Trailer Trip 2014: Leavng Glacier

Today, Friday, is our last day at Glacier National Park. We didn’t do very much. We drove a little way on a different road but it wasn’t as scenic. Then we tried fly fishing a little but didn’t do any good. The stream wasn’t very deep and was clear. I couldn’t see any fish and had no idea what they might be eating but we tried what we had. We’ve had better luck with trout fishing in Arkansas but there we have some idea what to put in front of them.

So we came back to camp and relaxed and started getting things ready to leave tomorrow morning. We did take a few more pictures. One is the campsite itself, some people kind of like to know what the accommodations are like. Then Linda took a few of us with her tripod and camera by the lake.

The campground is right on Lake McDonald. It’s the biggest lake here, is a glacier lake and is, naturally, right in the valley that the glacier created. They say its deepest point is nearly 500 feet. Every day there has been practically no wind, being in the valley as it is, and it has been still and like glass. You can see from one picture that the rocks, all of them, all sizes, are round and smooth. We’re guessing that that is typical of glacier lakes too with the glacier moving and tumbling and smoothing the rocks. It seems to make sense to me but that is a bit of a guess.

Tomorrow we head for the Nez Perce Historical Park in Idaho and then to some fossil beds and Crater Lake in Oregon.

I didn’t get a chance to post Friday’s blog so I’m adding to it today, Sunday. We left Glacier Saturday morning for the Nez Perce Site in Idaho. We went south on U.S. 93 to Lolo, Mt and then west on U.S. 12 over Lolo Pass. It’s a scenic drive through the Clearwater National Forest. The route basically follows the trail of Lewis and Clark – not precisely but close enough for them to say that it does. It is the same forests, streams and valleys and you can pretty much see what they saw. There is a really nice log Visitor Center at Lolo Pass that tells you all you want to know about it.

We camped Saturday night at a Forest Service campground about 20 miles from Lowell, Id. It’s just a one night stopover. At the visitor center we were advised to stop at the DeVoto Grove along the way on highway 12, so we did. We didn’t know what it was. It is a grove of old growth Western Red Cedars along with some other species of the area like spruce and fir. The cedars are the biggest trees I’ve ever seen. The sign says that they can live to 3000 years if undisturbed. Some of these are 6 or 8 feet in diameter and must be 200 feet tall. I don’t know if this grove is all of them that exist or if there are more. Maybe someone can look it up and comment on that. But this was a look worth the stop.