Glacier National Park

We have just spent a week in Glacier National Park.  At first I was worried that a week would be too long.  What a silly thought.  There is so much beauty here, you could stay much longer.

There are huge lakes, beautiful mountains and wonderful mountain streams.  We went on several hikes.  One was in East Glacier in the Twin Lakes area.

We also hiked along a mountain stream...

to Avalanche Lake.

But the highlight of every motorcycle riders trip to Glacier is Going to the Sun Road.  This Road was complteted in 1933.  Rather than build a road with multiple switchbacks, the engineers designed a road which would showcase the scenery.  It is 50 miles of wonderful views. 

At the top is a pass where you can take a hike to a viewpoint.  Joseph and I decided to try the hike.  After waking on a boardwalk for about half a mile, we encountered snow.  In fact, the remainder of the trail was covered in snow.  After slipping and sliding for a while, we headed back.  I guess I am just not comfortable hiking in snow!

However, the mountain goat was not having any problems.

But it was fun hiking in the snow in August.

Going to the Sun Road was such a treat that we rode it twice.

We are currently staying in an RV Park at Fort Harrison in Helena, MT.  But we are both already talking about when we can take another trip to Glacier.

Yellowstone Park

Yellowstone National Park is a remarkable place.  It was established in 1872 and is the country's oldest national park.  It contains two third's of the worlds geysers, many hot springs and other thermal features.

And, of course, the most famous of all - Old Faithful.  Most of the geysers are unpredictable, but Old Faithful continues to erupt on schedule - that is within 10 minutes give or take. 

Yellowstone also has a Grand Canyon.

It was carved by the Yellowstone River.  One of the best things about it is its accessibility.  There are numerous places to view the canyon and also get down into the canyon, and here right next to one of the waterfalls.

The Yellowstone River as it approaches the falls.

And of course, if you have ever traveled through Yellowstone, you have been tied up in traffic as the tourists take pictures of the wild animals.  There are the buffalo, with which you have to share the road...

I have pictures of the hundreds of buffalo in the valleys, but it is hard for these to accruately depict the scene.  You feel that you are in a movie.  There are also numerous elk.

We saw this elk when we were hiking to a waterfall.  Joseph was fascinated by it. 

And of course the views from the motorcycle are wonderful.

As you can see, we loved our time in Yellowstone.  We are now in Missoula with a broken motorcycle.  Not to be tied down, we drove the RV into town.  Joseph had a wonderful time driving through the old downtown area looking for a parking place!  Missoula is a wonderful city.  Hopefully the bike will be fixed today (Saturday), and we can leave for Glacier National Park tomorrow (Sunday).