Back in the USofA

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 – This morning we visited a local, very nice laundromat in High River, Alberta for needed sartorial rejuvenation.  We also went to the library to publish the past few days of the blog and to learn about road conditions in Glacier National Park.  We confirmed what our campground host had heard, that Going to the Sun highway was not opened at the top due to snow.  Our host also mentioned that the local fire marshal had visited him, and the entire campground was under an evacuation order due to high water levels in the adjoining river.  We wished each other luck, and off we both went.  Not for nothing did they name the place “High River,” apparently.

About 100 miles southward, we crossed the Canadian/US border once again.  We always felt so comfortable in Canada, but it was good to be in good ‘ole US once again, mostly because we were no longer afraid of getting ill with no Medicare coverage and I did not have to translate kilometers into miles anymore.  I’ll miss the loonies and toonies, however (one and two dollar Canadian coins.)

A little bit further we entered Glacier National Park, and set up camp in the St. Mary Campground in the park.  The price was right – our Senior Access pass gave us free admission to the park, and the normal $23 camping fee was halved.  We then drove up the Going to the Sun highway from the east as far as we could go, 13.5 miles (about 22 km – I can’t help from translating still) and took a few pictures.  Supposedly, bears are very plentiful here, but no sightings yet.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 – We woke up early and left before breakfast, around 6:30 am, to try to see some animals on the Many Glaciers access to the park.  Luck was with us as we spotted a mama grizzly with a two or three year old cub.  Later Susan saw a male moose, lying down in the forest as we drove by.

We left the campground and Glacier National Park around 11:00 am, and decided to swing down through Yellowstone on Route 89, a scenic drive.  Soon we were in wide open Big Sky Country.  There was evidence of flooding and the rivers were still high.  In one watery area we spotted some interesting waterfowl, but the pictures did not come out well.

In the same area there was a statue of two Native Americans, we think to mark the boundary of the Blackfeet Reservation (we had seen a similar, if not identical, statue north of Glacier National Park. 

Nearby was an historical interest sign about Lewis and Clark, which (for a change) we found interesting, historically.

We visited WalMart in Great Falls, much more crowded than any WalMart we had seen in Canada.  Then we continued south to the Neihart area and set up camp in a National Forest c.g., (Many Pines.)  It was raining quite hard during setup, but the camper does not get wet while setting up in the rain, only the campers.