THE BASE AND SUNDANCE!
8/24/17-8/31/17
Malmstrom AFB in
Great Falls, MT. doesn't take reservations and arriving at (off-base)
"FamCamp" we were told there were no openings. We were directed to the on base RV park where
we'd stay for the next week. This proved
to be a better choice for us because of base activities, proximity to the
commissary and gas station.
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| A smoke filled view from our RV site |
Fires continued to
ravage many areas of this beautiful state and the smoke was thick almost daily
but we didn't let it damper our plans.
The Air Force Base was yards from the Missouri River where Lewis and
Clarks expedition of 1805 faced the "Great Falls". They camped and dealt with wildlife finally
surpassing 18 miles of rough terrain while working their way around the
falls. They were the first white men to
see the falls originally discovered by the Indians.
Ryan Dam was built in the early 1900's to
provide power to the town of Great Falls.
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| The Great Falls and Ryan Dam |
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| A Montana sunset |
The Montana sunsets
were amazing! Malmstom AFB is an active
military base with reveille at 7:30am and Taps played at 4:30pm. The base takes care of their military members
and families by offering an annual picnic and free concert. Being within walking distance we participated
in both events. The picnic offered free
bratwurst, hamburgers, salads and drinks not to mention great prize
giveaways. Sunday, I attended an outdoor
mass said by a young, enthusiastic priest!
We were excited knowing for weeks, Sundance Head (last years winner of
The Voice-we're fans) would be giving a free concert to the military. It was hot that day and didn't want to get to
the outdoor venue too early, so we arrived forty-five minutes early placing our
lawn chairs near the stage. We decided
to stay cool in the nearby bar/lounge and no sooner did we walk in, Sundance
walks in the building where we had our picture taken with him. He is from Houston and during this time the
city was going through the devastating Hurricane Harvey. Sadly he said he and his family lost their
home. Some of Perry's family members
live in Houston and they fortunately fared better than thousands of others.
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| Church outside |
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| It was hot that day but Sundance was "cool"! |
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| An amazing performance |
We enjoyed an hour
and a half free performance of the pure country guitar playing and vocals of
Sundance. We were a fan a year ago and
remain even stronger fans after his amazing performance!
Glacier National Park
Not long ago, Perry
and I decided to take the 2 1/2 hour drive to Glacier National Park after the
grueling task of finding a place to stay. Everything was booked! We were looking for a lodge, hotel or cabin
that took dogs and I was about to give up when a young gal told me she had one
small deluxe cabin left at a KOA ….done…pricey…and booked!
While touring the
city of Great Falls before our side trip to Glacier, I needed to buy a hiking
hat so we stopped at a sporting goods store.
Earlier in Billings, Perry bought one for me (also at a sporting goods
store) but it was a child's size.
Arriving at the store in Great Falls, we realized it was the same store,
therefore I could exchange it. Next to
the check out counter was a rather large rack of Bear Spray cans. Hmmmm, Glacier National Park? Yellowstone?
hiking? This $20 purchase would be worth
a piece of mind, and I pray I don't have to use it!
It was an easy but
smoky drive up to Glacier National Park.
The higher we climbed in elevation, the clearer it got revealing the
spectacular tall jagged peaks that reminded me of the Swiss Alps.
Our Four Seasons
rate (but NOT Four Seasons) cabin was cute but small with only a full sized
futon and bunk beds. We decided to let
Perry be comfortable and take the futon and I would take the bottom bunk. I
didn't mind the bottom bunk (hit my head once) but ended up sharing it with
Daisy (the bed hog)!
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| A first glimpse of Glacier National Park |
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| A different view |
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| Our cozy cabin |
The dogs would stay
in the cabin the next day while Perry and I hiked. The KOA provided doggy day care so we knew
they were in good hands. The National
Park Service in Glacier offers a free shuttle stopping at various stops up the
mountain on the east side of Glacier National Park with its' final stop being
Logan Pass at 6500 feet. With my bear
spray carefully tucked away in my backpack and my new hiking hat, we were ready
for our 550 foot climb up the mountain.
The arduous climb indicated what kind of shape I was in as I huffed and
puffed (the smoky air didn't help) with stops along the way. People from all over the world (China,
France, India, Great Britain), kept us company as we hiked towards St. Mary's
lookout (a steady 1 1/2 mile climb up)
and if we wanted to hike further, a steep 1 1/2 mile descent down to the lake. People stopped to take pictures of three mountain goats one half mile from us, when someone pointed out a mountain goat on our trail three feet ahead.
It did feel like we were in the Alps and
apparently I wasn't the only one as a man pointed out to his children "It
feels like we're in "The Sound of Music".
I couldn't agree more! We knew our legs would
be hurting the next day, but the marmot, goat, beautiful wildflowers and
trickling streams made it worthwhile.
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| A hike up to Logans Pass |
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| A brook along the trail |
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| Some shrinking glaciers |
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| A warning about fires and bears! |
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| "High on the hill is a lonely goat" |
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| One of many marmots at 6,000 ft. |
Unfortunately as we headed down the mountain, the smoke from the fires
on the west side of Glacier blew in making the air thick clouding our
view. It was hot and we were low on
water but determined to find the picnic area to break out our sandwiches. We got off at the St. Mary's falls location
(we didn't see picnic tables) and thought it was a short distance to the
falls. It was another mile to the falls
(a mile back up), our legs were sore, low on water and the trail was hot and
dry surrounded by previously burnt trees.
We decided to hike back up to another parking lot thinking we could
catch the shuttle from that location.
Looking at the map, the next shuttle pick up was a half-mile from where
we were. We had no choice ( I considered
sticking my thumb out to the cars on the road), we walked along the road until
we came to the picnic tables and shuttle
pick up.
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| Our smoke filled air on our descent |
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| Finally-take us and our sore feet to the car! |
What a
day..... sore feet, achy knees and smoke filled lungs! We felt good about our near five mile hike
and after a cold drink planned out our next big hike during our stay in
Yellowstone.
Off to Three Forks, Montana!
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