest areas and Walmarts and the like for days at a time, but in the end, we never boondocked more than two days in a row all the way across. One of our stops was a wide turn-out near a river. It was a beautiful spot up in the mountains, and by bedtime the traffic had slowed down, and it was quite quiet and peaceful.

Turn-out on U.S.-2, about ten miles east of
the town of West Glacier

Our time in Spokane is primarily family time. My daughter, Liz, son Josh, and grandson, Adam call this place home. I also have a brother here (another Mark).

We're dividing our camping between two parks. Ponderosa Falls RV Park is an RPI park close to the freeway and about ten minutes west of Spokane. It's a very nice park and we love staying here, but with our RPI membership we can only stay seven days and then must be out seven days. So for those "out" days, we stay at a campground a little further south in Cheney called Peaceful Pines. It's more expensive, but when averaged out with Ponderosa Falls, the whole Spokane stay is fairly affordable.

That's it for now. Until next time, safe travels to all!