Driving west from Bozeman Julie and I traveled further west in Montana than we had ever been before. The mountains got bigger and the people, fewer. Soon enough we pulled into Helena, the capitol of Montana. As we love to do when in capitol cities our first stop was the capital building itself. So far on this leg of the trip we had been to 3 capital buildings and were excited about the 4th.
The Montana State Capitol Building
After a quick lunch in the van we headed into the building. As there were no immediate tours of the building we took our own tour. The building turned out to be beautiful. It had been renovated not too long before and it certainly showed. The building was stunning. Much like the South Dakota capitol building this one in Helena had a black dome and the structure was based on the U.S. Capitol building in Washington. We walked around the building going floor to floor checking out the House, Senate as well as a lot of the artwork that the building had. It was all pretty awesome. When we were done we exited and headed into the town.
Helena, MT
Driving then walking into Helena’s downtown it was nothing that we expected. We had been to a few smaller capitol city towns (Pierre, SD, Bismark, ND, Jefferson City, MO & Topeka, KS to name a few) and were not expecting much. Helena surprised us however. Helena was full of beautiful, ornate buildings. After a little research we found out that in the late 1800’s Helena was one of the wealthiest towns in the entire country thanks to a rich gold deposit found not far outside of the town. In fact, in 1888, Helena had, per capita the most millionaires in the entire world.
Today, while not as wealthy as it was in the 1800’s it seemed that while small, Helena was doing quite well for itself. The town was clean with some distinct neighborhoods. The main shopping area downtown was an area called “Last Chance Gulch”, named after the gulch that set off the gold rush in Helena. This was a pedestrian only area with shops, restaurants and bars. It was tree lined with a small stream running through it. As it was a nice day we enjoyed strolling up and down this area of town stopping into a shop or two and looking at the architecture as some of the buildings in this part of town were originals from the towns gold rush days.
From the Last Chance Gulch area we walked over to a newer area of town called Great Northern Town Center or as we found out later that most people just referred to it as “Uptown”. While it looked finished on a map in reality it was still mostly under construction. Most of the buildings had been completed and were functioning but the streets were half torn up and being built. It was still a nice area and we could tell would be very popular once it was finished completely. From Uptown we decided to call it a day and headed to our campground for the night.
East Glacier Village & Lodge
The next morning we woke up and got ready to go. Today we were headed northwest to Glacier National Park, a 3.5-hour drive from Helena. The drive from Helena to the east side of the park was stunning. Highways did not follow this route so we went on 2 lane roads past farmer’s fields with huge mountains in the distance. The closer we got to the park, the closer the mountains got to us. Before getting to our destination for the next few nights in St. Mary’s, MT we stopped at the national park lodge in East Glacier Village.
This lodge, like many national park lodges was beautiful. Great Northern Railway built it in 1913 as part of their newly laid track to give people a route (and somewhere to stay) while visiting the park. One of the neat things about this lodge is the railroad history involved and the fact that there is still a train station on property that is still serviced by Amtrak.
We walked around the lodge’s enormous lobby, sitting in front of its 10’ high fireplace and peeking our heads into the dining room. We then walked out to the back deck where we found out is really the place that you want to be. In the not too far distance were the jagged peaks of the mountains that made the park famous. We sat in some of the antique rocking chairs just enjoying the sunshine and the awesome mountain views. After a while we felt like we could pry ourselves out of the chairs and made our way north to one of the gateways to the park and our camp ground in St. Mary’s.
Glacier National Park
The next morning we woke up, excited and ready to go. We first headed over to the visitors center to grab a map and check out anything that they had to offer. It was sad to say but almost immediately after arriving we made a disappointing find. The famous park road (which is why many go to this park), the “Going to the Sun Road” was partially closed. We were there in very early June and apparently there was still so much snow on the road that they had not yet opened it completely. We could still drive into the park but would have to turn around at the 15-mile mark. While still disappointed we were assured that even though the road was closed after only 15 miles that there was still a lot to see.
We drove into the park and sure enough we encountered huge glacier fed lakes, massive mountains and enough hiking trails to last all summer. One of the neat things in Glacier is that many of the hiking trails are also horse-riding trails. When the park roadway was initially designed thought was put into horse trails as well. They did not want people riding horses on the same road as people driving cars. If a hiking or horse trail ever did need to cross the road a tunnel was built for the trail tall enough to accommodate someone riding a horse. This is pretty neat to see as your hiking along and then come across a very tall but narrow path that goes under the roadway.
After a bit of hiking we climbed back into Bubbles and started to slowly head out of the park stopping at a few lake views. The lake views were surely spectacular and almost impossible to not take a professional looking picture. The glacier aqua color of the water with the towering and imposing mountain backdrop just will not allow a sub standard photo to be taken. We took shot after shot taking in all the scenery. After taking all the pictures that we wanted we hopped back into Bubbles and drove back into town for a well-deserved beer.
From our experience we really knew that we had to come back to Glacier National Park. We had a great time at the park but in order to fully see the park we would recommend coming later on in the summer. Before going to Glacier we had looked at our calendar and thought, “why yes, June 6 is summer”. In actuality, June 6 is not summer in Glacier National Park. While this did mean that we had the park to ourselves, we felt it was still not the full experience that we hoped for. The KOA Campground that we booked our stay with was open but that was about it in the town. Most places were actually opening up the day after we left. We thought, note to future self, come to Glacier in early August. Things will be open and we might be able to wear shorts!
Next up…We cross the border and head to Canada’s Cowboy Capitol – Calgary, Alberta!
