September 1, 2010 Westbound on Going to the Sun Highway

OK, I thought we would end up in OZ-the wind really howled, trailer creaked, bumps in the night-finally quiet. Morning was calm, sun, we had a leisurely breakfast as the weather changed again with wind and rain. Waited awhile, then came a break in the action and we put the trailer down for our 24 hour absence.

We headed out on the Going to the Sun highway. This road is a national historic engineering landmark and is undergoing a several year reconstruction. We passed several stops, but said, hey, weather has to be better coming back, we will stop then. As we ascended towards the continental divide, the weather deteriorated. When we reached Logan Pass, we were in the clouds and it was cold. The weather improved as we went westbound, but it was not as scenic as the eastern side of the divide.

We did stop at a popular hiking spot called Avalanche Creek. We took a hike on the Trail of the Cedars. This was old growth cedar that had not been burned. Very green and lush, like a rain forest. Nice waterfall, trees and a deer lurking near the campground.

We stopped and took some pictures along Lake McDonald and drove down to the Western Gate and returned about 10 miles to the Lake McDonald Lodge where we were staying for the night. We had dinner at the Lodge and the sky cleared, so we took a hour long boat ride on the lake. Beautiful scenery and we saw an eagle.

No WIFI here at the Lodge, nor cell phone. It is really strange to be without both. But we survived.