{"id":2211,"date":"2017-06-21T20:24:24","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T20:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/?p=2211"},"modified":"2017-07-10T14:39:26","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T14:39:26","slug":"east-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2017\/06\/21\/east-side\/","title":{"rendered":"East side"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As we talked to several rangers on the west side of Glacier NP they all said that it was very much worth it to make the long drive around to see the east side of the park. \u00a0Of course, there are a few months of the year you can get there in 50 miles on Going to the Sun road, but <a href=\"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2017\/06\/20\/not-going-to-the-sun\/\">that was closed<\/a> so we had to go around. \u00a0While it was a long way to drive around we figured since we&#8217;ve come this far we might as well check out the other side. \u00a0We packed a lunch, piled in the truck (even Sheba got to come along) and we headed off.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>We reached Two Medicine pretty close to lunch time and I saw a picnic area so we pulled off the road. \u00a0There were plenty of picnic spots right on the lake and only two cars&#8230;perfect! \u00a0I do not like crowds and in a national park crowds are usually crowds inevitable. \u00a0So to find this quiet area in such an accessible area was a treat. \u00a0We got out of the truck and the wind was pretty strong and cold. \u00a0But this did not deter the boys from running to the lake shore and skipping rocks on the white caps the wind was whipping up. \u00a0Brielle, Steph and I found a picnic table nestled in some trees that blocked the wind\u00a0but not the views where we all had lunch. \u00a0After lunch the boys did more rock skipping, Brielle and I went to a different part of the shore and Steph took lunch stuff back to the truck. \u00a0Then I heard Steph yell, &#8220;Huck!!!&#8221;. \u00a0This means I either did something really dumb or she needs my help so Brielle, the dog and I ran to find Steph who was in the road looking at the truck which had a bunch of big horn sheep hanging around it&#8230;.even a couple baby sheep. \u00a0I thought Sheba was going to break the leash she was so excited to see these &#8220;big dogs&#8221; to play with. \u00a0It was pretty cool to see these sheep up close&#8230;they seem very comfortable around this picnic area and we later found out that they hang out there a lot.<br \/>\n<a title=\"Sheep up close\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/136797225@N05\/34624080914\/in\/album-72157685367543495\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4215\/34624080914_5e9a9c51d5_z.jpg\" alt=\"Sheep up close\" width=\"426\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Just 100 yards further up the road from the picnic area we found all of the tourists. \u00a0A big parking lot full of cars and people many of which were there to take a scenic boat tour across the lake probably for a chance to see some wildlife up close. \u00a0I liked our encounter better! \u00a0On the drive down from Two Medicine a moose nearly jumped in front of the truck. \u00a0I hit the brakes and the moose turned back in to the woods&#8230;but we caught a glimpse. \u00a0The sheep and moose turned out to be our only big wildlife sightings in Glacier.<\/p>\n<p>The drive to St. Mary was a bit longer than I expected. \u00a0The views of the mountains were great but it was very different from the dense forests on the west side. \u00a0This is due in part to the fire that raged through the park in 2003. \u00a0But it was cool to see how\u00a0nature is coming back so quickly&#8230;and the bear grass in these burn areas was intense&#8230;.it was everywhere! \u00a0Turns out that bear grass is an important part of fire ecology and is usually one of the first things to grow back after a fire.<br \/>\n<a title=\"Massive bear grass bloom\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/136797225@N05\/35335085321\/in\/album-72157685367543495\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4212\/35335085321_39766a9726_z.jpg\" alt=\"Massive bear grass bloom\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>We made it to St. Mary and drove along the lake. \u00a0It was SUPER windy with\u00a0white caps on the lake that looked like you could nearly surf on them. \u00a0I am definitely glad we checked out the east side but it was a pretty long time to be in the car. \u00a0I like the west side of the park better. \u00a0It feels more tranquil and different style forest than I&#8217;m used to back home.<\/p>\n<p>Back at the campground we had dinner, played some frisbee and then had a little fire for some s&#8217;mores.<\/p>\n<div id=\"flickr_72157685367543495_4176\"><div class=\"slickr-flickr-slideshow landscape medium \"><div class=\"active\"><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4218\/35425584006_1ed746f68d.jpg\" title=\"Heading to shore\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Heading to shore<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4284\/35465560805_f57673549f.jpg\" title=\"Two Medicine\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Two Medicine<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4209\/35425578776_6c120912d6.jpg\" title=\"At Two Medicine\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>At Two Medicine<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4211\/34624096674_631433f69e.jpg\" title=\"Throwing\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Throwing<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4262\/34624093914_98fa7cdb45.jpg\" title=\"Skipping rocks\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Skipping rocks<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4236\/34624090894_4fd5c9f4d5.jpg\" title=\"Snow!\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Snow!<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4279\/34624087504_f691f96664.jpg\" title=\"Lunch time\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Lunch time<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4256\/35335103271_2e5891919f.jpg\" title=\"At Two Medicine\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>At Two Medicine<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4207\/35335094351_0ce0b18886.jpg\" title=\"Sheep\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Sheep<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4215\/34624080914_5e9a9c51d5.jpg\" title=\"Sheep up close\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Sheep up close<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4215\/34624073294_69b291d5cd.jpg\" title=\"Remnants of fire\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Remnants of fire<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4212\/35335085321_39766a9726.jpg\" title=\"Massive bear grass bloom\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Massive bear grass bloom<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4256\/34624066964_2e641b5e01.jpg\" title=\"Driver\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Driver<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4287\/35425540576_b2223ba740.jpg\" title=\"Green!\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Green!<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4235\/35298884902_979cd4f068.jpg\" title=\"St Mary pano\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>St Mary pano<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4215\/34624052304_7db554e2b7.jpg\" title=\"Flower\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Flower<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4231\/34624062754_0b823390b5.jpg\" title=\"St Mary lake\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>St Mary lake<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4263\/35527695535_1673d82342.jpg\" title=\"Sheba smells something\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Sheba smells something<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4237\/35141021160_06d704ae6b.jpg\" title=\"Gillie?\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Gillie?<\/p><\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\">jQuery(\"#flickr_72157685367543495_4176\").data(\"options\",{\"delay\":3000,\"autoplay\":true,\"transition\":500,\"link\":\"next\",\"target\":\"_self\",\"width\":\"\",\"height\":\"\"});<\/script><div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we talked to several rangers on the west side of Glacier NP they all said that it was very much worth it to make the long drive around to see the east side of the park. \u00a0Of course, there are a few months of the year you can get there in 50 miles on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[7],"tags":[93,86,83],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2217,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions\/2217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}