Big Sky, Big Stack and Glacier National Park
/We left Wyoming heading northwest across the Montana border, aiming for Hyalite Canyon Campground near Bozeman for the night… ~200 miles. Big Sky Country, as Montana is called, is aptly named. Rolling hills and flat sagebrush-studded high prairie lands constitute the terrain with the Absoraha Range peeking up in the distance. The sky is blue and big, but the land is a drab, dun-colored expanse with few trees. The wind whistled constantly and blew Blue around. Black angus cattle grazed oblivious to us and the wind. I say this but know that folks who live here and call it home, see its beauty and appreciate it more than we did as we whizzed past at 80mph.
Lots of grain elevators in this part of Montana along with quarries, limestone works and refineries.
We passed through small, unremarkable towns. Quarries and limestone works were active in the area and every once in awhile we saw a huge refinery. Cornfields were not as ‘high as an elephant’s eye’ yet… but then we’re not in Oklahoma either. Wheatfields and hayfields were ready for a first harvest. Curiously, we saw osprey nests on the top of several telephone poles. Even our GPS was bored… it lost us for awhile and had Blue fording rivers and traversing lots of off-road cross country area. Luckily, it found us again before any major mishaps.
Walking along the Yellowstone River in Livingston, Montana
We stopped in Livingston, Montana for lunch and to check out the Livingston Depot Center Trail. Both the Depot and most of the trail was closed. We did, however, find Sacajewea Park, a beautiful, well-kept city park along the Yellowstone River. The park was a green, grassy expanse shaded with age-old cottonwood trees. We had a picnic there then walked a .7 mile trail along the river.
Sacajewa and her son, Pomp… ‘At the Yellowstone’ by Mary Michael
Named after Lewis & Clark’s young Shoshone guide and interpreter, the park honored Sacajewea with a statue of her and her son, Pomp. The statue by Mary Michael entitled ‘At the Yellowstone River’ commemorates the Lewis & Clark Expedition stop here in July 1806.
When we finally arrived at the campground in late afternoon, it was full. We figured our luck would hold out and took a turn around the campground and there was no doubt… it was full. There were two other campgrounds up the road… also full. Now what? We checked the Montana gazetteer and found yet another campground in Galatin National Forest about 40 miles away and off we drove.
Spire Rock Campground in the Galatin National Forest
Once off the highway, there was another three miles of gravel forest road to negotiate before we arrived at Spire Rock Campground. The sign at the park entrance indicated it, too, was full. Bah! We drove past campsite after campsite envying those campers all settled in and getting ready for dinner. Then, miraculously, an empty campsite right on the streamside appeared. It was a group site and had a Reserved sign, but with no one expected till the next night. We claimed it as our own, but rode back down to the fee station on our bikes to confirm that we were okay to stay and pay our fees. All good!
We finally got a look at Spire Rock as we left the campground early the next morning.
Massive cliffs rose beside us every bit of 300’ high with thick evergreens covering the lower levels. The river is a stone’s throw away and its rush lulled us to sleep. We woke early to the caws of ravens in a tree just above us, arguing vehemently over something. The morning temperature was 39F in Blue. Brrr! The first trip to the vault toilet was mighty cold on the tush and mighty quick. We packed up quickly and headed north to Missoula ~220 miles away, letting Blue’s heater warm us as we drove.
I’d forgotten the white crosses along the roadside in Montana that mark highway fatalities... a sober reminder of traffic deaths in the state. We saw a lot of them.
We crossed over the Continental Divide (6393’) in Silver Bow, Montana and passed by innumerable wheat fields along the route. The Black Butte open pit copper mine, aka the Berkeley Pit, used to offer tours before the pandemic and in another time, we might have stopped to explore.
We could see the Anaconda Stack from miles away.
Bored with the highway, I’d found a brochure at a rest area describing a scenic drive on state road Montana 1 and we decided to take it. The small town of Anaconda has a complex industrial history. It was a one-company town that revolved around the Anaconda Company for smelting copper ore.
The original Washoe Smelter Works Complex in Anaconda, Montana
The Washoe Smelter was built around the turn of the century and the people of Anaconda relied on it for their livelihood. When the facility shut down in 1980, more than 100 structures were demolished, but the townsfolk were adamant that ‘the Stack’ on top of Smelter Hill should remain as a vestige and reminder of its ‘once internationally-significant industrial complex.’ It is now the centerpiece of Montana’s smallest state park, Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park, and listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places.
The Stack is now the centerpiece of Montana’s smallest state park, Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park, and listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places.
When it was built in 1918, it was the largest nonferous metallurgical plant in the world. At 585’ tall, the stack is still the largest free-standing masonry, 30’ taller than the Washington Monument. We spent some time at an interpretive exhibit located where the smelter once stood.
