Glacier National Park

Okay, I don't think I've ever done a post this long, but there were so many great pictures, I had to use a lot of them.  Our big trip this summer was up to Glacier National Park up in Montana, close to Canada.   It was a 9-day trip, from July 18-27th.  I spent close to a whole week getting ready to go on the trip and then quite a bit after recovering, too!  But, it was a great experience with a lot of good memories.  

The drive was long- at least 10 hours from our house, so we decided to split it into two days of driving.  The first day, Friday, we ended up not leaving home until about 6 pm so we only drove about 4 hours and it was a pretty late night after stopping to eat, too.  We ended up pulling over around 11 pm off the freeway somewhere near Dillon, MT. 

The next morning, we headed out again and arrived at our campsite around 3 pm.   I posted these pictures in of the kids in the truck on the way there because they were hilarious.  For the last 2 hours or so of our drive, when they were all getting so restless,  I was grateful for the iPad!!  What would we do without modern technology?  They were using the Photo Booth app, where you can take all kinds of pictures and do crazy things with them, such as stretching yourself in different ways or the kaleidoscope example below:

The kids called this one "diaper man".  They got such laughs out of taking crazy pictures of each other!!

Our campsite was a beautiful spot near Lake McDonald in the Fish Creek area.  We could walk to the lake from our site and were able to go on a few bike rides.  The scenery was so beautiful- I loved all the trees!  We had the opportunity of going on several beautiful hikes up there and some of those lakes were just breathtaking!   There were a few places that couldn't be done justice with a camera, comparable to something you would really see in a magazine or hanging on someone's wall.  

 Bowman Lake

On Sunday evening after church, we took a drive up to Bowman lake on the West edge of the park.  It was a dirt road for most of the drive, with huckleberry bushes all along the road.  I had to stop several times and pick them.  They were really good wild!  They have a bunch of shops up in the towns nearby Glacier that sell huckleberry pie and other foods made with them.  That was a lot of fun for me.  We had heard that Bowman lake had pretty good fishing and Aaron was hoping to try it out.  It turned out that on the day he went up with my dad and brother later that week, it was so rainy that they really didn't get much of a chance.  

We stopped at a lookout point on our drive over "Going-to-the-Sun" Road
and saw these mountain goats right off the path.  

On Tuesday, we did the hike to "Many Glacier", which was incredible!!  You have to drive clear to the East side of the park to get there, going over "Going-to-the-Sun" Road, which is simply beautiful. Some of those views were just breathtaking!  

Yee-haw, daddy!  Get movin'!  

 I had a lot of fun watching my boys go!  Whenever we go somewhere as a family, they are usually way ahead of Aaron and I, so it wasn't really a big surprise.  The challenge is mostly keeping them back with us and not running ahead too far.  The other challenge is that we are not all that fast, so staying together on the trail can be difficult!   Kyle went with my dad to scout camp this summer and hiked at least half of a 50-miler (the other half riding a horse), so for him this hike was a breeze.  What I was pretty surprised about, though, was how well Jordan did on the trail!  For only being 2 years old, he kept up pretty well with the rest of them!  On the hike to Many Glacier, he did at least half of it on his own, which was over 4 miles!  He was actually doing really awesome until he realized he could be carried.  After that, it was harder to get him to walk, but he still did over half of each hike, which was amazing!   I was also so impressed with Jared.  He did both hikes right up there with Kyle and I didn't hear him complain once.  What a trooper!

Heidi was such a trooper, too- always with a smile
on her face.  She takes her time to enjoy the view!

On this hike, we were also able to see a bear by the lake.   It was far enough away that we had to use binoculars to get a good enough view of him, but you could still see him up in the trees if you looked closely enough.  This was the highlight for Aaron and Kyle for sure!  I'm so glad we saw him before we left!   The scary thing is that he was right next to the trail we had hiked in on earlier that day.  It made us wonder if he had been pretty close to us at some point.   There was also a lot of other wildlife.  We saw a moose eating right by the trail, too.  

Beautiful Lake Grinell at Many Glacier

After our exhausting day hiking to Many Glacier, we spent one day hanging out at closer to camp.  We had a fun evening down at Lake McDonald playing in the water.   We rented a kayak and everyone got a turn to paddle around.  

There was a junior ranger program at the camp where we were able to go and learn from the rangers. Erika took the initiative to complete the junior ranger booklet and then she was sworn in by a ranger as an official "junior ranger".  That was pretty exciting for her.  She even got to do it on her birthday! 

In case  you can't tell, this is Kyle on the trail,
trying to camouflage himself as the "tree man". 

On Thursday, we celebrated Erika's eleventh birthday.  After a great breakfast, she got to open her presents.  Later that day we also had cake and ice cream.  

That day we also went on our hike to Avalanche lake, which was a shorter, 2 mile each way hike, but more steep up-hill than the Many Glacier.  The lake was so beautiful, but quite cold and windy that day.

I felt like I was walking through a movie scene from "First Knight" or
even "Lord of the Rings" in this forest.  It seemed almost medieval.  

Standing next to a giant uprooted tree! 

Oh yeah, I'm cool!  (Saggy diaper and all)

Big brother to the rescue at the end of the hike.

Erika with her usual beautiful smile and love for the outdoors

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to spend the time exploring a new place with my family and also the Michel family, too!

Jared and Heidi by Lake McDonald