We awoke to a drippy day. It had rained all night and it wasn’t letting up. We chose to eat breakfast inside and not out on the patio.
Rain or shine, I was determined to show Dianne at least a part of Glacier National Park, even if we had to do it with the windscreen wipers blasting away. Fortunately, the rain stopped by the time we reached West Glacier.
We entered the park and began driving up the Going to the Sun Road, which follows the edge of Lake McDonald. Peaks poked skyward from across the smooth surface of the lake.
At the north end of the lake, we turned into the lodge area and walked over to the Camp Store. A victim of spousal abuse, I wasn’t allowed to purchase a beautiful ceramic coffee mug.
We strolled past rows of inviting, lakeside cabins…
…and ended up at Lake McDonald Lodge where years ago I spent a night when I was here researching a story.
The lodge doesn’t open until tomorrow, but we were able to poke our heads in for a quick look at the lobby of this onetime hunting lodge.
We continued up the road, stopping several times to admire views of McDonald Creek cascading down the valley.
I kept hoping we’d see a kayaker paddle down the plunging cascades, but it never happened.
It’s early season, and the road over Logan Pass was still awaiting the snowplows. We could only drive as far as Avalanche Creek.
We stopped there and took a short hike down the Trail of the Cedars, an easy-to-navigate boardwalk nature trail.
While I might prefer slickrock desert canyons, the views through the forest were beautiful in a greenish sort of way.
Our trail soon reached Avalanche Gorge where the creek plunges through a slot carved through the rocks.
From here, the trail looped back toward the campground…
…where Subie remained parked beside a puddle.
With skies clearing, we made several photo stops…
…on our way back to the south end of Lake McDonald.
After dinner, we drove back to our hotel, where the skies still remained overcast and dripping.
Maybe tomorrow, the weather will be dryer.