Post 9-7-2014 Many Glaciers (Glacier Park) & Browning, MT

Post 9-7-2014  Many Glaciers (Glacier Park) & Browning, MT

Leaving West Glacier we drove to Browning, MT  and parked the Boomer Bus and drove up to “Many Glaciers’ which is in the Northern Entrance of the Glacier Park and where (supposedly) the majority of the glaciers are located. This area is called “the heart of Glacier Park”

Porsches' on the road

After a 50 mile trip (one way) we were quite disappointed. There are no glaciers to see, except for one or two small ones visible from the main highway.  There were some miles away on a hiking path. It was even a 2.5 mile hike to view the lake where moose may be. Too much for us and this park is not handicap accessible so we didn’t even try to do it.

We must say that the West Glacier part of the park is by far the better part. It has forests and more wilderness than the Eastern which is more plains and hills instead. Taking a different route back to Browning, we passed a Bison Ranch with several in the field. A small herd but healthy looking.

Driving through Browning, we observed it to be a classic Blackfeet Indian town. The entire area, hundreds/thousands of square miles, is Blackfeet Nation Reservation. The town is run by the tribal council as is the territory. It was noted that like Alaska, the older the farm houses, the more junk cars and broken down equipment on the property. They don't recycle anything. All in all, we weren't impressed with the town.

Here's a couple good photos:

A business in town

Visitors Center

We had a bad experience in the “Lone Wolf” RV Park at the Northern edge of the town. We parked the bus there and drove up to Many Glaciers. Being Sunday, the office wasn’t open so we left a note on the bus and planned on paying Monday morning.  When we returned, an Indian (probably Blackfeet) approached us around 7 PM and  introduced himself as Joe, (had “Jordan” on a black T-shirt) claimed to be the night watchman, demanded we pay him or else leave. We paid him and it turned out to be a double payment.  After we talked about it, we decided to leave for our safety in case he showed up again in the middle of the night.  He did appear to be that type of character.  I don’t have my guns with me because of traveling through Canada.

Monday morning I went to the office to report the incident and settle up with them. A meeting was in session with other town/National Park officials and after explaining what happened, I got a response that it apparently has happened before. The owners secretary interrupted the meeting and said to the owner, “we must do something about  (his real name)”. THEY KNEW HIM!!!. I got the feeling that “Joe” must be a relative or someone they know very well. The owner said “I’ll take care of it and try to get your money back”

Thinking back, the mannerism of Joe,  the “rip off Indian, ” indicated he had done it before. He was smooth and cool about the way he did it. I got the feeling that it will happen again to a camper in the area where we were. And, I got the feeling the owner won’t take any action either.  I can see the headlines now: “LONE INDIAN ROBS JESSE JAMES AT THE LONE WOLF RV PARK”.

BOTTOM LINE: I recommend you STAY AWAY FROM LONE WOLF RV PARK. OR, AT THE LEAST BE AWARE OF THIS. I will be reporting this to my website travel evaluation company. There is a very nice RV park just a few miles north on Highway 89 that has a gorgeous scenery and looks to be very nice. And, it’s on you way to  St Mary entrance to the park and Many Glaciers entrance.


We spent the night in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn Express Hotel /gambling casino that’s open until wee hours.  (Just can’t see giving away money.) We are now on our way to West Yellowstone city located near the West Yellowstone Park entrance.