7/28/2010 Going-to-the-Sun Drive

Our goal for today was to drive the Going-to-the-Sun road and then loop around the bottom of Glacier National Park.  Everyone has told us how gorgeous this drive is, so we put it on our list.  We had several construction delays but the view was breath taking.  Ben found a geology book about the park that was set up to go through as you drove this route, so every so often we would jump out and hear about the geology of the region.  Generally, I start yawning when Ben gets in to his big words that I don't understand about rocks (hehehe) but it was really interesting and crazy to think about how the glaciers impacted the landscape here... it was really interesting to think about the many ways that God has, and is, working.  The glaciers were 2,000 to 3,000 feet thick and carved huge canyons and many waterfalls.  When standing at the shore of Lake McDonald and looking out at the many points that were carved by HUGE glaciers of ice... the song "There is a God" (by Leeann Womack) comes to mind!  This park really is amazing!  One of the coolest features that I learned from Ben were the ripple marks on the rocks.  There is a picture to the left, but what happens is at one time (a long, long time ago :)) the area was covered by water.  In the shallow water the mud was shaped by the water currents.  More mud layers deposited on top preserving the "ripple marks" underneath and what is left today are ripples in the rock that look like waves.  Also, other neat things that we were able to see, and pictured below, were the glacial walls right next to Heaven's mountain;  and... McDonald Lake which was completely formed by a glacier.  We stopped for lunch at McDonald Creek where

 some guys were jumping off cliffs into the creek.  You wouldn't think this would be too intelligent but it did look really fun and the water was very clear!  We did not partake - the water was too cold.  That's not really the reason, but it sounds better than "chicken".  However, we did partake of some amazing desserts at a little lodge along the drive!  Ben and I split a "Bear Claw Pie" (espresso ice cream with a crushed crushed cookie crust and whipped cream and almonds on top) and Mom and Dad split a "Huckleberry Cobbler".  As we finished the drive we saw another black bear in the woods but didn't take many pics since it wasn't a Grizz. After the drive, Ben and I took advantage of the hot tub once again and then when we got back Mom and Dad had a roaring fire so we decided to join then before we went to bed.

7/27/2010 Sun Point to St. Mary Falls

This morning we woke to up to the sound of rain on our roof... we really can't complain since it is the first time since we left home! We were going to drive the "Going to the Sun" road; however, due to the clouds we postponed that until tomorrow.  Instead, I spent the morning working on my school assignments until about 2:00pm.  It was great to have some time to get a lot done... I was able to finish all of my assignments except for my final project which I hope to finish before I go to sleep tomorrow.  Once this project is over I will have completed my last class of the summer and will be at Master's  plus 15 going into my 5th year of  teaching (5 years ago I never dreamt that I would have accomplished this!)  Anyway around 3:00ish we headed to the Sun Point trail head and hiked a total of 4.5 miles to the St. Mary Falls which were really pretty.  The sediment is washed down by the glacial streams and as it suspends in the water it absorbs all of the colors of light except for the bluish-green color that you see.  On our way back from the hike I got a little taste of my own medicine... Earlier in the hike I was inspecting a tree off the trail and I decided that it was a really convenient spot for a bear to hide... and... since there was no bear I thought maybe I could take his place.  My mom and dad were a little ways behind so I hunkered down a waited.  As they passed I gave a subtle growl that was pretty realistic!  I saw mom jump and dad reaching for his bear spray so I abruptly announced myself and we all had a good laugh. (It really was not the smartest thing to do because right now this area is having a lot of grizzly activity and everyone is being extra cautious) Anyway, on our way back from the St. Mary Falls Lex and I were leading the climb out and both kind of looking down as we went around a bend in the trail... As we rounded the corner and looked up we saw a large, brown, four legged creature standing right in the middle of the trail!  Instantly Lex and I both jumped and I let out a good holler as I drew my spray canister... only to realize that it was just a deer standing in the trail with its head down between its legs.  My holler scared the deer so bad that it jumped too... it scared us so bad that I pooed my pants (see picture below... just kidding that's bear poo from yesterday's hike). Anyway, mom thought that was the funniest thing every and couldn't help but think that it was God teaching me a lesson... I must say that whether I deserved it or not, it sure got my adrenaline flowing!  It was getting late so we took an alternative route to a different trail head where a shuttle was supposed to make its last run at 6:10pm.  By 6:35ish Lex and I decided that we could walk the road for a little over a mile and probably beat the shuttle.  Guess what... as we neared the parking lot where our truck was parked Mom and Dad came whizzing by on the shuttle!  We were all pooped by the end of the day so we ate dinner, went down to the hot tub for an hour, and then came back and made smores and pudgy pies around a fire.  What a productive day!!!


