Diving in Glacier National Park July 2009

[DetectorGuy]

Did you have trouble bringing your tanks into Canada? I need to look into this. When I was a kid I went to Glacier Park in a RV with my folks. From there we went up to the Calgary Stampede in Alberta. We were going to go East from there and drop down through the top of Minnesota. Our travel plans changed slightly when we got to the Canadian border... My dad had a pistol in the RV and he needed to leave it at the border and pick it up on the way back home. This was back in the 70's when everyone carried a sidearm in the truck. Well we made it to Calgary, I saw a cool rodeo, got some autographs from some real cowboys, saw the Queen of England, and then I got to see Glacier Park again when we picked up the pistol. In this "post 9-11" era, I imagine they will want to inspect the insides of the tanks prior to entering Canada... Or I could just get some "Oxygen" stickers on my tanks, stick a small clear tube up my nose and wheeze alot at the border station. Lately I'm getting pretty good at looking old... We'll see.

[DetectorGuy]

Well I am headed to Glacier the day after tomorrow. 18 days of no phone, no TV, and most importantly, no work! I am bringing 10 tanks (and four lift bags just in case). We plan on stopping at Horse Thief Lake (in the shadow of Mount Rushmore the first day, Then we will stop into a small ghost town called Granite near Phillipsburg MT. Next stop will be Flathead Lake for a day and on to West Glacier to try Lake McDonald. From there we will go to Avalanche Creek for a day (probably wont dive in Avalanche Lake as it is a 2 mile hike). Then we will swing around the bottom of Glacier National Park and up to Two Medicine Lake and St. Marys Lake. We will head up to Upper Waterton Lake on the Canadian side (maybe check out the paddlewheeler at 66' deep). From there Banff and Jasper. I havent decided if I should cut across canada to Winnepeg and then down or take Northern Montana across to Willowston ND. There is a Sunken city in Fort Peck Resevoir and another one near Libby Montana that I wouldn't mind checking out on the way back. Here is a link to other sunken towns:

[DetectorGuy]

We Made it to Billings Montana this afternoon. We are camping on the Yellowstone River tonight. Last Night we stayed at Horsethief Lake about 2 miles West of Mount Rushmore. I did one dive there but it was not a great dive. The lake elevation is 5,129' above sea level. I always expected that this would be a deep lake, but it turned out to be a very shallow lake. The deepest I could find was 14'. I found a bunch of lead weights, some brass trout spinners, and a landing net. It was just one of those lakes that I could not resist diving to see what is down there. After the dive we just hung around the campsite. Today while heading North towards Deadwood SD we ran across a lake called Pactola Lake. This lake is at 4581' above sea level. The resevoir was created in 1953 and it flooded two towns. The actual buildings were sold at auction prior to flooding so all that all that remains is the footings and stuff like that. (I have a photo of the Auction Bill from 1953 that shows all the buildings that were there). The lake is 150' deep but most of the building sites were only 120'. The visibility is 20' plus. We were on a mission to get to Billings before it got to late so I did not dive here today. On the Way to Billings today we stopped in at the Battle of Little Bighorn National Park. That was really neat to see. There were signs all over telling tourists to tell a park employee if they see anyone with metal detectors in the area. In the museum there were numerous revolvers that were found in the battlefield and in the river near by. (I was a good boy and I left the detector in the truck  :'( :'(). If only I wasn't so damn morally straight, I would have been in the river just outside the boundaries of the National Park scoopin' up the guns. Well I better hit the hay cuz' tomorrow night we plan on camping at the base of Skalakaho Pass West of Butte Montana. I will update the trip if I can get a Wireless connection again.

[Shooter]

Awesome. I would like to dive the town someday. Did you get gps coordinates of the river just outside of the park boundries? I would really like to do my part in preserving history!  8) I drove by the rr dive site. I didn't have the map with and wasnt able to locate the pit. I will try to get it scoped out by the time you get back.

[AandA]

  ;D
Sounds like QUITE the trip..AND ya haven't even got to da mountains yet!!
Please keep us posted. 
I'm getting my thrills vicarioulsy 
Art and Aly

[flyboy65]

I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB SD back in the 80's, ( Ugh...too many years ago!), and was always interested in at least [i]snorkelling[i] Pactola reservoir.  I've also been curious about Sylvan Lake, way up by Harney Peak, close to Custer State park in the Black Hills.  Lots of steep cliffs and tall rocks going directly into the lake.  I'm sure there may be lots o goodies in 'der!

[DetectorGuy]

I haven't had time to dive since Horsethief Lake. Last night we stayed at a campsite on Georgetown Lake South of Philipsburg and West of Butte Montana. It was a pretty lake but I heard it was shallow. Lots of trout though. Tonight we are on the NW corner of Flathead Lake. I would really like to dive here but again no time. Flathead lake is the largest freshwater lake West of the Mississippi River I was told. Today we went to a ghost town called Garnett. We drove the truck and trailer 6 miles up into the Pintler Mountains and then we had to take out the 4 wheeler to go the next six miles as it was very steep and twisty. The town was in good shape and it had a park ranger watching over it. I brought both detectors and a gold pan but I did not have the nards to use any of them. I did not want to leave them on the 4 wheeler as there were other tourists up there and I thought they would steal them. So I slung them on my back and looked through all of the buildings with out using them. I got some nasty looks but thats life. The sand in the stream sparkled in some spots with gold dust. I wanted to fill my pockets but I did not. Tomorrow we are going to stop at Hungry Horse dam and then just a short drive to West Glacier. We will camp tomorrow on Lake McDonald and on Avalanche Creek the next night. I think I am gonna dive in McDonald tomorrow while my wife goes on a horse ride. We will start slowing down and not driving so much during the day, now that we are where we want to be...

[DetectorGuy]

Here is a link to some video:

[DetectorGuy]

Here is another one:

[DetectorGuy]

Here is a link to a video of a fwheeler trail: