Glacier National Park – part 1

Flathead LakeI headed out early, knowing I had miles to burn. I had been over the initial part of the route a couple of weeks ago on my Idaho-Montana ride, but I did stop and take some pictures along the way to supplement the ones I took earlier and to make up for some I should have taken. I did take a picture at Paradise, MT. I was on MT-200 for a while and then took a right turn onto MT-28 – if you remember my earlier post about the decision I made at the MT-200 and MT-28 intersection. At Flathead Lake (which was much larger than I expected) I took MT-93 towards Kalispell.

MT-93 towards Kalispell seemed to be to be a guided tour towards northern Montana with the mountains to the west and the east forming a funnel leading towards Kalispell. As I went through town, I saw a Harley dealer having a cookout and since there were a number of bikes there I decided to stop. It was an opportunity to get a soda and walk around a bit to shake off the aches of the road. I headed on through town and took MT-2 which I thought would get me to MT-40. I got to Coram and stubbornly knew this couldn’t be right as I had not seen MT-40. Going west on MT-2 (the wrong way), I eventually came to the intersection of MT-93 and MT-40. Whitefish was to the north and I should nat have been that far west. I stopped at a gas station on the southeast corner of MT-93 and MT-40 and looked at a map. OK, Magellan, you should have just continued east on MT-2 throuh Coram and the next town would have bee West Glacier. I got back on the Dyna and headed east, more than a little irritated at my apparent lack of navigation skills. Finally, I got to the west entrance of Glacier National Park. I paid my $12 entrance fee and went into the park. Little did I know what the Going To The Sun Road had for me.

The first clue should have been the almost indescribable colors of the water in Lake McDonald. Crystal clear at the edge, showing the gold, silver, and copper colored stones, gradually changing to a deep aquamarine blue that could have come straight from the Caribbean. Absolutely stunning. However, I needed a thesaurus because the word stunning would quickly be overwhelmed by the sights around every turn. What word do you use when stunning or breathtaking just isn’t enough? There were a couple of places that allowed a picture of the mountains reflected in Lake McDonald and looking at the pictures now it almost seems artificial, but it wasn’t. This was as real as it gets.

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