At the end of August 2021, we finally made it to a place I have wanted to go back to for years–MONTANA. We love the mountainous region of Montana with its rugged mountains, beautiful vistas, cooler weather and all that makes this beautiful state amazing. We were so glad to be back here and spend more than a day or two.
Our first stop in Montana was at a campground near Lolo, Montana, up Bass Creek Canyon. It is called Charles Waters campground and I have to say that it is an amazing place to stay. It has it all.
- Beautiful Scenery
- Nice campground that is quiet
- Hiking trails for my morning walks
- Biking trails
- Jeepin’ trails
- Close to grocery stores
- Cell signal so Mike can work and I can blog and YouTube
We absolutely loved this place. The campsite we had, had a little drop down near a stream where I could do my yoga and stretching in the mornings after a great 3 mile walk on the beautiful trail near the campground. There were trails to bike on and even a off-road trail up to the top of the mountain above the campground for some great views. We were 15 minutes from a great grocery store, Super 1, and from a laundromat. We were also 30 minutes from Missoula which had all the bigger stores, like WalMart, we needed. We were also able to ship to an Amazon Hub location in Missoula as well. Missoula also had Bretz RV which offers propane for 99 cents a gallon–a screaming good deal.
We had gotten our oil changed in St. George before leaving and we immediately discovered that the oil filter must have been faulty because it would leak a little anytime we started the RV, particularly when it was cold. We had been limping along and throwing an old floor mat under it every time to try and not pollute the environment with oil. It had worked, but we needed to get it fixed. Missoula had the facilities to do it. We called up I-State Truck Center and told them we were traveling through town and they were able to work us in within two hours. They were amazing and got us all fixed up with a new filter and it no longer leaked. Such a great find. If you ever need repair work done on a big rig in Missoula, check the team at I-State out.
For the first time all summer long, we were able to finally have a campfire at this campground. I had almost forgotten how nice it is to have a campfire when you are in the mountains. We love to just sit and stare at the fire, listen to the crackle and watch the flames dance on the wood. It was awesome. Such a great time here. This was an amazing discovery.
So why did we choose this area of Montana to stay for over a week. Well, because we were meeting up with my sister and her husband to go and tour Glacier National Park and they picked up their rental RV in Lolo. We were also going to put the RV in storage for a week and drive to Seattle to go on an Alaskan Cruise with Mike’s parents (my next post will be about this). Lolo had a great storage option for us, Lolo Creek Storage, as well as all the other things we needed. So we hung out there for a week and totally loved it. I’m so glad we had all that going on so we could discover this hidden gem of a campground.
After spending time at Charles Waters we put the RV into storage and went on our cruise for a week. When we returned to the rig, all was well and it was later in the day, so we headed to a campground a little bit closer to Lolo–Chief Looking Glass Campground. It was right on the river. Not as nice as Charles Waters, but adequate and we enjoyed a couple of days there. We attended church at the Lolo congregation for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The people were really nice and they wished we were move ins. Maybe one day. 😉
Terri and Brad were supposed to pick up their RV at Lolo in the early afternoon and then we had reservations at the Finley Point State Park campground at Flathead Lake. However, Terri and Brad were running behind schedule due to a Google Map foul up and so they weren’t going to make it in time to pick up the rental before they closed. So Mike and I took off and drove up to the campground so we wouldn’t lose our sites and Terri and Brad came the next day. We enjoyed a lovely time at this campground. Flathead lake is beautiful and we were able to catch some amazing sunsets.
While in the area, we enjoyed some local huckleberry pie and visited the Kerr Dam and the Museum of America. The Museum of America was a rather eclectic collection of American collectibles representing our history. It was fun. My brother-in-law had knee surgery just a few weeks before the trip, so he was still on crutches and in a fair amount of pain. But he did great and was able to do most things we did. He loves taking pictures.
Then we made our way to Glacier. We stayed just outside of West Glacier in an RV Park called Moose Creek. It was a nice park and we were able to park side by side. They had nice showers and laundry facility which was great because I needed to get some laundry done. My sister and brother-in-law are both new to RVing and with him recovering we were able to assist them quite a bit so they had a good time and we helped lessen the learning curve. My sister had to do everything hooking up and unhooking. We also made sure we had electric hookups at both campgrounds and water at Moose Creek to ease them into RVing. I think they had a really good time.
We went into the park most of the days we were at Moose Creek. The first day, we drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Mike and I had done it before, but I am always amazed and the sheer grandeur of it. We were here in the Fall this time and the last time we came was early summer. The waterfalls were not as strong, especially because of the extreme drought we are experiencing, so they weren’t quite as spectacular as our previous trip. But they were still amazing. It was my sister and brother-in-laws first time to visit Glacier.
Another day we did the Lake MacDonald Boat Tour. That was nice, although I don’t think I would do it again. We hiked the Trail of the Cedars and my brother-in-law was able to do it. It was raining most of the time–after all, it is a rainforest. Such and amazingly beautiful trail with huge cedar trees and small mosses and green, green, green. So pretty.
We also drove over to the east side of the park on another day. We visited St Mary Lake, Two Medicine Lake and Running Eagle Falls. Running Eagle Falls is one of the more unique things I have seen. The waterfall cascades down from a large hole in the rock. During the spring run off, the fall runs on top of this lower hole fall and is quite spectacular. I thought just the lower part of it was pretty amazing.
After visiting the falls and the lakes, we found a place to have our lunch in a little campground area near the lake. It was a cold and windy day, but you can’t ask for a more beautiful environment to have lunch. While driving to our lunch place, we saw some local wildlife. So fun.
This was a really fun trip and we enjoyed getting to know my sister and my brother-in-law better. They are great people and we love them. I would definitely go on another trip with them again.