Glacier

We left Yellowstone behind on Tuesday and drove to Ted & Jen's house in White Sulphur Springs, Montana. Ted & Jen and their girls were wonderful hosts, putting up our whole crew, making a lovely dinner for all of us, letting the kids play with the chickens, showing us the fox den, and taking us for a dip in the Hot Springs pool at the local Spa Motel. After telling the kids tales of children falling in acidic hot springs in Yellowstone and being simultaneously boiled alive and eaten by acid in order to keep them on the trail (this place is a volcano too :-o why did you take us here ?!?), the Hot Springs pool wasn't exactly an easy sell . Add in the stench or rotten eggs, and it's a wonder we ever got them in the water. Despite the initial misgivings, they all had a blast in the pool, and they even tried out the hotter pool. Then they found out about the really hot pool in the steam room, and the dares began. I checked it out first, and sure enough, it was really hot with an overpowering stench of sulphur. The kids started running in for just few seconds, dipping a toe in the water, and proclaiming their bravery. Then to all of our surprise, Nora, the child who refused to get out of the car when there was a whiff of rotten eggs in Yellowstone, went into the steam room, and sat in the water for two minutes!

The next morning we hit the road for Glacier. First stop though was the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center, right in the middle of dinosaur country. We got to touch a giant sauropod femur, saw fossilized maiasaura dinosaur nests and a giant Seismosaurus, and even got to talk to some working paleontologists! After we had our fill of dinosaurs, it was on to Glacier! Before going to the lodge, we drove up into the park up to Two Medicine Lake. That first taste of Glacier was so gorgeous, we were tempted to scrap our plans for exploring West Glacier the next day, and just come back to this idyllic spot to canoe around the lake and explore some of the trails. After heading back to East Glacier Lodge and doing a bit more planning though, we decided to continue exploring.



The initial hope had been to drive across to West Glacier via the iconic Going-to-the-Sun road that is the centerpiece of the park. The road was still closed though, as record snowfall over the winter meant that even as Elaine and I were celebrating our anniversary on the first day of Summer (thanks Steve & Megan for taking the room with all the kids!), the road was still closed as the plows raced to open it up to visitors. Instead, we drove around the park, which at least let us stop at Goat Lick to try (unsuccessfully) to spot a ram for Steve, to the western portion of the road open below Logan Pass. We stopped for some beautiful scenery along Lake McDonald, and had lunch by Lake McDonald Lodge where we planned our first hike in the Park.

After much debating about just how much distance and elevation the kids could handle, we decided to do the 4 mile round trip hike up to Avalanche Lake. The hike started out surrounded by cedar trees along a stream raging with snow-melt, beautiful rapids around every bend. The trail then rose up into the woods, but with just 500 feet of elevation gain, the hike wasn't too strenuous,  When we reached Avalanche Lake itself, we were greeted by a glacially carved amphitheater with five water falls pouring into a picturesque lake. Best of all the weather was warm enough that we could take off our shoes, zip off the legs of our zippy pants, and wade out to the inviting rock islands. ("We're stranded on this island, waiting for a rescue, but we don't want a rescue, we like it on this island!" lyrics by Nora of course ;-) The hike back was a little rushed, as storm clouds were gathering, but whole experience was wonderful.



The next day we decamped from Glacier Park Lodge, and made our way to the spectacular Many Glacier Hotel. We checked in to the hotel, and bought our tickets for the ferries across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine, to the head of the Grinnell Glacier trail. The trail wasn't open all the way to the glacier, unless you had crampons and an ice ax to traverse a steep snowfield, but the portion that was open proved to be one of the best hikes of our lives. It started out as a raised boardwalk traversing a marsh at the edge of Lake Josephine, before starting a steep series of switch backs decorated with wildflowers. At this point Nora decided some plant made her itchy, and she threatened to go no further. After a little cajoling, we convinced her to forge ahead. After reaching the end of the switchbacks, we crested a ridge to behold our first views of Grinnell Lake and the Salamander Glacier above it. The lake is a striking blue color due to the glacial powder suspended in the water, and we just couldn't get enough of the views. The clock was ticking tough if we wanted to make it to the end of the open portion of the trail and back in time to catch the boat back to the hotel. Some of the kids were doubting we would make it, but Nora was determined. We charged ahead, hiking past tiny waterfalls, and along portions of the trail that turned into little trickling streams with snow-melt. We eventually reached the first snow covering the trail, a short but steep section with a long drop off that was just enough to give a feel for why you'd want crampons and an ice ax to go over a big snow field. We made it to the end of the open trail, with a last gorgeous overlook of the lake below, and a view of the intimidating snowfield covering the trail ahead. Our alarm for the turn around time was sounding, but the others radioed ahead that they were close behind, and we figured it would be quicker hiking back down hill, so we waited for the rest of the crew to join us a the end of the trail before working our way back down. We made it back to the boat dock with time to spare, but then the clouds started gathering, and when the boat finally arrived, we were the last ones that made it on, and as we pulled away from the dock, the skies opened up. We felt a little sorry for the hikers we left behind in the rain, but glad we didn't have to hike the 3.4 miles back to the hotel in the rain.



The last day was just going to be another drive around the park, past Goat Lick again on our way to the airport, but as we were checking out we got the news that the Going-to-the-Sun Road had just opened for the season! Fortunately, the iconic drive was also the shortest way to the airport, so we packed up the cars and hit the road! We quickly drove up the lower portions of the road we'd seen earlier, before climbing up into the clouds (literally) to Logan Pass. There were some amazing sites, and then plenty of white knuckle driving as the visibility dropped to just a few feet and we slowly crawled along the narrow twisty mountain road. We stopped at the Logan Pass visitors center, not that we could see anything, but then quickly started our descent out of the clouds. We started to regain visibility as we drove past the weeping wall, and were treated to some wonderful views rounding the loop, before we made it back down to the familiar territory of Avalanche Creek and Lake McDonald on our way out of the park and eventually back home.



(Click here for all the Glacier pictures.)