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Central Montana & Glacier National Park
September 3rd: On this leg of the trip we have been working our way from the smoke of Southwest Montana to cleaner air (for the most part)  Our travels have taken up from Seeley Lake up to Lake Alva (about 15 miles further north), to Hungry Horse Lake and then on into Glacier National Park where we camped for 7 days before heading down to Helena to catch up on laundry and wash our poor dirty truck.  Scan below for details on some of our hikes and locations.
This is Lake Alva .. about 15 miles north of Seeley Lake, we moved here because there was just too much noise at Seeley.  We spent 4 very peaceful and quiet days before Friday night when 2 very large families came in right next to us with all the toys, dogs, and 7 kids from ages 4 to 15.  The beauty of camping is we can easily pick up and move which we did on the 5th day!
 
And so we moved up the East shore of Hungry Horse Lake and found this wonderful camp site.  Cindy was walking the beach, it was a perfect day .. but then a bunch of drunks hit the lake down the shore from us .. the cops came and ran them out shortly, then later, another group came down with some drunk moms and screaming kids, luckily for a short time .. night was fine but we left early the next day for Glacier.  My patience is running short with inconsiderate people.
 
Our patience (or maybe it was lack of patience) is rewarded when we get to Glacier as we camped right on Two Medicine River in a very private spot.  Great neighbors, great weather, and perfectly quiet evenings!
This is the view from the back of where we were camped .. the mountain behind us is a feeding area for the bears (usually in the evening) and we have seen several including 1 grizzly.
Notice there is NO SMOKE!  The fires in Idaho have been terrible but we are far enough north to avoid the smoke.  A couple of days we had a little but not as bad as the rest of Montana and further south.  This view is on the way up to Logan Pass from the east side of Glacier.
Still on the way up .. we stopped at several pull-outs to view and take short walks to points of interest.
Our first hike in a long time .. from Logan Pass up to Hidden Lake.  About 3 1/2 miles round trip but nice to get the legs going again.  Not too crowded since we were early, but when we came down it was a zoo.
A mountain goat on the way up to Hidden Lake.  We also viewed some bighorn sheep but they were too far away for the camera (forgot the telephoto lens but don't think it would have helped).
This is the classic view of Two Medicine Lake .. taken as Cindy and I were headed up the trail to a place called Rockwell Falls.  In the evening we would go sit on a bench as the sun set and soak up the scene.
At Rockwell Falls, this was a 7 1/2 mile hike with only about 500 feet worth of elevation gain.  We were starting to get back into it.
My Chamber of Commerce photo of Rockwell Falls.
The next day we went up to the Many Glacier area for a hike to Ptarmigan Falls, this was the view early on in this hike.  Many Glacier is a very popular place because of scenery like this and the many trails that start off from the area.
We got up to the falls, nice but nothing spectacular (we must be getting too particular about our waterfalls), and then decided to keep going another 2 1/2 miles to a place called Iceberg Lake.
This is going on up to Iceberg Lake, it's behind what is known as The Garden Wall .. shear cliffs that come down .. what a treat!
The lake is behind the last ridge.  Cindy is doing great .. this hike is 1200 feet elevation gain and about 10 miles round trip.  It's the longest one we have tried in a couple of years because of my knees.
And here we are .. Iceberg Lake .. obviously named because there is usually ice in the lake since it gets little to no sun at any time of the year.  Also saw several Mountain Goats and Bighorn Sheep on this hike.
And then we ran into this guy who was trying to enjoy a meal and avoid us.  About 50 yards off the trail.  Of course, I worked my way up for a couple of pictures (no telephoto lens again ... rats).  This last one was when I knew I was too close!
Since we were so late in the season and also because of the unseasonable heat and dryness, we had seen very little wildflowers, but our added treat on the Iceberg Lake hike was being treated to these views around the lake.  This hike will go on our list of "best hikes".
We will leave Glacier on Labor Day to head down to Helena to plug in and catch up on laundry and look forward to taking some long showers.  We have "dry camped" on this trip far more than usual (that is camping in the trailer with no power, direct water, or sewer).  We have had very little cell service or internet service unless we drive down the mountain or go to a reasonable size town so we are looking forward to reconnecting when we get to Helena.
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