Montana, Day 6 - East Glacier, Part 1

When we planned this trip, Teena and I both wanted to see the east side of Glacier NP in addition to the west side, where we were staying. 

But driving the 32+ miles of the Going To The Sun Road was a bit too challenging - too winding, too narrow, too tiring, too “oh h*ll no” from our primary driver.

At the time, we didn’t know you could drive around the southern tip of the park. 

But that’s still 1.5 hours of road-time each way. 

Turns out, Amtrak’s east-bound Seattle to Chicago route stops at West Glacier station each morning, with a stop in East Glacier 1.5 hours later. 

And repeats the process with the Chicago-to-Seattle route in the evening. 

Things to remember for next time: Amtrak isn’t always on time (morning pickup was an hour late) but there’s an app for that - and they are verrrrrry thorough on texting updates says Teena, who forgot to put her phone on silent when she went to sleep the night before. 

Top left: W. Glacier side; bottom left: E. Glacier; from top right: west side, Teena’s train view, oncoming orange monster that startled me mid-picture, east side. 

Sitting upstairs in coach is fine, good view, comfy-ish seats. Sitting downstairs? Never, ever again. No AC , or any air at all, dirty, crowded… ick.

First fence is by the train depot building.

We weren’t sure what to expect services- and distances-wise in East Glacier. Some reviews recommended making advance reservations to get a ride between depot and hotel. 

 The ride from depot to hotel

Others said it was a loooooong way to the local town. 

 East Glacier Depot

Fortunately neither was true. For day trippers like us it was an easy 3-4 minute walk to the hotel. 

We didn’t go into town, but for that you walked around the corner, under the train tracks and across the main street. Easy peasy. 

East Glacier Lodge was built on the same scale as Yosemite Lodge. Big, over-the-top construction, with lots of wood and local rock.

 Porch had outdoor sofas and multi-person wooden rocking chairs

Slightly shabby, very expensive and fun for a night or two.

  Main lobby and registration 

Or to visit for a day.

 Side lobby

We had fun wandering around, admiring the 3-story individual trees used in construction (load-bearing, not just decorative),

 Probably my favorite place in the hotel.

the peaceful atrium 

 Support post/tree in the atrium. It was huge.

with chairs by the windows so you could admire the view,

and the stories of how and why things were built.

We had time for a quick lunch 

 Interesting decorations. The stone fireplace was amazing.

before heading out front to meet our van for the trip to Two Medicine Lake. 

And then there’s the landscaping.

 Rainy day flowers

So beautiful.

 View toward the depot

Part 2 tomorrow, along with editing/corrections to this one. Gotta go board our plane for home!