To get to Iceberg Lake is a 2 1/2 drive from West Glacier northeast, only 10 miles from the Canadian border. You re-enter the park from Many Glacier after another prolonged period of sickeningly beautiful scenery. We drove down alongside Lake Sherbourne and saw big crowds at the trail entry to the Grinnell Glacier hike which is ranked number 2 on the hit list of hikes. We kept going to the carpark at Iceberg Lake and it was empty. We couldn’t believe our luck until we got to the trail entry and it was closed off with a sign stating that due to bears being sighted, the track was closed for a few days which explained the popularity of Grinnell. We were disappointed at missing Iceberg Lake as lots of locals we met have it down as their favourite. The lake doesn’t get much sun so once frozen, it takes a long time to melt which creates literally hundreds of icebergs. Next time.
A local hiker came up to us and he too was disappointed his plans had been shut down, but showed us the trail adjacent called Swiftcurrent Pass which is ranked number 12. He said it could be a long hike but we could see a lot in 4 hours or so and recommended it highly. Well he wasn’t wrong. It was superb. The thing we find with countryside like this is that our levels of profanity become unregulated. You will turn another corner and suddenly it’s “No f…… way!”, “f…. off!”, “aww that’s bulls…t!” The Swiftcurrent Pass has so much to offer. Expect to walk through forest, think undergrowth, up and over rocks, across streams and even a swing bridge. All this surrounded by a prehistoric amphitheater of searing rock, snow and greenery. You will pass through 2 x lakes that house the melting snow and are joined by rushing rapids. There was one section we stopped at which was like a natural spa sitting underneath a waterfall. It was all becoming too much for us just how good the water looked so we bit the bullet on the way back and got wet. Unfortunately we couldn’t quite get out to the deep part because the rocks were too sharp so we soaked each other the same way 10 year olds would, with some old fashioned splashing. It was great fun and gave us some respite from the heat.
On the way back a ranger came running past us saying that some tourists had seen a bear and had bolted leaving their back packs behind. We caught up with him an hour later and he said the bear had taken the back packs with him and there were some scraps left behind. We missed seeing a bear by 10 mins and a group behind us got a photo of him. The ranger explained that it was a black bear which are apparently fairly timid unless protecting their young but the grizzly’s modus operandi is to kill you, remove your body parts and bury them for later. We continued walking and suddenly started hollering like two rednecks at a rodeo!
We weren’t far from the end of the trail and we bumped into a group of youngsters who asked if we had seen the moose. Clearly we hadn’t so they pointed us on a short trail to the lake. Other than Rocky and Bullwinkle or the Moosehead Awards at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, we had never seen one, so to get up close to this mother and calf in the wild was very exciting. The mum was in about 4ft of water in the middle of the lake ducking its huge head under the water seemingly feeding on the grass on the bottom. The calf was nervous but eventually walked up close to mum. There were two guys there with serious cameras and we were all respectfully quiet. You could hear the mum chewing and do the occasional snort as she pulled her nose out of the water. At the completion of each duck dive she lifted her legs out of the sand and came toward us. Suddenly mum and calf stopped dead in their tracks and simultaneously turned their heads and stared at the lake’s edge about 60ft away. They were like statues. We couldn’t quite see why, then very slowly another mum and calf appeared out of the trees, made themselves comfortable and entered the water doing the same thing. The new arrivals were spectacular animals also but this mum came towards us a bit quicker. The photographers said this same moose chased them through the forest earlier in the day so she obviously had a good memory. We thought it might be time to leave graciously at that point.
Today we decided to take it easy and have a stroll along the McDonald Lake west side for a couple of hours. Great to just put some thongs on and dip them in the icy water occasionally. Tonight we will be eating down the road at Cheri’s diner as we have done every other night. Simply the best home style cooking and service you could imagine. Also this region is famous for its Huckleberry’s and they are in season right now. They aren’t as sweet as most berries we know so you can make just about anything with them. Cheri’s Huck Pie is legendary in these parts and having indulged the other night, it’s the last thing I’ll be devouring before I leave West Glacier. We have had Huck salad dressing, jam and believe it or not I had a Huck milkshake!
Glacier National Park is an extraordinary place that we feel we didn’t touch the sides of. Everything is being done to ensure it stays this way for future generations. Americans love their national parks and it shows by how clean everything is. Having said that, we wanted to do some washing this afternoon and we were directed to a town about 15km away that consisted of a roadhouse with a laundromat out the back. The laundromat was filthy and had dead insects in the washing machines, so before we could discover a dead raccoon in a dryer we got out of there. Out of cultural curiosity we decided to check out the roadhouse. Entering through the cracked glass door, we grabbed a couple of drinks and lined up. The poor toothless lady at the counter was on her own, which meant she could do nothing about the child’s screams that were emanating from upstairs. At that point 3 x very big men with trucker’s caps came in and decided that lining up in the normal direction of the queue wasn’t for them so they stood just to the side staring at Lynda. The phrase, “You’re not from ‘round here are ya?” came to mind.
Anyway the people overall have been very friendly and helpful. To have met Jen and Shawna on day 1 still remains a Godsend. I’ve improved my left hand driving so all I’ve gotta do now is get to Kalispell airport in one piece. We will forever remember the Big Sky Country and look forward to seeing what Minneapolis holds. Cheers
