Shopping in St. Mary, Montana

It was in the low 40's when we got up this morning. We spent the morning here at the RV relaxing. I caught up on some paperwork and reorganized a couple of cabinets.

Mike ran the generator some at lunch time to charge up our house batteries. We drove over to the town of St. Mary which is just outside the east entrance to Glacier National Park about 2 p.m.

We stopped at the St. Mary Supermarket and filled up the portable propane tank and checked to see how easy it would be to park the RV to get some propane for the onboard tank. I looked around inside the Supermarket and since it's early in the season they only had a little fresh produce and the freezer compartments were practically empty.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

Then we went into the Trail Creek Outfitters shop at the St. Mary Lodge & Resort to look around. They were having a sale with 40% off on regular priced clothing. Mike & I each got a lined & reversible nylon jacket.

We went in to the St. Mary Gift Shop located in the main Lodge. We bought a couple of souvenirs and mailed the postcards we had gotten at the St. Mary Visitor Center yesterday.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

We found out at the Gift Shop that the avalanche area we passed yesterday on the Going-to-the-Sun Road happened a week ago.

We decided to "top off" the gas tank in the Vue and got gas at the St. Mary Lodge Sinclair Gas Station. We got 8.8 gallons and paid $3.999 a gallon. There is an Exxon station in St. Mary and it is the same price.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

We saw this Going-to-the-Sun Road tour bus pass the Lodge and head up towards Glacier National Park.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

We had brought the tripod with us and got a photo by the Glacier National Park entrance sign.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

On the way through the campground we were able to get a photo of the Columbian Ground Squirrels that are running around here.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

We had left Tinker at home in the RV, so when we got back from shopping we all went for a walk. There is a trail across from the RV that looks like its been made by wildlife and we walked up it and through some trees and came out on a small meadow.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

Tinker likes to go "hiking" and there was another trail in the meadow that had been made by deer. Tinker got some really good smells and wanted to follow the trail.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

We headed back to the RV and I got this photo of Mike & Tinker

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

and when we came out of the trees there was this view of our RV and the mountains.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

Tonight after dinner Tinker got on our bed for a nap and Mike covered him up with his shirt. I took this photo of Tinker on the bed.

From Going-to-the-Sun Road

Tomorrow we leave here and head north to cross into Canada. We'll be spending a couple of days in Calgary. We won't be using our Verizon MiFi broadband while we're in Canada (the roaming fees make it too expensive). We'll be depending on wi-fi access at campgrounds and libraries, so I may not be able to update our blog on a daily basis.

Going-to-the-Sun Road

It was in the high 30's this morning when we got up and sunny.

We left the RV this morning a little before 11:00 to drive up the Going to the Sun Road here in Glacier National Park. Because of the heavy snowfall here this winter and they are still plowing parts of it. There is about 13 miles open for auto traffic on this side (east).

We rounded a bend in the road and came to a quick stop because there were 2 vehicles stopped on the edge of the road. The reason? A mother black bear and her cub were feeding alongside the road. Mike got this movie of the bear cub running across the road to join Mama.

From Going to the Sun Road

We tried taking a movie of the mother, but the glare through the windshield faded it out. I managed to cut a frame from the video for a photo.

From Going to the Sun Road

Jackson Glacier Overlook was as far as we could go. We did get a photo of the Jackson Glacier.

From Going to the Sun Road

A portion of the road had been cleared from an earlier avalanche and we saw debris left behind from the avalanche.

From Going to the Sun Road

We stopped at a pull-off and let Tinker play in the snow - he had a great time!

From Going to the Sun Road

We turned off to go down by the Sun Point Trail and had a snack at the picnic tables there. I walked part of the way down the trail to get some photos.

From Going to the Sun Road

On the way back up to the road we saw this moose in the road ahead of us.

From Going to the Sun Road

We stopped at the Wild Goose Island scenic pull-off and took a photo of us using our tripod.

From Going to the Sun Road

We stopped at the St. Mary Visitor Center to get some postcards and look at the exhibits before heading back to the RV.

I took these photos tonight to show how light it is at 9:45 p.m. and it's 37° outside.

From Going to the Sun Road

From Going to the Sun Road

Great Falls to Glacier National Park

It was 42° and raining when we woke up at 7 a.m. and it was 54° in the RV. There were several RVs parked here at the Supercenter last night. This motorhome had all of it's slides out and was parked in a road in the parking lot. Parking like that is what makes RVs unwelcome at Wal-Marts.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

We left the Wal-Mart supercenter at 7:53 and stopped at Sam’s Club a few minutes later to get gas in the RV. We got a little over 55 gallons at $3.629 a gallon for a total of $200.

We got on I-15 North just west of Great Falls and a little later an Indian River tanker from Winter Haven, FL passed us on the interstate. It was raining so I wasn't able to get a photo.

