Day 9 (Wednesday 5/20) Three Forks MT to St Mary MT

I awoke around 3am to find a cold, shivering beagle next to me. I had put a towel over him to act as a blanket before going to sleep, but he shook it off. I put his jacket on this time, and tried to get him to come next to me in the sleeping bag (because I was plenty warm), but no such luck. We got up around 5:30 since it was light already and I thought moving around would warm us up. Max occupied himself with tracking and chasing the field mice around the tipi (through the canvas walls) while I stored our gear and prepared breakfast. It was pretty cool (mid-40's) and windy still so we both appreciated the heater in the Jeep.

We left the BearTooth Mountains and the Madison River and headed north towards Glacier National Park, which I was really looking forward to. I almost wrote it off as too far to go but am so glad we went.  I really think it will be one of the high points of the trip once it is all said and done.  We just took I-15 straight up through Helena and Great Falls to Cut Bank, then West into the Rockies. There were F-15's flying around doing exercises above Great Falls. While I do not approve of their purpose and use, from a purely mechanical view they are pretty phenomenal to watch. We also passed some pretty large Wind Farms, with more towers on the way up. The way the wind has been blowing the past few days I can't imagine that not being a great source of electricity. There are many permanent signs along that highway (US-2 I think) warning about high cross-winds so I don't think this is out of the ordinary, either.

As they do all up and down the continent, the Rockies sneak up on you out of nowhere West of Cut Bank. You're crossing rolling fields and small hills then all of a sudden you notice prominent, snow-capped peaks rising up ahead. A very ragged coyote crossed the road just in front of us at one point. I told Max he was lucky he didn't live out here year-round. We wound our way up to St Mary, passing through a small snow flurry but seeing much heavier ones up above us in the mountains. The campground did not have our small primitive cabin ready so they gave us "Cottage #1" which was pretty big, with a full bathroom, kitchen area, seperate bedroom, and front porch. This was no tipi. I think Max was relieved.

On a quick walk around the camp we found the remains of a deer just down the hill, with the hoof and leg a little farther uphill. We are immediately adjacent to Glacier NP so there are all kinds of serious wildlife around. They have seen bears on site fairly recently, but I suspect that was the work of either a mountain lion or cayotes.





We have all day tomorrow to explore Glacier, but since we were here and settled in by 1:30 we did take a quick trip up the "Going to the Sun Road" from the East Entrance, which was only about a mile from our campsite. It was only open for about 13 miles, but we saw quite a lot and made it up to pretty high elevations. The scenery in Glacier, like the Badlands, defies being captured on film. Majestic peaks tower overhead while we experienced a pretty heavy snowstorm for late May. Apparently in August or early September a few years ago they got a foot of snow. The temperature went from 44* at our campsite to 33* only a few miles up the road. We saw a herd of bighorn sheep grazing next to the road, and also got a fleeting glimpse of a much larger, much more impressive coyote darting across.  I went I went in the visitor center to get an idea of how much we can see with the whole day to explore tomorrow. The road is not open all the way through because there is still about 50 feet of snow covering it up top, so we'll have to drive around the long way to the West Entrance.

I was talking to the ranger in the visitor center about the wildlife in the park, and specifically mentioned wolves, and she mentioned that they did not have to reintroduce wolves to the park like they have had to elsewhere (Yellowstone). They came down from Canada and repopulated the park on their own. There were 5 packs of them last year but some are in jeopardy because they don't respect the boundaries of the park and venture out and eat cattle.

We took advantage of our deluxe accommodations by picking up some Mahi filets at the grocery store down in St Mary and cooking a proper dinner. We also overcompensated for last night by running the heat pretty heavily. Since I was warm enough, I let Max win tonight's "battle of the blue sleeping bag" and he slept on the foot of it all night. He really loves that thing.