I did get to Apgar by 10:00AM & drove through Loop A, the one closest to Lake McDonald & the one I wanted to stay in. It was full, but just like the first time I was at Zion National Park, someone moved to a better site (for them) and offered me their old site. I guess I'm just lucky! Anyhow, I'm in site A53 for the next 3 days. It's a pull through site that is plenty large enough for the trailer & RAV4; the only reason the last people gave it up is it isn't all that level & they had a class B van - they had to level their van every time they came back from a drive. Since the trailer only gets set up once, it is no problem for me.
After setting up camp & took a walk to Lake McDonald. I stopped at the boat dock where I took one of my favorite photos (it is the one I use for my "business card" (in quotes because I don't really have a business, but they are handy when someone asks for the website link or under rare circumstances, wants to buy a photo). It is the photo over the link to State & National Parks on my homepage. The old dock has been replaced with a larger & less attractive one, so I went looking for a good location to duplicate the image. The best I found is in back of the lake front motel.
After that I went to Polebridge. I've been told by more than one Glacier visitor that you are not "official" until you make the drive to Polebridge & buy a Cinnamon Roll at the Polebridge Mercantile. It is a 24 mile drive, a portion on good road, another portion a good gravel road, and the final section a heavily potholed "barely paved" road. Although I've seen many complaints about the road, 've driven far worse on this trip!
The Polebridge Mercantile is a busy place that sells limited groceries & camping supplies and had a very good bakery. I had a hot roast beef sandwich (pretty good) a cinnamon roll (excellent) and a sticky bun that I will try tonight. Most of the trees on the way out to Polebridge are dead. Not sure if it is fire or insect damage, but while it does let you see Lake McDonald on the first part of the drive, the dead trees don't look all that attractive in photographs. Of course, a mixed blessing - if the trees were alive you wouldn't be able to see the lake at all.
After that it is back to the campground and time to kick back for the afternoon.
Till later or tomorrow -
Glad you got to Polebridge, Jon! They must have fixed the road since we were there 12 years ago. I can still smell the baked goods and still taste the apple turnover I had the morning we were there.
ReplyDeleteI told another couple about it, and they went to dinner up there at the restaurant and said they had the best steak they ever ate! I see from ratings that it doesn't reflect their experience. I'm enjoying your blog.