Thursday, July 24, 2014

Saint Mary Campground, Glacier National Park, MT

Polebridge Mercantile, Polebridge, MT
Thursday, July 24, 2014, Saint Mary Campground, Glacier National Park, MT - 1.7 miles, 13,476.4 For the Trip

I woke up to a rainbow over the KOA (well, the mountains behind it). I hung around the campground, including taking a shower since I didn't want to get to the National Park campground too early. Their check out time is 12:00. I arrived after the shortest drive of the trip at 10:30, but there was still someone in the site. I sat around in an empty site reading until they left. After setting up in site C142 (at $14.00 per night with the Senior Pass), I walked down to the bathrooms & made a discovery - since my last stay they have added showers!

I then headed into Saint Mary (the town) to buy a quart of milk, dropped it off in the fridge, then headed to Polebridge, MT by way of the Going to the Sun Road for a cinnamon roll. Yes, it is a little silly to drive 71 miles (each way) for a cinnamon roll, so I also bought a sticky bun and something new, a monkey something or other that looks like a combination of a cinnamon roll & sticky bun.

Going to the Polebridge Mercantile has been a tradition over our many trips to Glacier, so I couldn't skip it, besides, they are good enough to be worth the trip. While some of the drive is still dirt road, the paved section near Polebridge has been greatly improved over the last time I was here.

Of course I had to stop & take a bunch of photos on the way & way back. It was very windy, both along the drive, and at the campground, although a bit less at Apgar. The weather also changed along the way, going from sunshine to heavy rain, hail, and complete cloud cover. More photos at today's LakeshoreImages post.

Dinner was the rest of the walnut cinnamon roll that I started (and got all over the driver's seat) on the way back - they are so good you can't wait, and a southwest salad. Now I'm sitting in a rocking trailer hoping the wind dies down over night. There are a bunch of tents blown down in the campground, although a number have stayed up. Probably a good test of which brands can deal with 30 - 60MPH winds!

Until tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. We're headed that way in a couple weeks. I've been monitoring the Glacier campground website to see what time the various campgrounds typically fill up. I noticed that St Mary's filled up at 10:00 a.m. on the day you arrived. It sounds like the info on the website might be off. Did you have a problem securing a site?

    Thanks in advance.

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    1. It may be difficult to get to St Mary campground early enough to get a site the day of arrival, however I stopped at the campground booth and asked for a 2 day site starting on the following day. I don't believe you can register the day before on line or over the phone, but at the campground it is possible, even on a weekend.

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