Glacier National Park

We left Banff around 8:45 am on Wednesday morning.  Here is the US Customs as we came back to the United States.

We got to Glacier National Park around 1:30 pm, but we were too late to get a campsite at any of the park campgrounds on the east side.  The park ranger provided us a listing of privately operated campgrounds nearby.  We went to the closest one called the Duck Lake Lodge.  When we arrived Emily quickly said, "We're not staying here."  Unfortunately we didn't take a picture and it's hard to describe the general feel for the area, but it wasn't for us.  We decided to live large and stay at a KOA that was pretty close to the St. Mary’s park entrance.  It turned out to be a convenient location.  We set up camp there and headed to Two Medicine to do the hike to Aster Falls.  It was a pretty easy hike, about 2.5 miles.  Some hikers told us a moose was near the marsh, but when we got there it was gone.  We were prepared for the hike with water and snacks, but we forgot to bring our camera.  Most of the hike was like walking through a prairie – not too exciting.  But the falls at the end were beautiful.  We grabbed a picture off the web to help remind us of the falls.

Here is a picture of the scenery as we drove to the Two Medicine area.

When we got back to the campsite, we went to the pool and took showers.  It felt nice to be clean. We had hot dogs and s'mores for dinner, which is the kids' favorite camping meal.

The camping spots at the KOA were small and our site had a slight incline.  When we woke up the kids had slid down towards the opening of the tent.  You'll notice Mia isn't in the picture.  She had sneaked into Emily's sleeping bag to get warm.

The next day we drove the Going to the Sun road.  It basically splits the park in half and is a winding switch-back road.  At times the road is on the edge of the cliff and there isn't much parking or viewing areas.  The motorcycle riders had it pretty easy.

The kids earned their Junior Ranger badges at Glacier National Park.  Here they are outside the St. Mary's Visitor's Center.  They got their packets the day before and finished them in the morning before our drive.  They really enjoy the workbooks.  They learn quite a bit, and they teach us some things, too.

Here are some pictures we took of the area.  We didn't have a guide and it was hard to identify what we were looking at, so we don't know what's in most of the pictures, but they were scenic views.

We saw quite a few mountain goats.  This was one we took from our car as we were driving on the road.

Notice the cliff to the right and the small guard rail on your left.  This road is not for the faint of heart.

Brian and Andrew taught Mia how to do binocular eyes.  It kept them occupied.  We also tried the game our friend suggested and had a contest to see who could keep a marshmallow in their mouth the longest. The kids loved the game.  Mia won the first round surprising all of us.  Brian won the second and last game since there were no more marshmallows.

One of the activities we planned was a horseback ride.  Mia was too young so we were going to split up and take turns, but there wasn't enough time so Emily went with Brian and Andrew on the ride.  The boys were excited, and Emily was happy to relive her childhood days at her Grandparents' farm.

Andrew getting on his horse, Casper.  Emily was already on Cletus.

Brian getting on his horse, Digger.

Some more pictures of them as they head off on their one hour adventure ride.

The boys loved their horseback ride and wanted to do it again.  Emily enjoyed the ride, too, but would have liked to see more things or ride a little faster.  Maybe next time.

This place will usually give the kids who can't go a pony ride, but that day they didn't have a pony so Mia got to ride a real horse.  She rode Hall for about 5 minutes as the guide walked the horse around. 

So what else do Patrick and Mia do while everyone else is on their ride?  Get some ice cream of course.

After the horse back ride we went to the Apgar Village, which is close to the end of the Going to the Sun road near Lake McDonald.  We were there to explore the lake, but on our way we saw the exhibit below. They had two solar telescopes, which allowed us to look at the sun.  We saw sun spots and sunbursts.  It was pretty neat.  They have an astronomy junior ranger program so the kids got new booklets to complete.  At night they have different telescopes to see the other stars in space.  The kids finished their books and we went to the area where the ranger told us they would be, but they weren't there.  I guess they got the time and place wrong.  The kids were bummed they didn't get to see the stars or get their badges, so we stopped by the visitor's center the next morning and they gave them the badges.

We were able to explore the lake on kayaks.  It was a calm day so it was easy to maneuver around the lake.  The weather was perfect and the water felt refreshing.

Mia was able to sit on a padded seat so we could fit three in one kayak and two in the other.

Mia getting her turn to row.  She did a great job.

This was a good pose for Andrew.  He liked to relax on the kayak while Patrick got a workout.

We saw the Avalanche Falls on our way back along the Going to the Sun road.

Some pictures from the drive back.

On the way back we saw a bear cub on the street.  We got a great view from the car.

 

A snow tunnel along the road.

A mountain goat crossing the road nonchalantly.

 It might have been going to its family that was close by on this hill.

 There were huge ravens everywhere.  They make a loud caw.  We usually heard them in the morning in Banff to help wake us up.

 We tried going to the Logan Pass visitor's center on our first trip down the Going to the Sun road, but the parking lot was full and many people were circling trying to get a spot.  We decided to try it on the way back and there a lot more spots then.  We went on a 3 mile hike to the Hidden Lake.  Here are some pictures from the hike.

 Brian spotted this goat.  It was well camouflaged in the snow.

 Notice the goat in the background.  It was probably 15 feet away.

Here's a close up shot of the goat.

Notice the two sheep on the ridge.

 It was Mia's turn to take a picture of Daddy and Mommy.  You can see Hidden Lake in the background.  This was our turnaround point.  There is a trail that allows you to walk down to the lake, but it was closed due to bears in the area.

 At the end of the trail we saw a momma goat and her kid.

Here the kids are enjoying this refreshing area that was blowing cold wind off the waterfall and snow in the shade.  It was really nice.

 The kids playing in the snow that covered a section of the trail.

Hopefully you can see the various colors in the rock behind the kids.  It was very pretty.

 

An animal we spotted on the trail, but we're not sure what it was - maybe a marmot?

 A big-horn sheep very close to the road.  It crossed the street in front of us.

 As we left the park we got this picture of Wild Goose Island in the St. Mary Lake.

When we returned to our campsite we quickly cooked a stew for dinner and headed back to the visitor's center hoping to see the stars through the telescope.  As noted above, that didn't happen so it was back to the tent to get ready for our next day.