Montana and Glacier National Park

On the road to Kalispell.

We left McCullough Peaks in the evening before we were supposed to because we knew we had a long drive and thought we would knock a few hours out. We had a fabulous time in McCullough Peaks but, we were ready to move on. We spent the night at a rest area in Greycliff Montana. Leaving the night before and putting a few miles/hours behind us was a smart move–in our opinion. We still didn’t arrive at our campsite Three Bears RV Campgrounds until 5:00. Whew! It was a long haul.

After getting things set up we took a ride to Flathead Lake to take some pictures and chill.

After a restful evening we had a nice breakfast and headed to Whitefish to meet up with Lori and Kelly for lunch. We hung out for a little while downtown then went to Whitefish Lake and had a little photoshoot with Kelly, Lori, me and John.

After lunch at Food Truck Park we headed off to Glacier. Oh wait, John forgot his wallet so we had to head back to the campground to get his wallet–or I would have had to pay. lol Just kidding, he still had money but he wanted his license and credit cards–in case. In the meantime, Judy and Mike headed to Glacier and we planned to meet them at the top of the Road to the Sun. They had no service in the park and missed part of my message so they waited at the visitor center near the west entrance. John and I took some very misguided directions from WAZE and took more than an hour to get there. We did not realize the Road to the Sun is really the entire road that leads from the west entrance to the east entrance. We “guessed” the top would have been Logan’s Pass visitor center, that seemed to be at the “top” of the road. We got our park stamp–yes we have National Park Passports. After getting our stamp, going to the bathroom we decided to head down. On the way down, we saw Mike and Judy heading up. Everyone turned around and we missed each other again. So we all went to Glacier but we didn’t hang out. Regardless, we all had a good time. And our GPS took us out another way and it only took us 30 minutes to get back to camp. Oh, on the way down-the second time- we saw a grizzly cub.

When you are on the wrong side of the road, facing the wrong way, you get a butt shot.

We went from sunny to rainy to sunny to rainy. No matter the weather Glacier National Park is magnificent.

McCullough Peaks

The view from our trailer.

We spent 3 days in McCullough Peaks. The view from our camper was incredible and the silence was like something you can never experience in a city or even a small town. There is something about sitting there enjoying the view and just hearing birds sing and the wind blow. We arrived ahead of schedule because I did not look at the calendar and just thought the 27th was Wednesday. So we rushed to make sure we arrived when our camping buddies were due to arrive. Needless to say they arrived a day later.

While we waited we searched for the wild mustangs that roam this land. McCullough Peaks is made up of 25,000+ acres of BLM land. We had spent a couple days out here last year when we went to Yellowstone. So we were pros now. We headed out to the “usual” spots that we saw horses but, funny how that works. You go one time and think you know it all. It took a while but we finally found some. First we found 3 horses hanging out not far from our camp. We are assuming those are the ones that visited us the night before. Then we roamed all over the property and we saw about 7 in the very far distance. While trying to figure out how to get to those horses, we discovered more than 30 horses much closer to us. We found our way to them and I had a ball.

This is the first group of 3 we found.

Driving around McCullough Peaks is really hard work. The roads are rough–I had to purchase a sports bra- there are all kind of ruts and steep hills and scary slopes. But it is still fun. You have to stay on the paths that are there so it makes it difficult to get where you have to go.

This is the terrain we are driving on.

Judy an Mike finally arrived about 9:00 PM Thursday night. They had had a long three or four days of traveling. They were hungry and tired. We threw some hot dogs in a pan (because it is so windy you can’t keep the grill going), while Mike and Judy set up their camp. After their quick dinner we toasted with some “blush” sparkling juice. (Apple and cherry which was really delicious)

The next morning we set out to find some horses. . .

I won’t bore you with the 400+ pictures I took. There were some times they were just too close to get pictures. At one point Judy and I wandered up the road to get a better angle and we took some shots and started talking when we heard John screaming to move. Three horses were coming right at us. I never moved so fast–ok that’s a lie. I moved much faster in my younger days. When I run now, I don’t move faster I just seem to put a bounce in my steps. John can always tell when I am running because my boobs bounce. That’s the only difference between my walk and run. Anyway, I didn’t even watch for cactus–luckily I didn’t step on any. I wish John had a picture of that. Later that night we went back to see if we could get some more pictures and that large group totally disappeared. We couldn’t find them anywhere. It’s amazing how fast they can disappear.

It was a great time–just love this place–but we are headed out. Next stop Glacier National Park.

McCullough Peaks

Before I even start I have to go backwards a bit. While we were in Wall we found a quilt store. It has to be the tiniest quilt store in the world.

This is half the store. Sorry, I thought I got a picture of the entire store but it was just next to the sign. In this tiny store–which was probably about 20×16–she had a longarm machine. She had one or two shelves with fabric and some fat quarters and panels. The lady was super nice–will stop again if I am ever in the area.

We left the Badlands and headed to McCullough Peaks where we will be until the 29th. John and I had two gps’ going–because we like to see the different routes. His was taking us from I90 to HWY 14 whereas mine was taking us I90 to HWY 16. My route was shorter so we opted for that. In addition there were several large billboards making note that HWY 14 to Yellowstone is less steep and more scenic. This was a no brainer. That is until we went to make our turn and there was a sign stating there was road damage and it advises you take another route. Though it was really scenic–it ended up taking us about 2 hours longer. We did stop along the way at a scenic overlook to have lunch and enjoy the view.

We arrived at McCullough Peaks and there was a truck blocking the entrance so we went up ahead to another location. Though the other location was quite beautiful, it was going to be a pain every time we went out. That location did not have any roads that led deeper into the area–it just led to a great campsite. We waited until the truck moved and went back to the main entrance. We found the site we used last year and dropped the trailer, then headed off to look for some wild mustangs. Naturally we went to all the areas we searched last year–where we saw them–but there were no signs. I know John loves driving around on these dirt roads but let me tell you ladies, wear a sports bra. I had to hold these puppies down, they were bouncing so hard I was afraid I would get a couple of black eyes.

After our off road adventure, John wanted to go into Cody to get some Huckleberry ice cream so we took a drive into town. Cody is only about 30 minutes from here.

We went to the Bigg Chill downtown and John got his White Chocolate Huckleberry ice cream and I got the Bourbon Maple Pecan. Not that I needed it-but it was worth it.

We came back to camp about 10:00 and I was ready for bed. It had been a long day. I know my kids are laughing at this–me going to bed at 10:00 but, I hardly fell asleep on the drive here so, I was exhausted. John went outside and I could hear him calling me but more at a whisper. The horses were right next to the campground. I could hardly see them but, John was like a little kid–he was so excited. And he is snapping away with his phone.

If you zoom you can kind of see them. Hopefully we will get some great shots today.

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