Day 26 - Great Falls

Waterfall at Glacier NP
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Today I returned to Glacier NP for a second day looking around. After the thunderstorm last night the weather today was not as good as yesterday and it was a lot colder and windier so I was pleased that I had been to the park yesterday too. I saw lots of waterfalls today which were really pretty – I don’t know if they were larger than usual because of all the rain or not, but I think in spring and autumn the park would look even more spectacular as you could see lines down many of the mountains where waterfalls run when there is more water around. I drove along all of ‘Going to the Sun Road’ today right across to Lake St. Mary at the other side of the park. After stopping for some lunch I drove on towards Great Falls. I drove through an area where there had been a really recent forest fire. The air smelt of barbecued wood and there was still lots of smoke rising from the trees. There were also a lot of men with axes wandering around, presumably doing something very big and important. It must have taken me at least 10 miles to get out of where the fire was so it was pretty large. However, once out of the forest the scenery changed completely and it turned to almost flat grass plains – complete ranch country. I passed a few trailer park towns so they even exist out here! Some of the towns were absolutely tiny but were the only things that punctuated the landscape every 25 miles or so, apart from horses and cows. The standard of driving also appears to decrease with the prevalence of trailers as well. There were loads of cars driving around that looked as though they had already been in at least a couple of accidents and were looking to be in a couple more before the week is out. I wonder if they have such a thing as an MOT here cos it sure doesn’t look like it?! As I arrived at my motel in Great Plains I was greeted by the sight of two state troopers in the reception, and also loads of men in red coats, weird-looking hats with symbols on them and strange looking necklace-things too. It transpired that the two were not related. The state troopers questioned the receptionist about some guests before snooping around the car park for a bit looking for something – I shall keep my eyes peeled for any more clues (I think I’ve been watching too much Cops since I’ve been out here!). The men in red coats are called ‘Shriners’ apparently. I’ve Wikipedia-ed them and they are a division of the Freemasons called the ‘Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine’ – catchy. So goodness knows what else I’m going to find here in Great Falls – dodgy criminals and funny handshakes so far…

Another Waterfall
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Distance travelled today – 246 miles.

Distance travelled today - 246 miles

Bearwatch – still 0 – yay!