Full-size metal sculptures of smelter workmen … a miner, a railroader for the BAP (Butte-Anaconda Pacific RR) and a smelterman are part of an informative exhibit at the entrance to the state park.
We continued along Route 1 to Phillipsburg, lured by a brochure proclaiming it ‘Montana’s Most Picturesque Town’ according to USA Today. The Gem Peak area was known as far back as 1894 for its sapphire mines and gem miners today still find sapphires. We did not. We turned off Route 1 to venture into town. It was, indeed, cute in a touristy kind of way with a candy shop, an ice cream parlor, souvenirs, boutiques, an assayer (for those sapphires and maybe some gold), a brewery. Main Street offered some old-time, western mining town appeal that stopped abruptly after a few blocks and became a gravel road.
Downtown Phillipsburg, Montana
Enough dilly-dallying around… we had places to go and things to do. We continued on to Missoula where we stopped for a very late picnic lunch. Riverfront Park is a gem of a city park along the banks of the Clark Fork River. The historic carousel was closed due to the pandemic, but we watched several young men try their best to tame the artificial standing wave at Brennan’s Wave.
We continued on past the vast expanse and beauty of Flathead Lake until we reached Whitefish, a gateway town to Glacier National Park, the reason we’d driven so far north. Too late to scope out campgrounds in the area, we stayed for the evening at the pleasant Pine Lodge with a fine view of the Whitefish River.
We explored campgrounds beyond the Hungry Horse Dam, but there was ‘no room at the inn’.
Several of the campgrounds closer to the park had ‘first come, first serve’ sites and we ventured out early (0830) to suss out a spot for the night. Surely there’d be at least one campsite available for a night or two. NOT! Of the open three campgrounds we checked out, none had an available site... all the FC/FS sites had been claimed by 0645 we were told. We explored further… definitely no sites in Glacier NP since only one campground was open. All the dispersed camping along the highway turnoffs were full. The commercial campgrounds were cheek and jowl. We finally resorted to luxury and made another night’s reservation at the Pine Lodge and continued on to Glacier National Park.
Only the West Glacier entrance to the park was open.
We were cautiously optimistic (Lord knows why) that perhaps the park would not be overcrowded. But, of course, like us, people have been cooped up for so long and just need to get out. We’ve done a good job so far in avoiding crowds and masses of people. Though the privately operated camp store and souvenir shops appeared to be doing a thriving business, most park services, including the Visitor’s Center, were closed.
Established in 1910 as America’s 10th national park, Glacier National Park encompasses 1,600 square miles of mountains, valleys and prairies. In 1932, Canada and the U.S. joined their parks to become the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a symbol of the long standing friendship between the two countries, ‘the world’s first international, transboundary park or preserve’.
Views from Going-to-the-Sun Road
Despite the closed services, the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass drive was open and afforded us at least a taste of what the park has to offer. This 50 mile circuitous road climbs past magnificent views of glacial lakes, mountains, flora and fauna. Usually, the road continues to adjoining Waterton Glacier National Park in Alberta, Canada, but this year the road is closed at the Pass. Due to the pandemic, Americans are not allowed across the Canadian border… for good reason.
The road was narrow with sharp curves and severe drop offs
We stopped at several roadside exhibits and turnouts to learn more about the park. Some we passed up, when there were too many people. There was considerable traffic, but no interminable lines to deal with as we crept higher and higher into the mountains. The views were stupendous.
A resident mountain goat was right at home in this mountainous terrain.
Weeping Wall offers free car washes… whether you want one or not.
The triple arches… a kudo to the engineers and men who designed and built this.
When we finally reached Logan Pass, the parking lot was packed. We found a place to park, but were leery of mingling too closely with the crowd. We thought we’d try the Hidden Lake Trail, but ended up turning back. First, there was still a significant amount of snow on the trail and most importantly, more and more people were trudging in the same direction. Looking for other possible trails, we learned that several were still closed due to the pandemic as well as heavy snow cover.
Logan Pass at last
Logan Pass Visitor Center… closed, but still crowded
It wasn’t a total loss, however. The mountainside was covered in wildflowers… glacier lilies and white pasque flowers were in such abundance it was an amazing sight.
Montana mandates mask-wearing and most stores and restaurants displayed a ‘no mask...no admittance’ sign. Cautious and smart, we thought. When we returned to Whitefish we were hoping to find a restaurant for dinner with an outside seating venue and we did. The Craggy Range Bar & Grill was about a mile from the hotel and we walked along a lovely riverside path to get there. The meal was good as was the local craft beer. Actually, it was probably nothing all that special in normal times, but since we hadn’t dined out since early March, we thought it was pretty outstanding.
We’re heading to Idaho next. Wanna come?