First, quarter turn bridge; an actual curved bridge over McDonald creek just at the confluence with the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. The structure is amazing and the location completely quiet, just one fisherman a bit down river. I notice he’s on his phone, we have four bars. This will likely be one of the prettiest cell phone booths we’ll visit this trip! We move on to recommendation 2, Rocky Point Trail just above Fishing Creek Campground. We twist through the heavily wooded NW shoreline of Lake McDonald and pop out on the namesake rocky point above the lakeshore. It is a bit overcast but the view is still lovely. The return hike brings us to just over 4 miles for the day so far. One more stop, The Polebridge Mercantile, highly recommended for its bakery. We bump our way out Outside North Fork Road about 7 miles paved and 10 miles minimally maintained gravel. A collection of small businesses includes outfitters and guides and our targeted stop, The Mercantile. We get a bonus, the Northern Lights Saloon, they have cocktails and local drafts plus an interesting lunch menu. We know we’ll be back but check out the bakery first where we emerge with a huckleberry rollie, fruit fritter, and a poppyseed and chocolate rollie. Then it’s back to the Saloon and lunch: Me-Glacier Lily cocktail of gin, elderberry and lemon. Carol-Montana Mama featuring huckleberry and vodka. The drinks are followed by shared plates of smoked elk quesadilla and a smoked elk huckleberry BBQ sandwich. I just have to swing back by the mercantile for a huckleberry macaroon. Ok, heading home. Bumpity bump. What a great day so far.
Back at camp we check out the evening ranger program which chronicles the role and impact of people in the Glacier Park area through the years. Interesting and nicely presented. A cheeseboard and wine close out the day.
Yikes, it is cold, 37F and the sun isn’t high enough to warm this part of the valley. We huddle in the warm truck for a few then put on everything we brought, fleece, windbreakers, wool hats, and gloves then head to the trailhead.
Mountain goat pic. We get to a spectacular viewing spot and declare it the end of our climb. The trail is very busy now with both overtaking and oncoming traffic, not so much fun.
Kent gets one of the most captured big horn pictures, butts!
While we are gawking at it, a bear jam gathers. Not for the black bear, for a big grizzly bear swimming toward us across Lake Sherburne. She/he rises up out of the water as they come ashore then alternates snuffling about and trotting toward us. By then a ranger has arrived to wrangle the watchers and clear a path should the bear keep coming our way. It does, and he hustles all the cars and people out of the way. We watch out of our rearview mirror as she moves on toward the road. It is a fantastic grizzly sighting. Quite close and within scurry distance of the truck!
The shadows of lingering clouds move across the lake and mountain slopes that encircle it. We wait, us and another 10+ photographers, for what all hope is a spectacular sunset. Turns out it is just beautiful, not spectacular, still well worth the climb up here. Bonus, on the way back down the trail we spot a mountain goat. 
He isn’t at all shy. Kent gets a pile of pictures.
Four astronomers split the group into smaller groups to walk us through constellations, the spectacular milky way and each their own personal take on why night sky is significant to humans and wildlife. My spokesperson is a young astrophysicist turn geologist and astronomer turned park ranger. Her’s is a fun, informative talk. Next, there are seven telescopes set up each trained on a different object in the sky. Lines are pretty long as we wait for our look at a binary star, one red one blue, in constellation Cygna. We then opt to find a quiet dark spot to just soak in the big picture of what has turned out to be one of the most magnificent night skies we have experienced. We duck into the truck to warm up again, it is in the 40s heading for 37 by the time we head back down the mountain. Very well done, Glacier National Park/Waterton-Glacier International Night Sky Park.
ridden this one before. Kent reminded me after verifying this in our 2014 blog. I never said I would limit myself to one visit on any carousel! Today I ride the bear, the bison and big horn sheep are tempting too. No luck grabbing a brass ring. Still, it is great fun. I can’t leave without just one scoop of butter pecan ice cream!
errands and chores (check out this cute laundromat-those are words I rarely use in the same sentence) then head back to camp to kick back.
breakfast at the Inn. Mike and Tracy’s pictures reminded us how cool the old structure is and we feel the need to check it out. It’s a buffet with food a bit better than average but the cozy setting makes up for anything it lacks. We are back out in plenty of time for Old Faithful’s show. Even against a cloud filled sky it is spectacular. The weather holds off long enough to walk the entire upper basin boardwalk including catching a Daisy geyser eruption.
We make it back to the geyser hill just in time to see Old Faithful a second time. It looks more powerful from the view on the top boardwalk! It is misting and still in the 50’s. We check out the gift shop. I must have another Yellowstone medallion, a bison this time. Plans are to check out Grand Prismatic and the Norris Basin thermal area if the crowds aren’t awful. No such luck, traffic is spilling out of the parking lots as folks are vulturing for spots. We head home with a couple detours; The Firehole River Canyon Drive, it is spectacular, then a loop along the Madison River, lovely but no elk or bears on that section of the grassy banks today. The elk from this morning are still out along 20. It is definitely a favorite spot for them. We are back in camp sipping hot tea to warm up in the rainy and chilly weather. It’s a great chance to catch up on the blog and naps!