Day 17: 8/15/09 - West Glacier, MT

22 local miles: still camped at West Glacier, MT

Well, my 4th day at glacier, and the 4th day of rain!! Some of the rain was just a light drizzle, while there was one torrential downpour. Right now at 7:30 in the evening the sun is shinning. The campground I'm staying is one of the best in my travels. For my Northern NY friends, it reminds me a great deal of Blake or Cranberry Lake. Many RV parks today tend to be open and plain. This one is very wooded and still hangs on to the older style of park. In fact, their slogan is "Camping the way it used to be."

I'll post a couple more of the photos Cory and I took on the Going to the Sun drive. This one is the Jackson Glacier. It is the fifth largest glacier in the park, but is shrinking rapidly. There are 27 glaciers in the park now, compared to an estimated 150 in 1850. Park scientists are estimating that based on the current rate, all of the park's glaciers will be gone by 2030.

This picture shows and area that was burned in 2003. That year turned out to be a very historic year for fires. On average, about 5,000 acres are burned each year by fire, usually started by lightning. In 2003, over 145,000 acres burned. The 2003 fire was the largest one since the benchmark year of 1910 As you can see, while the dead trees are still standing, there is a lot of regrowth occurring. In fact, much of the ecology of Glacier depends on fire to kill off old, weak trees and replace them with new growth. Also, with the new growth, new species of animals return to the area to feed on the new plants and insects.

OK, enough of the science lessons.

Cory was up, packed, and out by 8:00 this morning. I had a wonderful time with him. And the two dogs got along great. In fact, Zoey has been laying around all day bored. Today was a lazy day for me too. I cleaned up the camper after having lived with two wet dogs for a few days. I took a long nap. I surfed the internet planning my next few days itinerary. I read by the campfire between rains. And I shopped for souvenirs and groceries. I'm pretty well packed and set to leave first thing Sunday morning.

My plan is to take Route 2 east across northern Montana and North Dakota. I'd like to visit the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota on Monday. By Wednesday night I'm hoping to stay with some long time friends, originally from Gouverneur, who live in Iowa.

I'll stay in touch.....