Well, we finally made it to Glacier National Park, at least to the St. Mary Entrance Station. All the nearby campgrounds in the park were full and the nearest park campground that had available sites was about 20 miles back, along the winding road we just came up, plus another 15 miles along a road where vehicles over 25 feet were not allowed. Did I mention it was 7 PM and we had driven 390 miles so far? So, we did the rational thing and turned around, went half-a-mile up the road to the private Johnson's campground and cafe.
We started the day at the Corps of Engineers' Downstream Campground at Fort Peck Lake. This has got to be one of the real bargains in camping. A nice site (no hookups, though), free showers and even free Sunday morning breakfast, all for $5.00. If an electric hookup site had been available, it would have been $8.00. The campground was clean, nicely landscaped and had stocked fishing ponds with surrounding walking trail.
Before we left, we drove over the top of the dam, which has created the largest lake on the Missouri River, with 1500 miles of shoreline. It is currently full to the brim, a welcome change after 10 years of drought out here. It is so full that they have opened the lake's spillway. They have opened it only five times previously in the dam's history.
We learned this at a stop at the Interpretive Center. It has exhibits of dam history, the local fish and animals, and a big exhibit of the area's much earlier animals--dinosaurs. One of the most complete T. Rex skeletons was found in the area and they have a casts of it and several other local finds on display. This part of Montana is the dinosaur trail.
They also had two large aquaria with specimens of the local fish, some very large. The lake is home to about 20 species of fish. In addition to the native populations, it is additionally stocked with Walleye and Chinook salmon, so it is an extremely popular fishing spot.
After our tour we headed down the road. A pretty boring road. It doesn't look perfectly straight on the map, but it sure seems that way when you are driving. There aren't many trees, just mile after mile of grass or wheat, occasionally punctuated by a small towns where the speed limit drops from 70 to 25. The most interesting things were the many motorcycles heading the other way towards the big rally in Sturgis, ND, which is this coming week--and we drove right by!
We originally intended to stop in Shelby, about 90 miles from the park, but got there early enough that we decided to push on. This was after a late start and a stop for lunch at a forgettable restaurant in Harve. The road got more interesting after Browning and became US 89. It wound through the hills to the park. These were the first twisty roads since the Adirondacks
We had a light dinner at the campground cafe (splitting a chef salad, a family size bowl of beef barley soup and an enormous piece of huckleberry ice cream pie). After this long day, I have barely enough energy left to write this.
Tomorrow, we finally head into the park, hoping to find a campsite at Rising Sun Campground. It filled up by 3 PM today, but 1:30 yesterday. If we get up there first thing in the morning, we should be okay and can finally relax for several days.
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