Glacier National Park-- Fire!! to Polson, Montana

Friday-  We got up early, and saw that the fire had moved much closer to us during the night.  There was a constant drone of helicoptors dumping large containers of water, scooped up from the nearby lake. We could actually see bursts of orange flames in the tops of trees, and it was close enough now to hear the crackling! We had planned to explore the northern part of Glacier Park today, but we were afraid they would close Going-To-The-Sun Road again with the fire moving in closer, so we decided to go straight through the park instead.  When we went to the camp store for morning coffee, the staff was busy canceling all their reservations for that day due to the fire approaching. Time to get out of Dodge!  We packed up quickly and headed out.

 We stopped first at the visitor center, which was full of news and reports about the fire, which apparently had been started a week ago by careless campers.  Many acres of the park were burnt.  Dawn was anxious to get the fire behind us, so we traveled on to a turnout by St Mary Lake, awesome views of the lake and mountains!  A little farther down the road, we parked the truck and hiked a trail to a waterfall.  Then we continued on down the road, stopping at all the overlooks to see various glaciers, mountains and waterfalls. 

 We came up to another visiter center, where we came across a family of mountain goats wandering around. Dawn held out her hand, and a momma and baby goat came right up to her! They seem tame, but they are still wild animals-Don't get too close!   Tyler had a close encounter when we stopped by the side of the road so he could "go" in the bushes.

..he almost walked right into a deer!  They were face to face when they startled each other, the deer turned and jumped high in the air to get away.  He returned shortly after to...(ahem)....lick up the "salt" that Tyler left behind!  Yuck!!

We stopped at a turnout along the river that a waterfall/ rapids area and a crystal clear lagoon. Some people were swimming but we didn't. Tyler played in the water a little, then we went back to the parking lot and made sandwiches.  After lunch, we parked and went for a walk down the "Trail of The Cedars", a boardwalk through the woods by some tall trees and a clear-water ravine. Parts of the rock walls of the river were curved and rounded, shaped over the years by the torrents of water that rush down the ravine, from the snowmelt every spring.

  On the bridge there, a butterfly landed on Dawn's hand and stayed there for several minutes. ( She often feels that things like that are a sign from her deceased father)   There were a lot of old trees, they said this part of the park hadn't had a fire in over 500 years.  It was a loop trail, but it was half under construction, so we had to head back the way we came.

Once out of the park, we drove along Flathead Lake to a KOA in Polson, Montana.  We saw dozens of cherry stands!  We got a good site near the kitchen area, made a nice (contained!) fire, and cooked some Ribeyes on the grill. Next to an airport and a great view of Flathead lake, it was a really nice campground.