Red Lodge is in central southern Montana almost at the Wyoming border. Coal mining got a start here in 1884. Over the years, tourists replaced miners because of the very scenic Beartooth highway that links Red Lodge with the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park.
The Grand Loop Road is a 140-mile system that was built in 1915 to connect all the major features of Yellowstone National Park. To try and drive it in one day can take 4-7 hours depending on the wildlife on the road and traffic. From Fishing Bridge, it was about a 1.5 hour drive to West Yellowstone. We were last here in the fall of 2020.
West Yellowstone in the fall is typically not very crowded and a great time to see fall foliage and Yellowstone’s numerous attractions. The risk is cold weather and snow. Which, we had on this trip. Probably because of COVID, people aren’t traveling much outside of the USA and traveling local instead, so there were more people than usual. Animals are getting ready for winter, putting on their winter weight and coats.
Montana is one of the larger and less populated states in America. It’s one of our favorites. We would have loved to have gone back to Glacier and Yellowstone this year, but our goal is to be in New England for fall then Florida for the winter so we had to cut our time short in this beautiful state.
We really enjoyed exploring British Columbia and Alberta, Canada the last couple of months. We are back in the USA at West Glacier, Montana. The border crossing was quick, easy and uneventful. The storage locker we rented worked out very well, despite the horror stories told to us by other RV’rs regarding theft. The storage locker we chose was gated, fenced and had 24 hour surveillance. After watching a couple seasons of NatGeo Border crossing nightmares, we not only left our guns and ammo in the USA, but also exceptional bottles of single malt whisky and medications in excess of our 6 week stay in Canada.
From Missoula, Montana we headed north to Glacier National Park. The rugged snow capped mountains straddling the continental divide were breathtaking. The drive from Missoula was scenic, especially the road around Flathead Lake. Kalispell had a Costco. We had to go easy on the fresh supplies since our next destination would be Canada, so fresh vegetables and fruits, meat, dairy products, poultry and alcohol are restricted.
