Glacier National Park

August 2, 2012  We just realized this is no longer in our blog.  We know it got published once but here it is again.  Better late than never


July 8,  2012  Day 3
I am fairly certain if I go to Heaven it will look a lot like Glacier National Park.  This place is spectacular.  I think I could have spent a whole month here.

First things first, however. On our way to Glacier, Jack kept noticing this smell in the car. When we arrived at Avalanche campground, we discovered the smell Jack had been smelling was our lovely bottle of Menage au Trois which exploded the cork right out of the bottle and evaporated or poured out into our car.  Must have been really hot in our car yesterday!  Amazingly enough there was not too much of the wine (red of course) getting into things, just a bit on the carpet and some landed in the waste basket.

The afternoon we arrived we walked Trail of the Cedars twice, which is a boardwalk about a mile right in our campground.  Saw "Jedi Knight" bird fly up and down this tiny canyon with water rushing through.  Amazing.

July 9, 2012 - Day 4

Oh what a day.  Woke up at 5:30 am, made coffee and took yoghurt and apples and hit the trail by 6:45 to Avalanche Lake.  The trailhead is right near our campground so we didn’t need the car.  We were the only ones at the lake for 45 minutes and this is one of the most popular trails in the park as it is spectacular and only a 500 foot elevation gain. Round trip distance was 6.2 miles and 15,000 steps. It was so great to have it all to ourselves.  It pays to get up early!  Passed about 35 people on the way down.  


After a brief rest, we

packed our lunch of leftover chicken burritos and protein bars, fruit and hit the trail again.  Are we crazy or just stupid?  We were going to go to Fish Lake which was only another 4.8 miles roundtrip until we talked to people on the trail who said there were mass mosquitoes at the Lake so we opted for Snyder Lake which 8.8 miles roundtrip (24,000 steps) (that is why I brought Jack to take care of these things.) and a 2000 foot elevation gain.  But it was worth it.  Let’s see if we still feel that way tomorrow seeing as we hiked a total of 15 miles and 45,500 steps for the day.  That is an all time record for us. Kind of sore tonight. May need some Ibuprofen.  Luckily we took our Katadyne water filter along as we had 16 ounce water bottles and filled them each 6 times.  Can you imagine lugging 96 ounces each?  Oh, and the water was so good and so cold.  Unfortunately, unknowingly we had camera failure at Snyder Lake.  Not sure what happened but we wonder if it was simply too hot.  It was 94 degrees.  Camera seems to be working ok tonight.   After the hikes, we went swimming (bathing) in Lake McDonald at the lodge.  Jodi went in with all her clothes. Jack  was much smarter.  After the refreshing swim we had a cold brewsky in the bar, Jack had Going to the Sun IPA and Jodi had Moose Drool brown ale.  Yum.  Came back to the campsite and made wild Alaskan salmon Cajun style, broccoli and salad.  Just like home, minus the bugs.  We also did laundry and  hung the clothes on the line.  OH that tent bed is going to feel good tonight!