Big Camp Glacier 2022

We will probably always refer to this trip as our Big Glacier trip but it was so much more than just Glacier. At the beginning of the year we set intention to filling our calendar with what mattered most so our days didn’t just pass us by with the excuse of running out of time. The welcome of a new camper also helped with our intentions and we knew we wanted to go for a 2-week big camp much like our Round About in Idaho after we landed our first camper.

It had been far too long since we’d made our way in the same direction. You can’t say we didn’t try for Glacier since then, but was always forced to change plans because of fires in the area. But this was the year! Brian did a great job at keeping tabs on camp sights open in the park, quite literally. He knew they booked 6-months out, so in January he put our intention into action and would have multiple tabs open on a browser, just fighting to be the person who clicked the fastest to get a reservation in his cart. So the spark of intent was ignited and because Glacier is so close to Yellowstone and Idaho it made sense to swing by those great places as well.

Leg 1 – Tie Hack

To keep the first day of travel exciting we decided to make it a shorter pull and stopped overnight at Tie Hack in the Big Horns. This was great because there wasn’t a better place to take our new paddle board out on it’s maiden voyage. Why we didn’t get one of these sooner, I have no idea. When we packed up from the lake Brian and I even said to each other that we almost need two. Good think Christmas is coming!

Leg 2 – Yellowstone

The classic National Park Entrance Sign pic.

Brian did an excellent job at planning our route. Each night we stopped, we were by a lake which means paddle boarding kinda became a theme quickly. We made our way down from the Big Horns through the basin and stopped in Cody at a favorite park for a road side picnic before continuing right through Yellowstone and landing at Rainbow Point Campground in Custer Gallatin National Forest for two nights. The second day there gave us time to go back into the park and see a few things other than the buffalo parades we were in with the camper in tow the day before.

Leg 3 – Holter Lake

From the West Yellowstone area we headed north to a campground called Holter Lake near Wolf Creek, Montana which is located approximately 45 miles north of Helena, Montana. This was another short travel day so when we got there and all set up out came the paddle board too. It was great weather and a beautiful lake to get out on a bit. The sunset was stunning and so peaceful. Sadly we only stayed one night here but marked it as a favorite for a future camp.

Leg 4 – Glacier

This was one of our favorite activities at Lake McDonald.

Almost forgot to swing out and get a picture by the sign!

What is there to say about Glacier other than it is indeed the “Crown of the Continent” as they claim. When traveling around any National Park that we’ve been to, I’ve always been in awe at the sheer man power and hours it has taken to preserve such places. It was very evident in Glacier as we explored Lake McDonald Lodge, Apgar Village, Logan Pass Visitor Center, and the Fish Creek Campground. One tiny note about campsites in Glacier: when they were built years ago, they were not thinking about longer campers with slide-outs and most sites had campers strategically parked between trees (think, lots of pulling forward and backing up). We didn’t get to as much hiking or exploring as we originally thought we would. We took a bike ride down to the village one afternoon where we ran into an interesting character just moments after convincing Brian to get bear spray at the gift shop. Overall we spent most of our afternoons parked on a pull-out off of the Going-to-the-Sun-Road and down on the rocky beaches of Lake McDonald just soaking up rays and splashing around on the paddle board. Don’t worry, we only lost Dottie twice.

Leg 5 – Coeur d’ Alene

It was too hot to leave Dottie behind…so we packed her along.

Ellie is a lot bigger in those chairs than the first time we were here.

When our week-long reservation at Fish Creek ended, we loaded up, carefully maneuvered our camper out of our site and mozied on west bound for Idaho. It was fun to get back to the place where our Big Camp Adventures all started. Brian booked us a couple of nights at Beauty Creek Campground which was about 30-40 minutes from downtown Coeur d’ Alene. We made daily treks into town, once with the bicycles. Just being around the lake made the kids itch for some swimming. We packed up and moved into town for our last night of camp and stayed at Blackwell Island, which was the RV Park right on the lake where we stayed on our first WorKamping trip over 11 years ago. Remembering our first Big Camp was a great way to end our trip. The next day we jammed down I-90 and because it was so hot we didn’t stop to set up camp until Sheridan, where Dottie got to meet a real Buddy.

More Trip Pics

It was another wonderful trip for which we are very grateful for. We’re not certain where next year will take us but we know for sure that it will at least 2-weeks long and we’ll be sure to get it on the calendar early.