Going Home to Glacier National Park

We've had a few days away from internet access, which is a good thing as it allows us to make a break from technology. When last we spoke it was the 4th of July and we were in Medora, ND... we are all treated to a fantastic nearly-midnight fireworks show, which we can only assume was in recognition of Liz and my anniversary. Seriously, Medora has like seven full-time residents so we weren't expecting much... but it was a spectacular show.

We arrived yesterday in Glacier National Park. There is something so special about Glacier... other parks may have slightly more impressive scenery or better hiking trails, but Glacier just feels like home.

Yesterday after setting up at the campground, we all went to the Trail of the Cedars. This is important as this trail is only .8 miles long and is entirely handicapped accessible, meaning Grandma got to come for the entire thing. We saw some very cool things on the trail through the 500-year-old cedar forest, including many varieties of moss, an upturned tree with a massive root system stripped free of dirt, and the rapids of Avalanche Creek. It has rained quite a bit here in the last week, and we have never seen the water flow downstream and over the many waterfalls like it is now.

Last night we spent at least two full hours organizing our gear as we plan to start going out on some real hikes, and then this morning we returned to the same trailhead and hiked up to Avalanche Lake. This is one of our all-time favorite hikes, and both two years ago and this year it marks our first real hike. It is 6.2 miles round trip and a total ascent of 500 feet on the way up, but it goes up and down so much that it is probably up 1200 and down 700. The Avalanche Lake hike serves as our family's hiking banchmark, in distance, elevation, terrain, and beauty. No matter where we go, as we consider a hike we always ask each other Is it longer or shorter? Steeper? As beautiful? as Avalanche Lake.

This was Izzie's first real hike as well. She got carried to the lake, but did the entire 3.1 mile return on her own. As always, the overfed ground squirrels were in full attack mode, and for every bite of sandwich you took you had to take 3 swipes at squirrels.