PNT: Travel Day

I flew into Kalispell MT yesterday and was picked up by an old friend who lives in Whitefish. He has recently sold his house there and is in the process of moving and now doing the “deep clean”. After a nice Italian dinner and bottle of red, we headed to his girlfriend’s house who graciously offered a spare bedroom.

I forget to mention that the air quality was absolutely horrible, smoke from ID and WA fires now compounded by a new fire close to Whitefish. I’m sure hoping it gets better by my start at Chief Mountain in Glacier National Park.

John dropped me off early this morning at the Amtrak Station in Whitefish for my first Amtrak trip, a 2+ hour ride to East Glacier. The train was an hour late but once on board, I sat back and enjoyed the scenery on the way in a nearly empty rail car with elevated seating.

Arriving in East Glacier, I admired the unexpected dusting of snow on the nearby peaks and headed to the Glacier Trading Post for bear spray, an isobutane canister and to see if I could get an early check-in at the nearly Whistling Swan. I was able to get after lunch at the local Mexican restaurant and later, thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon nap.

I confirmed my shuttle with a local outfitter to get me to St Mary’s early tomorrow to pick up my backcountry permit and then on to Chief Mountain and Belly River TH. I then wandered over to the old Glacier Lodge for an apple/lettuce salad with chicken and got to bed early.

Anxious to get back on the trail!