Trip 12: Whitefish, Montana – East Glacier Park, Montana

Train: Empire Builder
Estimated Travel Duration: 2 hours, 3 minutes

The trip between Whitefish and East Glacier Park was short but incredibly scenic. I watched with excitement as the train crossed icy blue rivers and passed waterfalls and deep gorges on both sides of the track. East Glacier Park is a seasonal stop for the Empire Builder between the months of April and October.

EAST GLACIER PARK

Upon alighting from the train at East Glacier Park, I was immediately greeted by the site of the historic Glacier Park Lodge which lies directly opposite the train station. The Lodge was built in 1913 by the Great Northern Railway to promote rail travel to the Glacier Park area. Members of its staff were waiting at the station to greet passengers and carry their luggage across the road.

Unfortunately the Lodge was not in my budget so I begrudgingly made my way down the road to the bakery where I was staying.

I quite liked the bakery with its rustic charm and crooked walls. Nevertheless, my heart longed for the Lodge, so after dropping my backpack at the bakery, I enjoyed a nice lunch at the Lodge before relaxing there for the rest of the afternoon. The picture below shows the Lodge’s impressive three-story lobby which is lined with Douglas-fir columns.

The following day, I took a full day tour of Glacier National Park. My guidebook informed me that the Park features 200 lakes and 50 living glaciers. Whilst I would have enjoyed hiking in the Park, the requirement that one carries bear spray was enough to convince me that joining a tour was a more prudent idea. Moreover, I was keen to travel on the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road which traverses Glacier National Park.

Before returning once again to the Lodge to join my tour group, I decided to first eat breakfast in the bakery where I was staying. As I went to pay for my food, a stranger in the line behind me told the cashier to charge him for my meal instead. I was reminded of the random act of kindness that I saw in Whitefish the previous day and thought that Montana people must really be a generous bunch. Indeed, I did not realise just how true this was until lunch time when a retired school teacher insisted that I let her pay for my fairly expensive lunch at St. Mary Lodge and Resort (located at the gateway to Glacier National Park). As I was making my way back to the tour bus, the random acts of kindness continued as a stranger purchased some huckleberry chocolate for me.

The scenery going through Glacier National Park was spectacular. The Going-to-the-Sun Road crossed the Continental Divide and provided breathtaking mountain views at each of its hairpin turns.

On our way back to East Glacier Park, we stopped at Browning – the headquarters for the Blackfeet Indian Reservation – where we visited the Blackfeet Heritage Center and Art Gallery, as well as a local store which sold a wide range of Native American goods. Browning reminded me of some parts of Mongolia, so it was interesting to hear the tour guide later explain the ancestral links between the Blackfeet people and the Mongols.