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Today was a light day (only 438 miles) to drive from Bozeman, MT to Columbia Falls, MT and visit Glacier National Park. Driving through as much of Montana at night as I did last night was probably a mistake. From what I saw today Montana has a huge diversity of plains, forests, lakes, and mountains, and it made for a very fun drive.

I tried to stop for lunch in Helena, MT, however after several places informed me that they were closed for lunch and only served dinner I opted to just keep moving north, and then I found myself in Columbia Falls before I knew it lunchless.

Glacier National Park was absolutely amazing. From the giant snow covered mountains in the background to the river rapids it was fantastic. I did see a few deer that seemed to have no fear whatsoever of people… or maybe just me I got within just a few feet of them and they kept an eye on me but didn’t run away. Apparently a few years ago there was a large forest fire in Glacier and the damage was still very apparent, however, when I drove through the area where the fire had been I noticed that the forest floor was absolutely covered with new pine tree seedlings.

After Glacier I got pizza at Mackenzie River Pizza Company, which is a Montana chain, and it was excellent. In addition to having great pizza, they clearly put a lot of work into the atmosphere of the place, it had a very log cabin look inside and a big moose statue outside to greet you.

Tomorrow is a big day. I’ll drive to Seattle and then catch a red-eye flight to Fairbanks Alaska.

There are three days on this trip that really worry me and this is the first of those.

Tags: Big Road Trip