Had another wonderful pancake breakfast at the motel, then got rolling. First on the agenda was a stop at the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning. I had no idea what was there, but it looked like a cool place to stop on the way. They had just opened as I arrived. It's not a very big place, nor as "refined" as the Buffalo Bill Museum in Wyoming, but it is free, which is worth many extra points in my book. There were many displays of clothing, utensils, religious objects, and the other items used in the daily life of the various Plains Indian tribes. Along the walls behind glass were intricate dioramas depicting "normal village life", "moving the village", "a war party", etc. One room contained a small gallery featuring works by Native American artists, some for sale, some not. For those with room to pack things, the gift shop was well stocked with beautiful Native American crafts, and last but not least, a decent selection of books. After an hour of browsing I continued on to Glacier National Park.
Glacier National Park is just as scenic as Yellowstone used to be, but it's much less visited. Unfortunately, my visit was about a week too early. The "Going to the Sun Road", which takes you right across the heart of the park, was still undergoing snow removal. I was able to drive up a ways, but too far back to do any viewing of the glaciers. Jackson Glacier was supposed to be visible from the road, but when a glacier is covered by snow, it doesn't look any different than the surrounding areas that are also covered by snow, especially from 5 miles away. Many of the campgrounds were still closed. The Rising Sun campground had only 1 of 4 camping loops open, but there was still room for me.
In Glacier Park, unlike Yellowstone, motorcyclists
can use the hiker/biking campsites, for a reduced rate of $3.00 per
night. My wallet contained only Twenty dollar traveler's checks by
this time, so I stuffed $2.97 in nickles, dimes, and pennies into the
envelope. It was so fat I barely managed to cram it into the
collection box slot. Guilt overcame me the next morning on my way
out, so I dropped 3 "recently discovered" pennies into the slot.
My stay in Glacier was limited to just driving around and enjoying the scenery. Hiking was allowed on the Going to the Sun Road up to the point where it was blocked off, so I trekked up, watched a bit of the snow removal effort, ate a quick lunch, then hiked back down. Not too exciting, but the exercise was welcome. Sure don't want to end up needing a Harley Fatboy.
After a full day of sightseeing and pictures (unfortunately, I lost this roll of film), I fired up the cookstove and heated up some water to warm up a couple of packs of MRE "Chicken with Rice". For those of you who have never eaten MRE's, they are actually pretty good. You can usually find a dozen or more entrees on the market at any given time. Mine were mail ordered from an outfit in Utah and one in the Midwest somewhere a few years ago. The normal shelf life is 7 years, but they will last longer if you keep them cool. The oldest that I have consumed was in a friends closet for 6 years followed by 4 years in my desk! It was still tasty and didn't make me ill. They are not freeze dried, they are ready to eat (MRE=Meals Ready to Eat). They can also be eaten cold if you have no cooking equipment. Not only can you buy entrees (usually between $1.00 to $1.50 each), but side dishes, bread, crackers, cheese spread, peanut butter, cookie and brownie bars, powdered drinks, fruit packs, and various other condiments are also availabe from time to time on the market.
After dinner I did a little exploring, trying to locate the river or creek that was running nearby. Turns out the sound was coming from the Rose Creek.
It had temporarily rerouted itself through the Campgrounds, which explained why most of the loops were closed. There was no way to get across it without getting wet, so I gave up any further exploring.
Since there was no Ranger show, I did a little reading, set my alarm for midnight, then hit the sack.
The alarm jolted me from a deep sleep, but I bundled up anyway and went outside. Stretching out on the picnic table, I just layed there and enjoyed that vast star filled sky. The last time I'd seen that many stars was on a Boy Scout camping trip about 30 years ago. It's easy to forget just how impressive the sky can be once you get away from the air and light pollution. It sets your mind wandering and pondering when you're able to view the vast ocean of stars and galaxies that clearly. I'm sure that if you could take everyone in the world, stick them out in Montana, then have them watch the night sky for a week or so, it would improve things dramatically.
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