*** 12 years ago today my dog, Whoosha, was hit by a car on route 6... it was a sad day! ***

7/26/2010 Hiking to Grinnell Glacier

This morning started around 8:30 when we left for the Grinnell Glacier trial head (the glacier is in the upper right corner of the picture).   This area of the park is known as the Many Glacier area and they are experiencing heavy grizzly bear activity.  As soon as we neared the trail head we saw many postings saying "Bear Frequenting Area" and "Be Bear Aware".  We loaded for bear with our spray close at hand and began our trek into the woods.  Not more

than 100 yards into the hike a doe walked across the trail.  We stopped and watched her for a while and realized that she had two fawns following her.  We had to keep moving and she let us walk right by.  The trail splits and gives two options: a) you can hike to the glacier's lake which is about a 3 mile hike with steep enough terrain or b) you can hike up to the glacier which is 5.5 miles one way.  The hike to the glacier is gradual for about the first 1.5 miles but then the last 3.8 miles you climb 1600 feet in elevation. We decided to split up so we all could see pictures from both the lake and the glacier.  Mom and Dad decided to go to the lake and we decided that we would climb to the glacier.  "Climb" is no joke!  The trail

got pretty narrow in several places but the view was incredible. As we climbed higher toward the glacier the air cooled down and it was a really pleasant hike.  We saw a lot of great scenery and I found some cool "geology things" that I can incorporate into my classes.  We stopped half way up to eat lunch and were tormented by a squirrel... he almost got a taste of Bear Spray!  We journeyed on and got some amazing views of the glacier and the lake below!  On our way back down the mountain we stopped for a drink and all of the sudden Lexy yelled, "BEAR!!!" I grabbed my Canon (I like saying that if you can't tell) and zoomed in on the creek way down below... Sure enough, there were two dark colored blobs moving through the creek about 900 feet below; however, as I zoomed in it became clear that they were not bear but instead a very large moose being followed by a very small moose. Lexy's eye never fail... I don't know how she saw them way down there... I think she needs to start going hunting with us a little more often! We continued our trek down the the mountain and two hours later we safely arrived back at the truck.  We drove back to camp to meet up with mom and dad, I did some school work for a few hours, and then we had dinner. We all finished the night off  with a visit to the hot tub... it felt great after a day of hiking!

(view from where the moose was spotted)

                            

7/25/2010 Getting Situated

Today we got up at 9:00am and called into our Washington church to listen to the service.  We were saddened to hear about the passing of Jordan Schroeder... our thoughts and prayers are with Katelyn, their two daughters, and his many family and friends!

Today we moved to our permanent campsites, got everything set up, and then just relaxed around home.  This afternoon we went into town to get some information from the visitors center. We learned about several great hikes and all of the must sees. After messing around at a few shops we went back to our campers, made diner, and then Lex and I went down to the hot tub.  Today was a lazy day, but tomorrow we will start exploring Glacier!

