Re: Tip for new forum visitors

Paul, here are some of the things we did you might want to check out or do. While the Glacier Park was still closed we did a road trip one day all the way around the whole park ( including the Canadian portion ). Pretty much the whole way your are either in magnificent mountains or can see them off in the distance. It was 350 miles and 8+ hours of driving. There is a park in Canada called Waterton that is a dead end rd far back into the same general area as Glacier, but we didn't feel up to driving way back in there on our big rd trip. We were told it is really amazing with more of a chance of seeing big animals ( bears, elks, moose ) near the rd. We drove up to a little place called Polebridge in the boondocks on the western side of Glacier. Had lunch there at a little combination cafe/bar thats been there since the 1800's. Thre is a bakery next door with great bread :-) The Hungry Horse dam was interesting to see ( 11 biggest in the US ) and the Kerr Dam spillway is gushing full from all of the snowmelt and recent rains. We white water rafted a large portion of the middle fork of the Flat Head River. The Zip Lines at the Whitefish Ski area were really fun ( one of them 300 feet high ). My wife and our daughters went horsebackriding near Whitefish Lake. The four mile ( round trip ) hike to Avalanche Lake is definitely worth it. It looks like the Alps around that Lake. There is a Farmers Market in Whitefish on Tuesday's ( 5-7 PM ). We got some fresh vegatables, bread and a killer fruitbowl with Huckleberries there. The Flat Head valley is very beautiful, especially on its north end around Whitefish. As we flew in the farmlands between Flat Head Lake and Whitefish Lake looked like a very colorful checkerboard quilt. Well thats a few things to consider. There is a whole lot of stuff you could do there so if you make it up there Paul I know you will have a great time.

One thing about the weather, the folks we talked to said last winter season was the longest and worst they had seen. They said winter snows started in September and went through June of this year, Then after the snows stopped they got lots of rain. We fortunately had excellent weather while we were there with 75-85 temps, with a few days of thunderstorms in the late afternoons into the early morning. Just mentioned this because if you go in September you may see snow, which of course has its own beauty :-) Glacier is a wonderful place!