Glacier!

Hi! 

So, we had 2 days of driving to get to Glacier.

on Thursday we drove from Keystone, SD to Billings, MT via North Dakota.  We had a lovely lunch in Marmath, ND with all the locals at the Pastime Club and Bar.  As I mentioned before, this was out of the way but ND has its own beauty.

           
ND road

In Billings, Carsten showed me the refinery where he was the Project Manager for a vacuum thingy - it was very pretty (as refineries go...).  He also took me to 2 of his favorite places to eat & drink.  A cidery, where we got a "grunt" of Cider to go... then a very good Sushi / Japanese restaurant.  It was good too!

On Friday we drove to Columbia Falls, MT from Billings, MT.  We made it to our lovely house at 5:00 Central.  

We had been hearing rumors that Glacier NP was very busy and that, to get a parking spot at a trail head you had to be in the parking lot by 7:00 AM.  So.... after consulting with Lauren (marieke's BFF - who had been here 4 weeks ago) we got up at 5:00.... and it worked out.  We got there with about 7 parking spots to spare.  whew.  Some of those people really knew what they were doing - there was one group "tailgating" - cooking breakfast there in the parking lot!

Of course, at 7AM the sun is not even up.  So we actually had to wait to start the hike.

The first hike we did was to Hidden Lake Overlook.  Normally, the hike goes to Hidden Lake but the second half was closed because there had been a bear hanging out there.  Sure enough, we got to the overlook and folks were pointing out the bear in the distance.  So, best kind of bear sighting .... one where you do not have to use your Bear Spray (which we do have).  That hike was 3 miles round-trip.

For whatever reason, we decided since we had the parking spot, we should do the other hike that starts nearby.  This one, called Highline, runs right along the side of the mountain.  It is pretty narrow in places but we did enjoy beautiful views.  We did about 7 miles round trip on that one and now we are dead.

By the end of all this we had 26,264 steps and sore feet!



We finished the day in the park with the Going to the Sun Road.  Glacier really has a lot to offer!

Tomorrow we plan to enjoy the house and take it easy. Maybe see about some activity in the afternoon.  We shall see.

Enjoy pics from today's adventures.

Sheri & Carsten

Logan Pass - at 7AM the clouds were actually below us....
together on the Highline trail
St Mary's lake
Scenes from Highline trail


Carsten at St. Mary's lake
Hidden Lake trail
not the widest trail i have ever been on (Highline)


Hidden Lake Overlook
water trickling out of the rocks

Take Care!



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