Glacier 2011

Dave and I got back from Glacier a week ago today.  It was such an amazing trip and ranks near the top of my favorite vacation spots.  Before we left I was excited about the trip but a little nervous too.  I had never been out west and Dave is far more adventuresome than I so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.  Ohh but it was amazing.  A friend recently said to me, "I can't imagine anyone going to Glacier and after seeing the views not believe in God."  It is so true - the views are indescribable and the pictures do them no justice.  It is some of God's work at it's best!
Dave is still organizing all our Glacier pics but I wanted to write down some of the fun things we did before I forget :)

Thursday, August 11th. We arrived in Kalispell, Montana and rented a fun candy apple red 2012 mustang convertible. I was thrilled. It was Dave's little surprise for me. My first car was a red mustang that I Loved!! Dave always made fun of it but even he admitted driving our rental car was pretty darn cool :) We started driving and headed for Lake McDonald Lodge. On the way we stopped to buy 2 cans of bear spray and had a piece of local Huckleberry Pie. Huckleberries taste similar to a blackberry and is the preferred food of our little grizzly bear friends. After our stops we made it to Lake McDonald Lodge where Dave worked the summer after our freshman year at Auburn. We checked in and looked around and then had dinner at the lodge. Dave worked as a dishwasher at the lodge the summer of ’99 and he recognized our waiter whom Dave had worked with 12 years ago. The guy said this was his 22nd summer coming back to work at the lodge! Wow! After dinner we met up with a Marietta friend that now lives in Montana, Mr. Paul Scar. It was so fun to get to see Paul and meet some of the locals :) They were all so nice and funny.


Friday, August 12th - We woke up early Friday morning checked out of the lodge and drove the Going to the Sun Road. This is not a road to drive if you have any fear of heights. There are absolutely no guard rails but it is so incredible. It was my first real experience of Glacier Park and I loved the views. We drove it with our convertible top down, great music on and enjoyed every second. After our little drive we went to Logan's Pass and started what Dave called our 5 mile "bonus hike" to Dragon's Tail. Let's just say now I know why they call it the Dragon's Tail it is crazy high, requires you to walk across all matter of snow drifts, and extremely narrow. There is no room for error and thank goodness I had hiking sticks. However with all that said I truly loved it and the reward at the top was totally worth it. It was my favorite hike. We saw tons of wildlife on this hike too including Mountain Goats, Marmots, and Big Horn Sheep. After we hiked back down the Dragon's Tail we started our real hike of the day. Yes, another 7.6 mile hike along the Highline Trail to Granite Park Chalet. The Granite Park Chalet was our accommodations for Friday night and it is one of those places where you pack in and pack out your stuff. You basically get a room and a bed and you have to bring everything else. I was a little nervous about this but I loved it too!! The chalet is on top of a mountain and the people we met there were so cool. As soon as we arrived at the Chalet several people were looking through binoculars down the Highline trail and they pointed out to us a Mama Grizzly and 2 cubs walking right on the trail. Oh Yes - they were walking right on the trail we had been on 10 mins earlier. That was a little scary for me. Then later I found out that the trail coming up to the Chalet is known as Bear Valley and was also the setting for the book and true story, Night of the Grizzly. To top it off, when Dave was walking down to the water source for the Chalet he had to turn around b/c there was a black bear playing with the water filter. Once we got to the Chalet we had hiked about 12.5 miles that day mostly up hill. I was beyond exhausted. We ate dinner with the other guests and listened to a little talk from one of the rangers. Loved the other guests. So very interesting. For dessert we had genuine Montana Huckleberry dream bars. It was well deserved after my 12.5 mile day :)

