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 Day 10 Avalanche Campground, Glacier NP
Lorie
insists she heard nothing, but I am pretty sure I discerned
rambunctious rodents burrowing around in our air ducts
and galley cabinets, trying to gnaw open tin cans with their teeth and
tearing into my secret cache of Gummi Worms. I am unrested and out of
sorts. In the words of the inimitable Frank Costanza, "That's it! We're
moving. I will not tolerate infestation!"
"Here, drink your coffee," says Lorie.
We make an early drive under a promising sunny
sky up toward Logan Pass. Traffic is very light, and we have time to
sort of poke along and take
in the soaring granite peaks and verdant green valleys. At the Logan
Pass visitor center we are informed that our planned hike, the Hidden
Lake Trail, is closed today due to grizzlies gallivanting on the
boardwalks in recent days. So we opt instead for the Highline Trail,
which traverses a narrow and precipitous route along the west face of
the Garden Wall, at times requiring hikers to firmly grasp the anchored
hand cables along the sheer wall. |
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The views, however, are well worth
it, with the morning sun now warming the broad, glacier-carved valleys
and making the fresh dustings of snow gleam on the peaks. We see more
white mountain goats, accompanied by a single bighorn ram.
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Back at
the visitor center the parking lot is beginning to grow crowded when
the air is suddenly punctuated by a couple of loud shotgun-like
reports, and two puffs of smoke drift over
the alpine meadow as rangers use fireworks to shoo away an errant
grizzly.
We drive back down to Avalanche for lunch, then
casually hike up the Avalanche Gorge a mile or so. The creek has carved
a spectacular route
down through the layers of redrock here, and drops five hundred feet in
less than two miles, cascading from one pool to another. Even high on
the lip of the gorge, thirty feet above the creek's current level, one
can see numerous water-carved and eroded boulders and rocks, evidence
that the creek has been at work here for countless millenia.
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It's just a short cruise down to Lake McDonald Lodge, where we have a
reservation for a room tonight. While Lorie handles the accomodations,
I drive around and around in the parking lot seeking a level spot in
which to park the van. As every Westy owner knows, the vehicle must be
parked pretty close to level when using the refrigerator, in order to
avoid permanently damaging its cooling element, but in this cockeyed
and topsy-turvy parking lot I cannot find anyplace even close to level.
In the end, I spend about twenty minutes
messing around, shoving various numbers of RV leveling blocks under the
wheels, but finally step back
and am satisfied to see that my beloved Vanasazi is just about the only
thing that is level in the whole damned place. In fact, the Park
Service should come out here with their protractors and plumb bobs to
take some measurements of the van, and then start tweaking some of
these ninety-year-old buildings …
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Built
in 1913, Lake McDonald Lodge, like many of the hotels and lodges in the
park, was designed in the style of a large Swiss chalet. From the
cut-stone floor of the lobby, up the clusters of huge cedar columns, to
the large roof timbers three stories above, everything about the place
inspires thoughts of homey comfort in the great outdoors. The stuffed
animal heads hanging from the balcony railings were shot and mounted by
the original owner of the lodge, evidently to remind the lazier guests
the kind of wildlife they might see if they bothered to doff their
slippers and take a hike somewhere. |
After
several days of one-pot suppers of pasta or rice or more pasta, we
treat ourselves to a positively delightful dinner in Russell's Fireside
Dining Room, accompanied by copious glasses of local beers. Sated and a
little wobbly, we amble down to the dock and enjoy a sunset boat cruise
on Lake McDonald; the perfect end to another day in Glacier.
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