After a quick lunch in Mammoth Hot Springs, we hit the road north, leaving behind both Yellowstone and Wyoming for Montana’s Big Sky Country. We took US-89 out of the park, traveled west a bit on I-90, and then headed the rest of the way north on US-287—a drive I cannot recommend enough, especially the part after it overlaps with I-15. There is nothing around, except the Rocky Mountains to the west, Canada to the north, and rolling fields of the Great Plains all around. For hours. Soul cleansing stuff.

Our goal for the day was to reach Browning, Montana, the largest city near the east entrance of Glacier National Park. It’s located within the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Upon arrival we discovered that there was not much happening in the way of hotels or restaurants, so we continued up the road to St. Mary, located right at the entrance to the park. We stopped at a nice lodge with a restaurant and got a room for Thursday and Friday night.

A woman in the gift shop informed us that the Going-To-The-Sun road through the park was not yet open, a chunk in the middle was partly destroyed due to a major avalanche during the winter, and another part was still being plowed. But she encouraged us to drive into the park up until the road was closed, about 12 miles, as the animals like to come out before dusk. We’d been driving all day, but since the sun wouldn’t be setting until after 10pm, we figured, why not. We drove into the park, didn’t see any animals, and drove back to the lodge for a late dinner.

Leaving Yellowstone

US-89 just north of Yellowstone

US-287 on the way to Glacier National Park

First view of Glacier National Park along the road to St. Mary

• Going-to-the-Sun
• Thanksgiving at Lassen
• The Big Adventure
• Kiwis crossing at night
• Pinnacles National Monument

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