Glacier National Park is a beautiful place and has officially taken its place as our favorite national park. We left on a Thursday night around the kids bedtime for a "sleeping car" drive out to Montana. It was a relatively uneventful drive and we stopped at a railroad cafe for breakfast when the kids wokeup. WE had a chilly breakfast in the brisk Montana air while trains rumbled by (much to the delight of Elliot).
We then continued on and finished the drive during the next nap time to our first nights campsite at Two Medicine campground. We got there early and grabbed a nice quiet spot next to a gurgling river. We set up camp turbo quick and then hopped over to the Two Medicine camp store to catch a boat to the far end of Two Medicine Lake. It dropped us off deep into the woods and we had a great first days hike along with a range all the way up to Upper Two Medicine lake - what an amazing hike! We then headed back to camp for dinner and a view of bighorn sheep on a mountain side.
The next morning we were up and at em' and started off on a hike up Aster mountain. We ran into our friendly ranger from the previous days hike and saw a moose thumping through forest swamp. It was a great vision.
We then packed up the campsite and headed out to Many Glacier Hotel. A Grand hotel perched at he head of a lake at the head of a glacial valley - we got to see bears, mountain goats and bighorn sheep (and that was just the drive in). We had a relaxing night, eating delicious pub food and enjoyed the sunset over the mountains.
The next morning we were up and had a great breakfast at the main dining room. We checked out of our room and boarded another lake boat to get ferried deep into the wilderness across Swiftcurrent lake, connecting through a short portage to lake Josephine. As we drew up to the far boat dock, we saw a mother grizzly and her three cubs walking along the edge of the leg - an amazing site!!! We started up the trail up to Grinnell Glacer - an AMAZING HIKE! We couldn't make it all the way to the glacier because of snow. As we caught the boat back to our planned campsite at the Many Glacier campsite, we discovered that a rogue grizzly bear had been rampaging through camp the night before and the campsite was closed to tents. We were able to grab a hotel room at the swiftcurrent motor lodge and as the rain started, we enjoyed a dinner of pizza and got ready for our next long hike.
We were up the next morning and, a little later than anticipated, started up the trail to iceberg lake. A long, hard, beautiful hike to a gorgeous and, not surprisingly, ice filled lake with overhanging glaciers. A once in a lifetime view that was topped off by a heard of bighorn sheep crossing the train just a few feet from us. They were so quiet that Wes didn't even wake up as they went down.
After the hike, we made a beeline over the going-to-the-sun road, crossing the spine of the park, through gorgeous scenery to the fish creek campground. It was a late night, but we were in the tents prior the rain really starting. We did get a chance to stop at the Logan pass rangers station and, at that point, the highline trail into our planned back country chalet remained closed.
The next morning we took an off day from hiking and explored the town of Apgar, visiting the nature center with lots of kid friendly items and enjoying a talk on grizzly bears. Jessica then took off to adventure on the going to the sun road with the Jammer vehicles while Crystal, Mac and the kids took an Elliot solo hike on the trail-to-the-cedars road. Despite some rain we were able to have a grand old time adventuring and managed to all get showers after. Unfortunately Mac jumped out of the mini-van with the electronic key fob, stranding crystal with the kids at the campsite. That was a less than awesome experience.
The next morning we packed up to head up to the Granite Peak Chalet. The Highline trail was still closed and so we hiked in on the loop trial. 4 miles of essentially straight up, through a 15 year old burn - we were actually thankful to do it in cooler rainy weather as it would have been BRUTAL in the hot and direct sun. In exciting fashion, we ran into a mule train on their way down from the hut and the kids LOVED it! We arrived at Granite Peak Chalet in the thick fog and cold. We walked through the front door to a roaring fire, a group of laughing and giggling kids and a surprisingly hut-like atmosphere. It was a self service hut and Crystal had ordered a significant portion of our food to be delivered by mule train and thus we had a hot, meaty, salty and creamy dinner next to a roaring fire.
The next morning dawned amazingly beautiful. The Chalet has beautiful view of the mountains. It is rustic but filled our fix for backpacking since that isn't so easy with 2 littles these days.
After a relaxed breakfast, we climbed to the swiftcurrent mountain fire look out. While it was a hard hike - we had a 360* view at nearly 9000 feet over the swiftcurrent pass, the Granite Peak Chalet and the surrounding mountains. Back down to the Chalet for a dinner with a gorgeous view of the setting sun and wandering mule deer.
The next morning we packed up and planned to hike out the Highline trail - which has just opened. An 8 mile but mostly flat hike to Logan pass, this trail was nearly totally above tree line, skirted huge glacial cirques and brought us past a number of mountain goats, over large snow fields and through a narrow rock path cut directly out of the mountain. What a spectacular hike!
We gabbed the shuttle back to our car and then headed down to a water park.
With a little time to spare, we stopped at a water park in Columbia Falls where Wes rode his first water slide and Elliot road her first water slide alone!!! They did great, we all cooled off and got a brief rinse off prior to stopping for Pizza and packing up the sleeping care for the drive back to Portland. Good-bye for now Montana - we will see you again soon!!!
