Dave’s Beach – a beautiful quiet afternoon.

This will be a boring post, but it would be silly to spend all of my time dribbling on about trails and peaks.

As I travel the ten mile stretch from the West Glacier entrance up to Lake McDonald Lodge, even a place of beauty can get a little monotonous. I’m calculating I will have driven over 2500 miles on just this tiny stretch of road by the end of the summer.

That is a LOT of up and down the lake shore, as well as over the forest and thru the proverbial woods. When my mind starts to wander and I get a little bored, I always feel the need to explore.

And that is what I did. I have explored EVERY car pullout along this part of the road. It might surprise you to know there are 13 on the left (lakeside). Only 2 on the right (forest side), or 4 if you count the unpaved one and the trailhead pullout for Lincoln Lake. I got to know them like old friends.

Even gave them all names, like: Shady Nook, Crooked Tree, Cedar Hollow, Three Rivers, and Stonehenge II. That seemed to help tick me away the miles, and it was always to fun pick a different one to pull into and park a couple of times a day. Just for a few minutes to stretch my legs when they’d start cramping from hiking all day.

But there is one that is my favorite. It has only space for 2-3 cars, so most people blow past by. The lake shore access is a little steeper than most others, but the boot paths are pretty well beaten in. There is a good shallow before the lake bottom drops off, which warms with the sun and is just right for throwing down a camp chair and soaking sore feet.

Plus there are plenty of those red and green rocks of Altyn and Grinnell limestone that LMD is so well known for.

And a bonus, you’ll find wild stands of the wild mountain ash. It just so happens that the shade of red used on the Jammers was specifically picked to match the color of a ripe mountain ash berry.

But there is one very specific thing that makes this my favorite turnout. For a few weeks in the middle of the short summer here, the sun sets directly in the low gap between where the Apgar Mtns end and Howe Ridge starts. Which means this is the only place on the entire lake that you can feel the lays rays of sun on your face for the day. The sun will have set fifteen minutes earlier for everyone else, making that list kiss for you and you only.

You get the idea. In a park with 3 millions visitors a year, you CAN find your own personal place and enjoy some of the best that Glacier has to offer. On your terms. No hurries, no worries. Of course I’m not going to tell you which pullout this is.

Instead I’m going to make you spend half a day driving this section of road, and explore all of them for yourself. And, with a little luck, you will find a spot even more personal. One that keeps you coming back to what I consider to be one of the most magically places on earth.

Not the best panoramic video. I did it more for me. It helps me remember and smile at what was a very good afternoon of accomplishing nothing (and I suppose, at the same time, everything).