Quick sidenote: So far, the primary upside to being behind on posting images from The Roadtrip is that I can briefly pretend I’m not back in Texas where its anywhere from 95 to 102 outside, at least while I’m editing and drafting the blog posts from within the comfort of air conditioning!
After we returned from the Western Alpine Red Bus Tour on our second morning at Glacier, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed out of the park’s western half to go see a sight on the eastern half that was highly recommended: The Many Glacier Hotel near Babb.
After the Great Northern Railroad expanded their rail line, they built a series of lodges and chalets (with exception of Lake McDonald Lodge, which was acquired) near or within the park. I’ve already featured Glacier Park Lodge and Lake McDonald Lodge in earlier posts. Just north of the Canadian border is the fourth lodge — located within Waterton National Park — the Prince of Wales Hotel.
However, first, we had to traverse — again — US Highway 2 back to East Glacier, then head north towards Babb on an extremely curvy roadway not all that much different than at Yellowstone as well as earlier in the day on the western side of the park!
Some rafts awaiting passengers — these were ready to go on a trailer hooked to the back of a school bus (by the rafting company office) as we headed out of West Glacier
On the road again …
Bear Grass. Yeah, I know, this isn’t the Texas variety.
Some waterfalls we stopped at near Essex. I don’t believe these were labeled on the map and there wasn’t a sign at the pull-over to indicate what it was! There was a larger falls and a smaller one off to the left.
Some waterfalls we stopped at near Essex. I don’t believe these were labeled on the map and there wasn’t a sign at the pull-over to indicate what it was! There was a larger falls and a smaller one off to the left.
The smaller of the two waterfalls …
More mountains …
what on earth is this, you ask? Along the highways in Wyoming and Montana, we kept seeing these angled fences and couldn’t figure out at first what they were for. Finally we assumed they must be to help block some of the snow off the roadways in the winter. Then we got to Glacier and saw this on the railroad bridge. One of the rangers (or Jerry, our bus driver, I can’t recall at the moment!) told us this particular one is a wind break. I’d heard the winds in the northern plains states can get pretty strong, and apparantly several years back, so strong it blew a train off the tracks! So, the railroads came to their senses and put up a ‘fence’ to help protect the trains from the strong winds.
The train overpass entrance you have to drive through to enter into East Glacier (images previously posted about a week or so of East Glacier btw).
More mountains …
More mountains …
A horse is a horse, of course … this guy just ventured across the roadway at a leisurely pace as if he had all the time in the world. By the time we got close enough for me to capture him, there wasn’t enough time to put down the window to avoid any glare in the image, so this was the last one I got before the horse was headed over to the field on the other side.
More mountains …
More mountains … nope, I don’t know the name of that peak in the distance …
More mountains … and a lake!
Later this evening I’ll have the last of the Glacier Day 2 images online — back to work on some custom design work I really have to get done along with half a dozen other errands while I’m off work today!
by christina
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