When you last left us, we were communing with the mountain goats at Logan's Pass.
The next day, we found that we had earned the title they give to amateur hikers here - Tenderfeet. Everything hurt. We are not used to walking up mountains.
So after spending the morning at the cabin, we drove down to the Two Medicine portion of the park, to take the easiest hikes we could find. First we went to Running Eagle Falls which was about .8 miles off the road and a flat walk - first through the woods and then along a beautiful clear stream with multi-colored rocks.
Then we went to Two Medicine Lake (which is in Blackfeet territory) and took a trail to Aster Falls.
The next day, we also took it relatively easy and headed to Rocky Point Trail which starts at Fish Creek and offers some great views of Lake MacDonald.
Later, we drove to Apgar Village, a cute little camping town, for ice cream. We nosed through some shops and then walked on a bike trail.
We were the only ones on the trail and were met by a doe and her two fawns playing in the woods. We also had a couple young bucks come out and say hi.
Thursday, July 20th was a big day for us, as we took the nearly 3-hour drive to Many Glacier in the Northeast of the park. (We took the long way around instead of Going-to-the-Sun, because, nope, nope, nope.)
It's a good thing too, because we had two separate black bear sightings on the way. One just crossed the road in front of us. I tried to quickly retrieve my camera from the case, lean out the window and snap a pic.
Here is the breath-taking result.
The other was on a hillside clearing as we rounded a bend - we got a better view of him, but as soon as we stopped the car, he took off running.
There were also weirdly a lot of free range cattle everywhere.
Many Glacier was beautiful and wild, with the famous Many Glacier Lodge sitting on the edge of Swiftcurrent Lake. We walked the trail around the lake.
The Swiftcurrent area is supposed to have a ton of wildlife including grizzlies, big horned sheep and moose, but we didn't see anything other than more deer. We were told of a moose sighting, but apparently just missed him.
Anyway, we took a trail to yet another waterfall - Red Rock, which was another nice trail, with lots of wildflowers.
So Friday was our last day in the park, and we decided to go out with a bang.
First we took an early morning drive to see wildlife, but were unsuccessful. It was pretty seeing the sun come up over the mountains though.
Then we decided to brave the trail to Avalanche Lake. It starts out off the Trail of the Cedars and goes up. I was concerned about my knees and stamina, but we figured we'd take it slow. The whole hike took us about 2 1/2 hours but it was worth it, and probably the most beautiful trail we saw.
Early on in the hike, there was a gorgeous waterfall, and then a shady Cypress forest with giant rocks (from the avalanche) and tons of moss and ferns.
At the end of the hike, we came out in a magical valley with a turquoise lake surrounded by giant mountains. Three spectacular waterfalls dropped from the snow-capped peaks. We just sat there for a while and took it all in. It was the grand finale to our adventures in the park.
But WAIT! That's not the end.
Saturday we headed back towards Kalispell where we got a hotel for the night before flying back to Tampa on Sunday. We decided to take a detour and drive to the Moiese Valley to the National Bison Range. It is a large national park where buffalo and other animals are safe to graze. We drove on a 19-mile one-way dirt road through the park, with the superzoom in hand, looking for wildlife.
As we were driving, I yelled at Glenn to stop the car, because I just happened to spot some horns.
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| Hello Mr. Pronghorn Antelope! |
Later, saw this little female pronghorn too.
On our way back to Kalispell, we drove around Flathead Lake, which was another beautiful lake.
So - that's pretty much all the highlights from the trip. Hope you enjoyed seeing them!
Tomorrow, we are heading out again on a very different trip. Glenn is taking me to NYC to see Hamilton (the musical) for my birthday. Very exciting!
Love you all and hope you are well.