7/24/2010 On the Road to Glacier

This morning we woke up and went outside to finish hooking up to get on the road.  When I went around the camper to unhook the utilities I heard a very distinct sounding bird.  I went back around the camper to find a raven sitting on the fence post saying goodbye.  We got rolling across Montana and saw some more of this incredible state... I have to say that Montana is one of my new favorites!  The topography and scenery is amazing and so are the many rock outcroppings that tell stories of the past!  The picture of one of the highway outcrops does not do justice to what it really looks like in person... the many colors are so much richer!!!  Our journey soon put us on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation which seems to be huge!  It was really weird to see large packs of domestic dogs just running the streets in large groups... we saw several.  We rolled into the St. Mary KOA at around 6:00pm and got set up.  This is another great campground with a full camping and grocery store along with a little restaurant and ice cream stand.  The campground also has mini-golf, a heated pool, and a large hot tub which we hope to make great use of!!!  After we had dinner at the campground restaurant we went back and relaxed around a nice fire.  Earlier in the trip I bought an OFF mosquito repellent and it worked so well that everyone else decided to get one when we stopped at Wal-mart earlier in the day.  The Off machines really work and as you can see, mom, dad, and Lex are all really excited to enjoy a  bug-free evening!

7/23/2010 Last Day at Yellowstone

Today is Friday, our last full day at Yellowstone. :(  Since we have now seen almost the entire park we decided to SLEEP IN!!!  ...  it felt great!  We started our morning with a huge breakfast of blueberry pancakes, eggs, a little bacon, coffee, and of course, French Vanilla Cappicino. There is nothing like a great, outdoor breakfast... things seem to taste so much better! After breakfast the boys went fly fishing in the park and the girls went into town for pedicures and to get a little shopping out of their system.  In the afternoon we all met up, did some laundry and relaxed, and then went back into town one last time.  After messing around in the shops we went to the IMAX and watched a documentary on Yellowstone.  It was very interesting and also fun to be able to watch the show and say, "We saw that!"  After the show we tried some local huckelberry ice cream (it was really good) and then we called it a night!  Tomorrow we will start our journey up to Glacier National Park.

7/22/2010 The Upper Loop

We’ve covered the Lower Loop and today we planned to cover the Upper Loop…. Project: BEAR. A bear is the only wildlife that we really wanted to see but haven’t (besides a wolf which is almost impossible to see). Mom and I really want to find a bear – just to see, not be eaten. Dad really has no desire to find one, see one, smell one… really anything having to do with them! He is perfectly content without ever encountering a bear. Ben wants to get up close – every hike his eyes are peeled and his bear spray is close at hand! We picked out one hike today that the Rangers told us was beautiful.

The boys got their fishing licenses so they could fly fish along the way. The drive around the upper loop was gorgeous and guess what – halfway to the hike we saw a …BEAR. It was a black and was guessed to weigh around 200 pounds. He/she was majestic. It was right along the road. It looked at us several times but didn’t care at all that TONS of people had stopped to take pictures of it. The Ranger was a little nervous so we all got back in our cars and went on our way. SO COOL! That was the last animal on my list; however, I still would like to find a Grizzly Bear. That one I really want to see from afar. The hike today was so picturesque. Ben took some great pictures of the flowers that could be seen along the whole trail and on a lot of the mountains around, they were beautiful flowers.

Along our hikes we usually take several stops for a rest and at two of the rest stops we saw... WOLVES! Ben said he didn’t think we would ever see wolves while we hiked but little did he know how good of eyes I have!!! Just kidding! It was crazy how they just appread out of the timber. I guess we were too quiet and they thought they could sneek around us... little did they know that Ben is such a quick draw on the Canon and they would be tracked and shot - about twenty times each! :) The hike went aong the Slough Creek which the boys fished after we finished the hike and had lunch. After talking to another fisherman, we discovered that where we had eaten lunch, they had run into a big grizzly yesterday. We never saw him though. On our drive home we spotted another black bear, but he took off so fast we couldn’t get any good pictures of him. He wasn’t as big as the other one either.