Saturday, August 13th – Saturday morning we hiked from the Chalet 2.5 miles straight up to the Swiftcurrent Tower. The tower is actually a tiny little fire tower on top of a mountain that is around 8,500 feet elevation. The view was absolutely breath taking. We met a couple of locals that were also hiking to the tower and they were characters. They were big jokesters and Dave and I had fun talking with them while enjoying the view. The little fire tower is about 1/3 the size of Ella Kate’s room and while we were enjoying the view I saw a man walk out of it. We got to talking to him and he said he lives in the fire tower for 10 days and then hikes back out (10 miles) for 3 days to get more food. Wow! He was quite an interesting fellow. Next we hiked 2.5 miles back down the mountain and started the 7 mile hike along the Swiftcurrent Trail to the Many Glacier hotel. I saw my first moose on this trail – so amazing! We had a great dinner at the Cattle Supper Barn that night.  The Supper Barn was run by some Blackfeet Indians and was really cool. We were both starving after hiking around 22 miles the past 2 days so we split a T-bone steak! It was amazing and huge.

Sunday, August 14th – On Sunday we took a break from hiking and drove to Babb for breakfast and then to Alberta, Canada to see visit the Prince of Wales hotel and the town of Waterton. The Prince of Wales hotel is where the Shining was filmed. Such a cool hotel with awesome views! We loved the town of Waterton! We had lunch there and shopped around buying souvenirs for the kids. When we got back to the Many Glacier lodge we spotted a mama black bear with 3 cubs on the mountain across from the hotel. We watched them for a while and then hopped in our car and followed them along the road/lake creating a “Bear Jam”. We got great videos and pics – at one point we were only about 250 feet away from them. So very cool. We headed to the Swiftcurrent Inn for dinner that night and after dinner spotted another mama grizzly and 2 cubs on the mountain right across from the hotel. Seeing the bears was so amazing to me.

Monday, August 15th – The original two trails we were going to hike on Monday were closed due to “bear activity.” Basically there were a couple of bears that liked hanging out on the trails :) Really glad I was not the hiker to have to report this :)  We decided to do an all day horse back ride to Cracker Lake. We were with 5 other people including our guide Sam. Sam was a recent college grad with a Forestry degree. Dave’s first degree from UGA was in Forestry so they bonded quickly. We rode horseback 3 hours to the most beautiful lake I have ever seen, Cracker Lake. The color of the lake was truly a bright, bright turquoise. The brilliant color was due to melting Glacier Crystals. Dave would probably be appalled at my explanation of the color but while Sam was giving us all the details I was watching a moose grazing directly across the lake. The wildlife I saw absolutely baffled me. I just loved it! We had ordered boxed lunches from our hotel that morning and we enjoyed a little picnic by Cracker Lake before we headed back down the trail on our horses. I really got attached to my sweet horse, Snip. He was so fun but he did make me a little nervous when we would be trotting up a big hill and he would just stop and almost hang off the cliff to grab a “snack.” I knew to kick him to make him go but either I am not a very hard kicker or he was really, really hungry. The steep drop off did not seem to bother old, Snip :)

Tuesday, August 16th – Tuesday was our biggest adventure. We did the Dawson – Putamaken Pass Loop which was a total of 18 miles and an elevation of a little over 8,000 feet. It was unbelievable. We started the trail at 9am and finished around 6:30pm. For three miles you are basically on top of a mountain hiking on a ridge between two passes, Dawson Pass and Putamaken Pass. This three mile stretch of hiking is known to be one of the top 10 hikes in the world. It lived up to its reputation. Very memorable day but not a trail to do if you are even remotely scared of heights.  A narrow trail with an 8,000 foot drop off for 3 miles can be a little hairy :)  I am not afraid of heights but I took my fair share of deep breaths as there was no room for error :)

Wednesday, August 17th – Wednesday we went to Salt Lick Mountain, which is a natural salt mountain that Mountain Goats hang out on all day and lick the salt. Next we drove to the little town that hosts the University of Montana.

Thursday, August 18th – Headed home to hug and kiss our sweet little girl and boy! Ohh how we missed them and can't wait to take them out West with us we they get a little older. 

We had an awesome trip and thanks to Dave for all his hard work planning to make it so perfect!