East Glacier, Two Medicine, Issac Walton & Goats

2011-06-10 We’ve Got Sunshine

It starts getting light about 4:15 AM and I was up and at it at 6:00 this morning. I took George out for his morning sniff & pee. It was clear and sunny and promised to be a nice day.

We started out at 9:15 with Mark & Sandi in our truck. We were going south on Hwy 89 and there were a lot of motorcycles passing us on this hilly and windy road. About 16 miles north of the town of Browning we came upon several bikes parked on the shoulder and one bike laying down and its rider on his back on the ground about 50 feet ahead of the bike.

I parked the truck off the road and got out to see what the situation was. The bike rider was conscious, but he was hurting big time. I asked him if he could move his legs and he said he didn’t want to. His hip was hurt, his left leg was bent seemingly normal at the knee, his right leg was straight, his right hand banged up and his teeth hurt.

I called 911 and reported the location of the accident and requested an ambulance. The other bikers were going to stay with him and there really wasn’t anything more I could do, so I told him that medical help was on the way and that we were leaving. A few miles down the road we pulled over for a north bound police car responding and a few minutes later the ambulance went by. The bikers were being followed by a truck and trailer to handle breakdowns so they would take care of his bike.

We made it to East Glacier Lodge and went inside to check it out. This is one of the great lodges of North America. Built in the 1920’s it is of the style and grandeur of the rustic lodges being built by the railroads of the time.

We then went to Two Medicine Lake. The campground there is not open as yet. The area is very pretty and there is a nice store near the lake. Still a lot of snow still to melt in this area.

From there we continued west on Hwy 2 down around the bottom of GNP. We were looking for Goat Lick Overlook, but didn’t see a sign for the turn off. We turned off at Essex and went to the Isaac Walton Hotel. This quaint hotel was built by the Great Northern Railroad for its employees to use while working the line through this part of the Rocky Mountains. Today it is a pricey little hotel with a railroad theme. They have added several caboose and even a diesel locomotive that have all been converted to hotel rooms/suites.

While there we asked the desk clerk about Goat Lick Overlook and he told us it was just 2.5 miles east of the Walton Ranger Station. He said the sign for the turn off had been removed last winter and it had not been replaced as yet.

We found the turn off and walked down to the path to the observation area. We saw a nanny with a kid on the side of the cliff. The mother goat was licking the mineral rich side of the cliff and her baby was sticking close to her.

Mark climbed up a little trail to see what he could see up under the highway overpass. This is a cut through for the wild life so they don’t have to cross the highway and deal with the traffic. He motioned me to come up and when I got there he pointed out two large males that were making their way under the bridge.

A few miles east we stopped at Silver Stairs Falls, a beautiful waterfall just off the highway.

When we got back to our camp we fried a bag of the crappie we had brought with us and had a great meal, played euchre and then turned in.

Later,

Gary

Jun 10, 2011

Show all 23 photos