On the day before leaving Glacier, Jeff and I decided to hike to Avalanche Lake. It was a two mile hike Kyle and I did years ago but I don't remember it being quite so tough. Maybe it was because I am about 15 years older.
The trail started off easy with a board walk through the tall cedars. It smelled good and was pretty level. This was a handicap trail. It was cloudy and cool. But within a few minutes the jackets came off. When we got the the end of this trail, the trail to Avalanche Lake veered off to the left and we started to climb on an earthen trail. The sign said it was two miles to the lake from there. It never said anything about the one half mile we hiked to get to that point. So we ended up with a 5-mile hike. Kirstin stayed back with the boys and Judy because it would have been difficult for them, although the trail through the cedars would have been fine.
Toward the end to the cedars was a deeply cut waterfall/stream that flowed under the trail.
We basically followed that stream to the lake.
We kept climbing and following the water. We climbed 500 feet in two miles. That does not seem like much (500 feet up along a 10,520 foot path) but there was a lot of up and down to the hike.
Then we came upon this hiker's alter of rocks. We added some ourselves.
We finally made it after more than an hour walking. There were several waterfalls on the opposing mountain.
Here you see three of them. I would imagine that during the spring thaw, these would be spectacular
There must have been a big wind storm go through this valley because all the tops of all the trees are gone. We passed two people coming down as we were going up. But we passed several dozen going up while we were going down. The early bird gets the quiet path. The rangers told us to be noisy hikers to keep the bears away. But no bear in his right mind would be close to any of these established paths. We passed a young couple on their way up. They were both in hiking gear and were very athletic. We kept hearing this "Hoo hoo!" as they approached. It was the woman, practicing her noisy hiking tactic to scare the bears away. It must have worked. I told her I didn't see any Bears and she replied "I'm just making sure". As they passed, the "Hoo hoos" continued. Then we passed several older couples who had all bought walking sticks (some plain sticks cost $26) with bear bells on them. They must have worked too because they all fled to Canada.
It rained most of the day and they boys were pretty tired and were glassy-eyed.
Logan was just relaxing like the big guys with beer bellies. He was just showing his off.
Since Judy didn't get to Glacier until Wednesday morning, we drove through the park on the way out. You can see how narrow the roads are and how small the wall is, keeping you from going over the edge.
We made it out of the park, had lunch and by early afternoon we were in the eastern half of northern Montana. This is the scenic route, according to the map. But it looks mighty flat and the road is as straight as an arrow. We did see some pronghorns here. We spent the night in this part.
This is a Montana fixer-upper.
For the last 20 miles of Montana, the road actually disappeared. They dug it up and hauled it away. It took over an hour for that last 20 miles.
Lots of oil wells in this part of the state.
We were caught in several stop areas and had to wait for a "pilot truck" to guide us through a one way path. We asked one of the young construction workers if they were making a four lane road and he said, "No. They are just moving the road about 100 feet south". Some spots were rutted so deep in mud that we bottomed out the car. Now it would seem logical to me to first build the new road, since it would not overlap the old, before you ripped up the old road. But I guess they do things differently in Montana.
We finally made it to Rugby, ND to spend a day or two with Gramma G. Logan was awarded a Garfield at the garage sale that aunt Bessy was having.
Liam was eventually given one to.
Here they snacked on some red licorice, but they did not want any chocolate milk. That must be a first.
Then we said farewell to the Smenteks and thanked them for sharing their trip with us. We finally say some Elk at the Elk farm near Alexandria, MN
The boys started out at the sheep barns. I think they were wondering why the sheep were wearing a coat over their wool. "All the better to stay clean, my dear."
Then it was off to the pig barn. Logan has having a thing with his tongue for several pictures so this one is going on the Internet.
Liam on the other hand was very stoic. We passed though a few other barns and some big animals (cows) got very close to them as we walked the isles.
It was ride time. Wouldn't you know it that they did not want to do the same rides. One wanted the cars...
and the other one wanted a bumble bee ride.
Then they went kid farming, where they learned how to farm, harvest and buy things with the profits.
Liam was first to finish the harvest and got to ride the tractor first.
It's not as easy as you think to drive one of these things. Most of the way the feet were on the ground walking the tractor.
If there was sign with face cutouts, they sought it out for a photo. But faces stayed in the cutouts for only a half second. So after several attempts, I finally got both of them looking out at the same time.
Time to milk the cow.
Another one.
Shortly after lunch this is what the fair grounds looked like - a sea of people.
It was not long after lunch that they got too tired to see any more and both went to sleep at the same time. As we walked, everyone was looking at them, smiling and commenting on their cuteness.
Then on the way out I saw this guy. It was the same guy that Lorelei and I saw at the Dragon Festival a couple months before. He wore a kilt this time instead of a Polynesian skirt, but both were green and in both cases he was shirtless. If he would only turn around to display his six-pack.
