McGregor Lake, MT

After Glacier National Park, I wasn’t sure where to head.  One thing I did know is that I wanted to stay away from expensive campgrounds.  The trip to Alberta put me way over my budget in just about every category.  It had to be cheap!

I pulled out my 2005 edition of Don Wright’s “Guide to Free Campgrounds”.  By far it is not the latest edition, but may give me some ideas as to where to stay.

My choice was a National Forest Campground on McGregor Lake just 32 miles west of Kalispell.  Not a bad day’s drive.  I wanted to stop in Kalispell at the WalMart to pick up some groceries.  I had it dialed into my trusty GPS, but when it said I arrived it was nowhere around.  Don’t you just love GPS when it has no idea where it is?  Several times in Alberta the GPS had us incorrectly going down dirt roads to our destination.  Sometimes you just have to ignore its directions.

I stopped and asked someone directions to the Walmart but they were no better then the GPS.  I finally gave up and went to a Smith’s instead.  By the way it was a fantastic market.

Then it was down the road to McGregor Lake.  This time the GPS had it right on. DUH!  Wouldn’t think that the GPS could miss a lake!

The “Guide to Free Campgrounds” said the campground would cost $8 per night with no hookups, but they did have water.  Well times have changed folks.  It is now $12 per night.  Still not bad when I only had to pay $6 with my geezer pass.

I drove around the park and just happened to get the only pull through in the park.  How lucky was that!

Beautiful Lake but no communication

I checked out my cell phone and the dreaded “No Service” was showing.  My next option to communicate with the outside world was to plug in my Wi-Fi and booster.  Two RED lights appeared for 3G and 4G.  It said I had a connection but with the lights red it could not access the server.

I then decided to stay only one night and look for something tomorrow with at least Wi-Fi.  I took a hike around the campground and down to the lake.  I found these keys laying on a stump.  I hope the loser of the keys isn’t too upset.

McGregor Lake is 5 miles long and the water was crystal clear.  I couldn’t see any fish, but I bet there were plenty of them.

This was a trail that led through the picnic grounds and to the boat dock.

If I could have gotten Wi-Fi I might have stayed here for several days, but in the morning I decided to move on to Libby, MT about 54 miles from here.  It is a good-sized town and I would expect it to have both cell service and Internet.