We felt a real pang of sadness as we left Yellowstone. It’s such a wild, diverse, and awe-inspiringplace – truly somewhere you could spend weeks exploring and still not see it all. But, as ever, the wheels must keep rolling. With a bad weather front approaching, we were keen to reach Glacier National Park before it arrived.

We exited Yellowstone through the small, touristy town of Gardiner – and as we passed through, we spotted a UK-registered motorhome. Mark immediately recognised it and turned around. It was Martin and Eileen, aka Walter on Tour – fellow travellers we knew through a UK chat group. We follow their adventures on Instagram and YouTube, so it was a treat to meet them in person. They even made Mark a proper cuppa using Yorkshire Tea teabags – and sent him away with a few for the road. He was absolutely chuffed!

We were heading to Bozeman, Montana, where Shaun was due for some welding work. So after a lovely chat with Martin and Eileen, we pressed on. Bozeman turned out to be quite a social stop – in an Irish bar, we ended up swapping stories with a group of lads who had recently moved to Vancouver in search of fortune and adventure. Mark was very happy to raise a few pints of Guinness with them!

While Shaun spent a full day in the welding workshop, we had time to explore Bozeman. It’s a lovely town with some great character – we enjoyed a meal in a classic old diner and admired a series of quirky sculptures in the local park.

However, we were glad to leave Bozeman’s bustle behind and get back into the countryside. Martin and Eileen messaged us their location – not far away on Copper City Road – so we met up again and shared more travel tales over a peaceful evening with lovely views over Big Sky country (one of Montana’s nicknames).

The next morning, we hit the road again. We haven’t quite mastered Martin and Eileen’s slower style of travel just yet! We drove through beautiful countryside, following the course of the Missouri River. That night we stopped in a small town called Cascade, on the banks of the Missouri River, where we camped for free and shared the space with hundreds of enthusiastic ground squirrels.

The following day we reached St. Mary, a small resort village on the edge of Glacier National Park. From there, we booked a half-day bus tour along the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road. Unfortunately, Shaun is too big for that road – there are height and width restrictions – and although we considered cycling it, the narrow road and heavy traffic made that idea less appealing.

The tour turned out to be the perfect solution. Our guide, a wonderful character with a background that was part Indigenous and part European, told fascinating stories and gave us a deeper appreciation of the park’s natural and cultural history. We travelled in a small minibus, part of a group of three from the same company, and at one scenic viewpoint the guides gathered and sang the Indian Flag Song. It was unexpected, powerful, and genuinely moving – a real privilege to witness.

We were also incredibly lucky with the weather. The road had only just opened for the season, after being buried in winter snow – and two days later, it closed again when another foot of snow fell and blocked Logan Pass, the highest point on the route!

From there, the Canadian border was just a stone’s throw away. Directly across lies Waterton Lakes National Park – really a continuation of the Glacier landscape, but with a Canadian twist. We’d tried to book a campsite there a week earlier, but everything was full. Now, with bad weather keeping many visitors away, we suddenly had our pick!

So, with that, we crossed the border to begin Part 2 of our Canadian adventure.

Time to explore more of Canada’s incredible national parks…