7/21/2010 The Lower Loop

Yellowstone park is split into two main loops. Today our goal was to finish driving the rest of the lower loop since we already saw the first part when we went to see Old Faithfull. We stopped for a hike at the Upper and Lower Fall which are located in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone… heard that they were “breathtaking”. We went to Artist point first where there was a great view of the Lower Falls. Then, we took a short hike to the brink of the upper falls. It was really fun because you are literally standing on top of the water fall. It       makes you realize how small each of us are in this huge world. We took a longer hike called Red Rock which gave an amazing view of the lower falls. The Lower Falls are bigger than the Upper Falls but both are beyond description. After our hike we drove the rest of the loop looking for wildlife. Every so often we would run into this huge traffic jam and you would know there is an animal ahead. After the billionth bison traffic jam though, you begin to only want to see the bear. We did see two new, smaller animals today… the marmot and an osprey with her babies in a nest.

 Where are the bears?

7/20/2010 Exploring the Grand Teton

My new favorite thing in this campground is the free cappuccino you can get at the office! Every morning I fill up my coffee mug – French Vanilla - Ahhh. We left home at 7:30am and headed down to the Grand Teton National Park. (The picture above shows the Grand Teton with a herd of elk that we saw from a lookout point)  We made several stops at various lodges and lookout points along the way. At one of the lodges Ben ran into a women that he used to work with at Gander Mountain seven years ago... talk about a small world!  Once we got to the Grand Teton we went on an amazing hike through the canyon next to the mountain. We took a ferry across Jenny Lake to get to the trail head and from there we hiked to see Hidden Falls (see the picture – Amazing) and then hiked on to Inspiration Point. The elevation of inspiration point was 7200 ft. which was an accomplishment (especially for me!). Once we got to the Point, Ben and I were so Inspired that we decided to hike on into Cascade Canyon which is about 4 miles from the lake trail head. Once in the cayon the landscape really opened up and the sun was pouring on us... luckily we had plenty of water!  Suddenly, as we came around a bend, a HUGE moose appeared in the creek.. It was AMAZING to see in person! We were so close I couldn’t believe it. It looked at us a couple of times but didn’t care about us at all. One more animal off the checklist for me. It was a really neat hike and the moose really made it worth while; however, I was exhausted when we got back. Grand Teton is about a 3 hour drive from West Yellowstone so we decided to stop for supper at a little lodge along the way home. Once we got back to town we made a quick stop at Dairy Queen for a treat before calling it a night. I’ll sleep well tonight... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

(The movie below shows the moose eating... Ben is still learning how to use our new camera so it is still a little "shaky")

7/19/2010 Exploring Old Faithfull

Today was the first day in Yellowstone National Park – the campgrounds where we are staying, Grizzly RV, is very nice AND they have free french vanilla cappuccino every morning! For our first day we decided to drive down to see Old Faithful and to explore other features along the way.  During our days travels we saw a MORE animals... herds of  buffalo and elk, and a new one for the list, a coyote.   The first stop we wandered upon was called Fountain Paint Pot. It had several geysers and hot springs in it and Mom’s favorite was the mud pots (see movie below). After this stop we went to Firehole Lake drive to see some more geysers – one of them was really colorful because of the algae and bacteria growing in it. We also stopped at Midway Geyser Basin which had some very beautiful geysers. Finally, we arrived at Old Faithful. We were surprised to see how much the area is built up and also that there are TONS of geysers in the area. We first watched Old Faithful erupt (it erupts every 90 minutes) and then walked on a boardwalk hike to see various other geysers. All of them were really unique and my favorite was the Grand Geyser. It is the tallest geyser in the world – shooting 200 feet in the air - Ben got a great video of it going off... We had to wait about 45 minutes to see it, but it was well worth it. After our full day of geyser viewing, we were dead tired. We went back and had Dutch oven pork chops and stuffing for dinner. YUMM! We called it a night after supper.