Morning came extremely early – 5AM so that we could photograph the sunrise and early morning hours on the Going to the Sun highway. This also meant less other tourists and easier driving along the narrow parts of the mountain road and parking at the various points of interest.

We stopped a couple of times for pictures. One highlight was a family of mountain goats.

On the west side we stopped for a hike at trail of the cedars after breakfast in the RV.

After exiting the park we stopped for lunch at West Glacier and then looked for a place to have an afternoon nap. We lucked out at a fishing access point on Lake Five which also had great swimming opportunities. After a great swim in glacier fed water we continued to Hungry Horse where we found a nice campground for the evening.

Over a huge breakfast at the Johnston’s Cafe we planned the day’s activities. Continuing high winds made us decide not to risk taking the Going to the Sun highway so we went horseback riding instead.

Ruth rode “Smokey” and Martin rode “Larry the Cable Guy” for an hour and a half accompanied by two guides, Chum the cow herding dog and a white pony that left its grazing ground and followed us on our outing. The landscape was breathtaking.

By late afternoon the winds had died down and we drove the west part of the Going to the Sun highway to Logan’s pass. The landscape was just beautiful and at the visitor centre we encountered a big horn sheep and very curious Columbian ground squirrels.

We had dinner at a Mexican canteen run by Blackfoot indians and then spent a second night at Johnston’s Campground.

After a really stormy night with lots of rain and lightning that lit up the sky like daylight we set out early to cover the last stretch of prairie. We had gotten used to being accompanied by dozens of freight trains running parallel to Hwy 2 and the many grain elevators along the way.

Vast dry prairies were only interrupted by oasises near rivers and creeks. The small towns we drove past looked almost forgotten with a number of abandoned houses. We crossed several native reservations and learned that it was here that the natives lost their fights over their land.

The only long stop we made was in Havre. We had lunch at Joe’s Steakhouse and our waitress Meagan gave us lots of information about the area around the west side of Glacier National Park.

The most exciting part of Havre was the historical underground tour. Havre was a rough and tough railway town. In 1904, a large fire started by four vagrants who had had a dispute with the saloon, burned down most of the business district. The respectable businesses had no choice but to move into the basement underground with some of the less respectable establishments. Glass tiles in the sidewalks provided some daylight in the underground. On our tour we saw lawyer’s and accountant’s offices alongside a bar and brothel.

From Havre we continued along Hwy 2 to Browning and then Hwy 89 to St. Mary, our gateway to the Going to the Sun highway that goes through Glacier International Park. This section of the trip was a difficult drive with very high and gusty winds.

In St. Mary we stayed at Johnson’s of St. Mary Campground and RV park where we had a sheltered campsite.