Glacier 2012

"There is no voice in all of the world so insistent to me as the wordless call of these mountains. I shall go back. Those who go once always hope to go back. The lure of the great free spaces is in their blood." 

 Mary Roberts Rinehart, American Playwright, describing Glacier National Park, 1925

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Glacier? Sadly it had been four years since our last trip and I'd almost forgotten how much I love it. We spent 4 glorious days there. Doing a little hiking, sight seeing, huckleberry picking, playing in the water, taking a boat ride, and relaxing. We went to the water park in Columbia Falls one day and it was fun but I could have done without it in lieu of an extra day in the park. But apparently it's not all about me! Haha. 

The first night there we went to a ranger led program about Pika. Brityn thoroughly enjoyed it. The ranger gave out potatoes with faces drawn on and felt ears attached to show how small pika are. She was really disappointed when we had to give it back at the end of the talk. Somehow we lucked out and found a stuffed pika in one of the gift shops in the park. She named it Peeka Pika. We went to another talk on our last night there about a woman bootlegger/lady of the night ;) Actually it was more of a one woman show. It was hilarious and she did a job good of keeping a very un-pg subject pg. She had a bunch of animal pelts she passed around for everyone to see and both the kids enjoyed that. 

We didn't see any bears, we usually do. But we did see a moose, mountain goats (obviously!), a marmot, deer, lots of squirrels, and birds. 

We took the boat ride across Two Medicine and the kids absolutely loved it. It was the first time either had been on a boat. Once Ryder realized we were actually moving on the water he was so excited. He stuck his head out the window the whole ride over and most of the way back. We tried to take the Lake McDonald boat tour the next day but the boat broke down.

Before we left Brityn and Ryder both got sworn in as junior rangers and got their badges. Brityn was so proud she wore it for 3 days straight and couldn't wait to get home and show Papa and Grandma Carol. On the drive home she told us when she grows up she wants to be a park ranger. And that would be perfectly fine by me.

We were all sad to leave and felt like we didn't get enough time so we are going back at the end of the month. 

Weeping Wall

Mountain goat

top of Logan Pass visitors center

Trail to Hidden Lake

Brityn refusing to be photographed

Hidden Lake overlook

Two Medicine

Trick Falls (Running Eagle Falls)- in the spring/early summer water comes over the top also. Double waterfall

Avalanche Creek at Trail of the Cedars

My photo of Trail of the Cedars

Fish Creek by our campground

Lake McDonald

Exhausted after a hike

Not my picture. I borrowed (stole) it off Google images. This is what Trail of the Cedars looks like if you don't use a telephoto lens and you are a super great photographer. I could have sat in this forest all day. It was so peaceful and calming.