Wears the Skis!
In an effort to get a First Come, First Served campground at Fish Creek inside Glacier National Park, we skipped breakfast and went right back into the Park. We found that there were no first come, first served campsites available at Fish Creek, and that everything had to be booked in advance. To try to find a place to pitch tents, we went back to the Hungry Horse Reservoir Ranger Station. Our pursuit continued unsuccessfully until around 9:30 AM when we drove to the Glacier Park International Airport to pickup my brother, Evan. He was flying in from St. Louis to join us for the final leg of the journey.
As we awaited his arrival we reorganized the van to make room for his hiking backpack. Using my flight tracking app, we watched his plane drop below the clouds, then circle around us on the final descent. My Dad and Evan had a meeting they both needed to be on, so once Evan arrived we drove into Kalispell to find a Panera Bread. During their call I worked on updating the website with blog posts. It was a productive hour and a half.
After some discussion of how we would spend the afternoon, we decided to visit the town of Whitefish and hike a trail at the Whitefish Ski Resort. We hiked the Danny On Trail for just about 4.5 miles total (out and back). It was neat to spend time on a ski resort with no snow. The Resort seemed to be just as active as when there was snow. Yard games, zip lines, hiking, mountain biking, and slides kept the many visitors entertained. From the hike we had several great views of Whitefish and the surrounding area.
After the hike we went to the Whitefish Lake State Park. The campground was (of course) full, but we made our dinner of hamburger helper on the lakefront. We had a beautiful view, which made for a great night. After, we drove about 30 minutes to a lake that the ranger at the state park recommended. We spent the night in a pullout in that area.