We stopped at a rest area by the Teton River at 9:00. Mike adjusted the altitude setting on the generator so we could run it while driving. We saw this sign warning of rattlesnakes at the rest area (we didn't see any)

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

and took this photo of the Teton River.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

We stopped at gas station at Shelby to top off the RV gas tank and paid $3.829 a gallon. We continued west on US-2 and drove through Cut Bank which says it's the coldest spot in the country.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

Then we drove through Browning in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

and got on US-89 West just west of Browning. Of course, Tinker was sooo excited to be heading to Glacier National Park as you can see in this photo.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

We drove through a large portion of forest that had been destroyed by fire in 2006.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

We had a couple of buses for the Going to the Sun Road tours pass us heading towards Browning.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

We had been climbing in elevation for most of our drive today and then we knew we were starting our descent when we saw this sign for a 7% grade.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

We passed by the small town of St. Mary and crossed the St. Mary River

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

before entering Glacier National Park.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

We are in C Loop (the only portion of the campground open now) and are in site #138 which is a pull-through. We have no hookups here, but we can run the generator for 2 hours at each meal time. It was 174 miles from Great Falls to here.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

The wind was REALLY blowing ( 20 - 40 mph) when we got here and the slide topper roller on the driver side was unfurling and making a LOT of noise. Mike got up on the ladder and was able to clamp a vise grip on the roller to keep it from unrolling.

There was an RV parked in site #136 behind us and they said the wind had been blowing since yesterday (their slide topper was doing the same thing) and that they didn't get any sleep last night. They were paid through Monday here, but they left this afternoon to go down to the KOA campground so they could have hot showers.

The wind has finally calmed down and the weather is supposed to be clearing tomorrow. This is the view we have from the driver side of the RV.

From Great Falls to Glacier National Park

As they say "a picture says a thousand words".

Kings Hill Scenic Byway

This morning Mike took another photo through the windshield of our mountain view. Yesterday there was a motorhome parked in front us blocking part of our view and it left this morning.

From Montana

We left Conestoga Campground this morning at 10:20 and headed north on US-89 and through downtown White Sulphur Springs.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

We entered the Lewis & Clark National Forest 20 minutes after leaving White Sulphur Springs.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

We were now entering the Little Belt Mountains and the topography changed from farms and ranches to pine forests and winding roads through the mountains.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

This part of US-89 is known as Kings Hill Scenic Byway and it is aptly named. We were constantly climbing through the mountains and began to see patches of snow through the pine trees. We stopped alongside Sheep Creek to take some photos - we were now at an elevation of 6200'.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

We walked a short distance down a national forest road which was still covered with ice and snow - it was 11 a.m. and 48°. Tinker had a great time playing in the snow, but he wasn't too crazy about when he jumped into some deep snow.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

We drove through Kings Hill Pass at 7393'

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

and through the town of Neihart.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

We descended to a plateau and the scenery changed again.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

We were thinking about a place to stop for lunch when we saw this scenic pull-off and what a view it was! These limestone cliffs that were created 330 million years ago from seashells when this area was below sea level and was under a vast sea. Another motorhome stopped to enjoy the view and have lunch and a couple of truck also stopped for the view.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

We crossed the Missouri River at Great Falls

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

and stopped to take these photos at Black Eagle Falls & Dam.

From Kings Hill Scenic Byway

We arrived here at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on the north side of Great Falls at 1:45. Then I went shopping for groceries for our stay at Glacier National Park for 3 days. I only bought enough meat and fresh vegetables for a few days, so we wouldn't have any left when we crossed the border into Canada. I did stock up on some canned groceries and paper supplies while we were here because they'd be cheaper than in Canada - just under $200.

Mike called Verizon to add their Canadian calling plan to our cell phones starting next Monday when we cross into Canada.

It is 43° and raining tonight - no electric blanket tonight! Also, it's so windy here that we're not able to use our rooftop satellite dish and we're using our local antenna for TV. The only stations we're getting are PBS and half of those are children's programs.

Garryowen to White Sulphur Springs

It was 45° when we got up this morning at 8:00. We left 7th Ranch RV Camp at 9:30 and headed north on I-90. We crossed over the Little Bighorn River again

From Montana

and 15 minutes later crossed over the Bighorn River.

From Montana

We stopped at a rest area about 20 west of Hardin and saw this historic sign about the Buffalo Country.

From Montana

I-90 wound through rolling hills on the way to Billings.

From Montana

We crossed over the Yellowstone River at Billings

From Montana

After Billings we saw snow covered mountains in the west. The first mountain range we saw was the Beartooth Mountains which rise up over 12,000 feet and is the highest mountain range in Montana.

From Montana

We stopped for lunch at a rest area near Park City and saw this trailer loaded with all different types of stuff.

From Montana

We were now looking at the Crazy Mountains to the north of I-90 and the highest peak, Crazy Peak, is 11,214 feet and there are 23 peaks that are over 10,000 feet. Just Beautiful!

From Montana

We exited I-90 about 20 miles west of Big Timber and drove north on US-89 through farm and ranch land.

We stopped at this historic site above Shields River Valley to look at the "Thunder Jack" statue honoring the early mountain men who came to this area.

From Montana

On US-89 we saw widely spaced cattle ranches and we would drive for miles before we saw another vehicle.

We arrived at Conestoga Campground in White Sulphur Springs a little before 3:30.

From Montana

We are in site #6 which is a pull-through with 50 amp electric and full  hook-ups. We are staying here under our Coast to Coast membership. There is a $3 utility fee ($3.70 with tax) and that is all it is costing us. We are using 1,000 of our Coast to Coast camping points. We "purchased" the points with points from our Good Sam credit card, so except for the $3.70 our site is free.

From Montana

We have a GREAT view through our windshield of the Big Belt Mountains.

From Montana