Glacier National Park
September 2026 ..
Chief Mountain US Border Post. The US border agents were not on the same page as us! For one reason or another we were only given permission to stay for two months instead of our requested year. Perhaps we were a tad ambitious. Never mind, plans are made to be changed and, given we didn’t want to stay in Canada for the winter, we decided we would make a beeline for Mexico (and request to enter the US again in 2027). But the first order of business was to visit Glacier National Park, the US side of the cross-border Peace Park, located in Montana.
We first explored the eastern side of the park before camping overnight outside and then re-entering the next morning to hike the Beaver Pond Loop (we didn’t see any).
The scenic Going To The Sun road bisects the park, but unfortunately Big Bertha is prohibited due to size and so we drove to the west side on main roads around the outside of the park. We camped on a riverbed just outside before entering very early in the morning, managing to grab the last RV parking spot. In the morning we hiked up to Avalanche Lake – a beautiful forest hike with stunning views.
Dave really wanted to see the summit of the Going To The Sun road and he stood by the road with his thumb up, trying to get a lift. Eventually a lovely, kind Idaho couple, Craig and Jackie, stopped and we spent the afternoon together exploring the upper park. It was stunning!
Rejoining Francine back at our truck, we left the park to camp outside on another riverbed. The next day, after an early start, we put in some kilometers before stopping to hike to Holland Falls. The falls themselves were underwhelming, but the views across the lake were sublime.
Continuing south-east we stopped briefly in the town of Helena, visiting Reeder Alley and the downtown Main Street.
After Helena we stayed at the Missouri Headwaters State Park, just outside Three Forks, where the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin rivers converge to form the Missouri River. The next day David toured the Lewis and Clark caverns (Francine didn’t fancy the narrow passages) and then stayed the night in Whitehall. We were wandering around the small town, when we were invited to a free concert (including food and drink) put on by the Montana Farmers Union. It was a fun evening, but there was also a serious message behind the event – to promote support networks for mental health amongst the farming community. There are high suicide rates in this sector and typically, farmers suffering from depression are reluctant to ask for help from others.
Virginia City is another ‘tourist town’ that has kept a lot of its historic buildings. After wondering its streets for an hour or two we journeyed further south to camp just outside Yellowstone – ready for an early start the next day.
Mice update – no further issues and we think it/they have scarpered. Francine has moved some of our food stores back into the cab.
