Wild Goose Island.

It didn’t take us long to get to St. Mary campground. As I pulled up to the ranger booth I asked the little girl if we had the best site in the campground. She assured me that we had. She lied.

I’d like to think that a reservation made 6 months prior would enable someone to get a decent site with a tree, perhaps. But no. What we did get was a bunch of scrub brush at site A31. On the positive side, we were close to a stream that fed the St., Mary River, the bathrooms, trash and water. Considering we also had a lovely view of the mountains, I guess it was OK for our purposes.

We decided to go with the Coleman 3-person tent instead of the spacious 5-person for the auto camping portion of the trip. Besides saving valuable truck space, it took us about 2 minutes to put up. Combined with a queen-sized air mattress, our accommodations were very livable.

Once the tent was up and all unnecessary gear stowed at the camp site, we decided to begin seeing what all the hoopla was about. I originally thought we’d spend the afternoon catching up on sleep, but we were both geeked up that a lack of sleep was not a problem. We were ready to see what this remarkable park had to offer. Our first stop on the Going to the Sun Road was the Wild Goose island overlook.

We then made the short hike from the Sun road down to St. Mary Lake, stopping along the way to admire Baring Falls. At the time I remember thinking that nothing could be more beautiful than the lake glistening in the western sun. Quite the sight, but there would be plenty more to take our breath away. We hopped across the road and took at peek at Sunrift Gorge. It’s amazing what water can do when given a few thousand years.

As we moved further west along the road I had to suppress the urge to snap off pictures seemingly every minute. Seeing the trailhead signs along the way reminded that in only two days we would get our pictures.

It was a little too cloudy to make out Jackson Glacier when we stopped at the overlook, but we knew we’d get another chance. We pushed our way up to Logan Pass, past the Weeping Wall, in hopes that we might find a parking spot at the visitor center. Since it was around 2 PM I I didn’t have much hope. I proved to be right, so we crossed the continental divide and continued downward past the Garden Wall, the Loop, Packers Roost and down to McDonald Creek. Here Yumi got to feel what ice water feels like when you wade into it. It was cold, but very refreshing.

In just a few minutes we arrived at Avalanche Creek and decided to do the 4.5 mile round trip to Avalanche Lake. I can’t remember what the elevation gain for this short hike was, but I was again a little worried about my fitness when I found myself a little short of breath at times. Not a good sign, but I passed it off as road fatigue and forged on towards the lake.

After about an hour we were rewarded with one of the most beautiful lakes I’d ever seen. It seemed like two dozen waterfalls were cascading down the cirque surrounding the lake. The sound of the water was audible even though the falls were a good distance awayacross the lake. The size of the cirque was something a picture on the Internet could not convey. All in all an unforgettable sight that surpassed every picture I’d seen.

The trip on he way back was highlighted by a huge mule deer that seemed to walk with us back to the trailhead while grazing on whatever deer eat. He showed no fear of humans, nor did he even give us a look as he continued to forage for his dinner.

Since it was getting late we decided to get back to the other side of the park and make our own dinner. By 6:35 we were back at our windy camp site and started cooking. Yumi was not really a camper at the time we left, but she did have smarts. Her idea to open a can of Dinty Moore beef sew for our first night’s dinner was brilliant. Canned food never tasted better, and the clean up was a snap.

We decided that it was early enough to take a shower in order to avoid the throngs to come later. The only reason we decided to make the reservation at St. Mary was because of its close proximity to the showers at Rising Sun. Cyber-buddy Mark (aka “Glacierhiker”) had told me this wasn’t the prettiest of campgrounds, but Yumi needs her comforts so St. Mary got the call.

We purchased our shower tokens at the Rising sun camp store and walked around the building to the showers. I guess we were spoiled by the bank of showers at the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone last summer because we were shocked to find but 2 public showers. Not really a big deal because there were only 2 people in line ahead of us. As we waited our turn we chatted with other smelly people about the park and the sights.

Finally it was my turn to insert my precious shower token into the machine. I showered, shaved for the first and last time during the trip and generally improved my odor. When I got out I knew there was trouble. Yumi was fuming. It seems that the shower malfunctioned just after she shampooed her hair. Believe me, she has a lot of hair, so there was a lot of shampoo in her mane. There was also a lot of fury in her voice. I’d never seen her so angry over something so seemingly trivial, but here she was seething. I eventually was able to calm her down and told her I’d take her to the St. Mary KOA where she could get a shower. Though the showers cost $5 for non-KOA kampers, I just told her to use the damn shower. She did---even though there was no hot water. Yikes, it’s going to be a long night. Sorry KOA, but we cannot endorse your shower facilities at the St. Mary unit.

Thoroughly pissed off, Yumi decided to hit the sack at about 10:00 even though it was still light out enough to read by. We fell asleep pretty quickly and rested well until strong winds and some rain buffeted the tent in the early morning hours. The tent survived and so did we though I was beginning to wonder after some of the gusts we took.