Visit Glacier National Park?  I had no plans to visit Glacier with the thought of lots of people and it being a not dog friendly place.  But I realized I was close and it was the end of the season.  So I called the Park to find out how crowded it might be and was told: ”It is better than it was this summer.”  The man on the phone sounded tired.  Not the most positive comment, but not negative.  So I decided to go drive the Going To The Sun Road.

Being a person that doesn’t enjoy driving, going on a scenic drive was not normal for me.  I got to the entrance at 7:45 am and immediately wondered what I had gotten myself into.  I felt like a tourist caught in the middle of the Grand Prix race.  After a half hour of constantly pulling over to let people zip by me, the traffic diminished and I started enjoying the drive.  I think most of the early birds were racing to get parking spots for hikes.  

Having not planned on going to Glacier, I only knew that there was a famous road to drive.  What I found out is that Glacier is the royalty of Belt rocks.  I was amazed.  Here are some photos from the drive.

The highlight of my day and perhaps the entire trip was that I found fossilized stromatolites (blue-green algae).      

The stromatolites are located on the uphill side of the Going To The Sun Road a little ways downhill of the tunnel.  There is a small pull out there.  Or you can park in the area downhill of the tunnel and walk the short distance.

Keeping with the theme of not doing normal things, I spent two nights parked at the Flathead County Fairground.  Yup, me who loves dispersed camping was spending two nights parked at a fairground.  You got to laugh. It was all I could find that was open except RV parks.  It turned out better than anticipated.  I was the only one there, it was quite, I had a somewhat nice territorial view, and I got a shower.  

The Facts:

• The fairground was $25/night.  I got power, water to fill my tank, and access to the restrooms and showers.  The last day they were open this year is October 10^th.  It was better than an RV park.