By Wayne Brew | September 18, 2017

On to Glacier National Park

Day 8 allowed me to explore central Montana as I made my way south to Billings to pick up a friend who decided to join me for a week on the road. We got back to Route 2 on day 9 which took us into Glacier National Park to an old railroad lodge, Izaak Walton, built in 1939. We had enough daylight left to explore West Glacier where Lake McDonald is located. On-going forest fires closed the western loop road.

We awakened to a coating of snow on day 10, but the roads were good. We drove to East Glacier and headed North along the eastern edge of the park to the loop road (going to the Sun Road) to explore the glacier landforms and to see Jackson Glacier, the only one visible from a road. What we found out is that to get close to glaciers you must hike at least 6 miles (each way) to get close. We decided that a 12-mile hike in snow and high winds was not a good idea. The fireplace, outdoor hot tub, and great food at the lodge made up for the disappointment of getting up close to a glacier.

The Channeled Scablands

A long drive on day 11 brought us to Coulee City, Washington, which is in the middle of an amazing landscape called the Channeled Scablands. This area includes the Grand Coulee Dam and Dry Falls. The scablands were carved out in a series of catastrophic floods when ice dams during the glacier period block large lakes of melt water and the dams failed and flooded the whole region. There are canyons carved into the basalt bedrock, large boulders carried by water dropped called erratics, and most spectacular of all dry falls. The dry falls are much larger than Niagara Falls at 3.5 miles across and 400 feet deep.

Seattle

After a long drive through the spectacular landscape of eastern Washington and Steven’s Pass on route 2 we ended up in Everett, Washington. This is the western terminus of Route 2. A short drive south to the Seattle Airport allowed to spend a leisurely day in Seattle. I have not been in Seattle since 1979 when I hitchhiked into town. A ferry ride to Bainbridge Island provides spectacular views of the city. The public market area and waterfront was crowded and we found the Pioneer Square area a great place to hang out.