Way back in 2019, I had this great idea to travel to Glacier NP via train from Seattle. The real idea was to bring our backpacks on the train with us and then just go backpacking straight from the railroad station, but a small child and the desire to do other stuff besides backpacking sent us on a different path.
Instead, we took the train and Angela’s parents drove out to meet us. Angela and I were going to go backpacking for a few days, and then tour around the park for the rest of the week before boarding the train back to Seattle.
2013-07-06
The east-bound “Empire Builder” Amtrack train going to Glacier departs in the early evening, so we packed up our bags and hoped in a cab down to the train station for a 5p departure. The King street railroad station is a historic monument and it is beautiful. It’s right in the middle of downtown Seattle, so there is a bit of riff-raff but you could see how this would have been a marvel back in the day.
Sara richly enjoyed herself in the station. I think she saw us looking up at the ornate decorations on the ceiling, so she started to do the same. And then I think she enjoyed getting a little dizzy… :)
She also got some time in the backpack as we sorted through what we were going to do with our backpacks and bags and the like. The station where we were departing, East Glacier, didn’t allow you to check bags so we had to carry everything on with us.
We boarded the train, unpacked our stuff, and got settled. The first hour or so of the trip (on the way to Everett), goes directly through downtown, past our house, and then north along the water up to Everett.
Sara loves small spaces - so the single room for all three of us to hang out and sleep was just perfect for her. She really loved looking out the window - especially with her Giraffee. We basically spent the next two hours walking up and down the train and then looking out the window for a while. She had a rolling commentary of everything she saw.
We brought along some legos, and Sara did some lego playing too along the way - perfect space for it.
We fell asleep around 9p, with the train rolling under our feet. Turns out that the train stops in Spokane for a few hours - waiting to meet up with a train from Portland and for a freight train to get out of the way (freight trains get priority over passenger trains - I had no idea, crazy!). I woke around 1a when the train stopped and did some googling to figure out what was going on…
2013-07-07
We woke the following morning and made our way down to early breakfast at around 6:30a. The train from Portland has a car with windows all around to look out, so we had some coffee there before packing up. Our stop was scheduled for 8a - so we made our way down to the door and got our bags staged.
We got kicked off the train and the train was on it’s way before we knew what hit us. The lodge is a short walk away - which was good because Angela’s parents had not yet arrived. There is a little car rental place here - which might be interesting for next time…
The Glacier National Park lodge had a lot of promise - it was built at the same time as the railroad with the idea being that people would stay here when they came to visit the park by train. It was nice on the surface - the frame looked like a big log cabin and it had a sort of grand, turn of the century, look. It was a bit lacking on the inside however - a remodel in the 70s probably that hadn’t been touched since. It was an ok hotel, but it didn’t have all the same grandeur of something like the old faithful inn.
We made our way into the little quirky town nearby and stopped off at a beer garden for a little while. There were quite a few of these little fun shops with their own character - for example, a spoon shop with the largest “purple” spoon. We hung out here for the rest of the afternoon, doing a short hike around and then back to the lodge.
Sara got her giraffee all setup in the backpack. She was very proud of this - such a busy body!
2013-07-08
We met up with Angela’s parents in the morning (who were staying at a campground just outside the park at west glacier) and they took Sara and drove us around to the start of our backpacking trip. It was raining buckets this morning, but we were hoping (beyond hope) that the rain would not last - spoiler alert, it did.
We saw some fun stuff along the way - including a little owl hanging out in a tree trying to avoid the rain.
And a little Marmot hanging out on the rocks & field near the top of our climb.
We arrived at our first camp - Head Bowman Lake Camp - around noon and Angela had already had enough. We made lunch and then Angela opted to head back out the same day instead of staying the night. I was a bit bummed out, but there was nothing to be done so we hiked back out that same day. There was a small shop right near the trailhead (name I can’t remember) and we were able to get service and call Angela’s parents to pick us up before it turned dark.
2013-07-09
The following day, it was still very rainy. We took Sara on a short/rainy hike on a fun little boardwalk. She had a grand time inspecting every little outdoor thing - bug, rock, plant.
She also discovered that rocks make a kerplash when thrown in the creek. This became an important part of her little life.
We stopped by Lake Mcdonald, which has a big campground and play area. Angela’s parents were staying in a KOA resort campground where they had brought their horse trailer that had live-aboard accommodations - and their campground was not far from Lake McDonald.
2013-07-10
The following morning we started off on the Going to the Sun road - which was this steep windy road that you could drive across the park. The road itself is beautiful (although treacherous) but the real gem was St Mary’s lake on the other side. This lake also had a big lodge in the same style as the one we were staying at, but the train didn’t reach here so most people would come here by horse/carriage.
We took a boat tour on the other side - which took us up St Mary’s lake into an upper section of the lake that was less developed.
The most amazing part of the boat trip was - the Moose! I seem to remember it being a big male, but looking back at the pictures it was clearly a female and a fairly small one at that.
On the drive back over the going to the sun trail, we stopped off at a few overlooks. At one, we saw a bear who was up on the mountain side flipping over rocks. Apparently, they flip over rocks in the late season to eat moth larva which are very high in fat. He was going like crazy here… although he was very far away, you could just make him out from my DSLR at max zoom.
At a different turnoff, we saw a mountain goat. There were several of them, and they were similarly very far away up the hill…
2013-07-11
The following day, we just did a short hike near Lake Mcdonald - Sara was exploring in the mud and finding little treasures.
I think she was also teaching me something in a little hut - this was also at the lake McDonald playground.
2013-07-12
Sara and I went off on a hike of our own the next morning - leaving right from the hotel. Sara was charging ahead for a while - probably 1-2 miles. She was loving it - hiking and singing and carrying on.
She talks non-stop while hiking - to this day…
And the gray blanky just cracks me up while hiking.
Then finally, she got tired and rode on my back for a while.
I guess the blanky around the neck wasn’t good enough - she did the full on ghost wrap later.
This hike was the moment I knew that Sara and I would be hiking/backpacking buddies. She was so into every part of this hike - and for the first time, she wasn’t just a ride along. She wanted to go, to be a part of it, and to have an adventure. I spent the next few days fully computing this - so much so that by the time we got on the train home, I had probably a years worth of trips planned for the two of us - as she grew into it. This was exciting and my mind was racing with the possibilities.
2013-07-13
We went on another hike the following day even further driving the point home. It’s hard to hear her in this video, but she is saying that “this is better than sidewalks”.
We took a long walk by the river that flows out of lake McDonald, but not very far as the trail loops back around to the lake.
About halfway through the hike - Angela pulled out a little picnic and Sara read all about the birds while we ate.
2013-07-14
The following day, we boarded the train back home. I’m pretty sure this was another overnight train, but it’s hard to remember. The trip home was awesome though - great way to decompress after a great trip!
