MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF GLACIER

June 1 - 5

Wow....can't believe it's been another 5 days. This vacation is going to be over far too soon. This week I did some more mundane things, doing rentals (like always), got my oil changed, got a "ding" in my windshield fixed, etc. And wouldn't you know, I'm leaving Glacier National park yesterday, and I get another "ding" -- guess I'll be going back to the glass place.

Obviously from my title, the biggest thing I did this week was to go to the West entrance of Glacier National park -- TWICE!! I made my first trip on Tuesday, and got my yearly pass. Just driving into Glacier, you feel like you are in a forest with some of the most beautiful mountains, lakes, and scenery anywhere. I didn't really do much this trip but just drive as far as I could go on the road, which was to Avalanche Creek, and took a bunch of pictures. I've been checking the Glacier web site to see how the snow removal is going. Thus far, you can go about 16 miles up the "Road to the Sun" to Avalanche Creek from the west entrance, and about the same distance on the east entrance to the Jackson Glacier Overlook. There are some other areas, like Many Glacer and Two Medicine that have roads open. They are both on the east side of the park, and both have waterfalls, hiking, and boat tours on the lake. So I'm going to try to do that before the "road" opens.

Right now it appears the "Road to the Sun" won't open until June 19, which is the date the park paper says it will be available. I did just hear on the weather forecast that there will be snow this weekend at elevations higher than 5,000 ft. (which is the Road to the Sun), and they specifically mentioned East Glacier. So I hope that won't slow things down.

But.....that hasn't slowed me down. One of the things I wanted to do was some hiking to some of the waterfalls and lakes that I haven't seen. And I was told a really great hike was to Avalanche Lake, where there are some beautiful waterfalls. Yesterday I decided I needed more exercise, so off I went. First, I did a short hike (maybe 1.2 miles) to Johns Lake. The lake was really nothing and the hike was easy -- it was so relaxing and the smell of cedar and pine is so wonderful. Then onto Avalanche. There is a "Trail of the Cedars" which is a nature trail, accessible to wheelchairs, so it's pretty easy which is about a mile round trip (by the way, these cedar trees where puny compared to what I saw at Ross Creek past Libby, MT).

About the half way point is where the Avalanche trail takes off. It is 2 miles to the lake with a rise in elevation of 500 ft. Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it.......WRONG!! OMG!! The entire 2 miles is uphill. I kept hitting my toe on rocks and tripping, but I was going to make this 2 miles. After all, I've been walking 4 miles on the Swan River Nature trail (which is flat). I'm not sure that prepared me very well. But I see people older than myself (sometimes much older) coming down this trail, and I have to believe if they can make it, so can I. And I did, but not without a lot of "huffing and puffing" along the way.

I would pass people coming down, and say "Please tell me it isn't much further", and many people did, but still I'm not at the top. But when I did make it, there was the most amazing vista which was absolutely beautiful. It is difficult to put in words how beautiful the lake was.

According to a write-up I found on the Internet, Avalanche Lake is located in a "cirque" (the dictionary says a cirque is a "bowl-shaped, steep-walled mountain basin carved by glaciation, often containing a small, round lake". I couldn't have written that better myself -- an exact description of this basin) on the west side of the continental divide. Massive mountains surround the lake, providing an unforgettable scenic experience. The lake itself is named for the numerous avalanches that roar down the surrounding mountains. For those of you lucky enough to get to Avalanche Lake on a warm day soon after the trail opens in May, you will be treated to the sights and sounds of many avalanches, which is quite a sight if you have never seen one up close before. During spring and early summer, these avalanches turn into dozens of waterfalls that cascade down from the highest peaks.

NOTE: This picture is from a distance. From the left side, you can see 3 white streams coming down the mountain -- those are the waterfalls. I've got close-up's below, but this was amazingly beautiful.

I assumed that a lake named "Avalanche", probably had avalanches, and as I looked around, I could see large pine trees lining the lake, and then I would see a section where the tops of all the trees were boken off -- obviously from an avalanche (since they don't get tornados up here).

I'm including pictures, but they don't begin to show how beautiful this was. Snowcapped mountains surrounding the lake (making the bowl), and there were three huge waterfalls visible with the water running off from the spring melt. They were so far away, so I can imagine this water was falling 5 or 600 feet -- maybe more. I just had to sit on one of the benches that were provided along the lake to take it all in. (NOTE: The two pictures here were done with the extreme telephoto on my new camera -- they were obviously a long ways off)

There was a small amount of water that was running down this "beach" area, and someone had put a rock in front of the bench so you didn't have to keep your feet in water. After I was sitting there for a bit, a little chipmunk came out of the bushes, scurried across the water, under the bench, and hopped up on the rock, right between my feet. He looked up at me like he was saying (very rapidly since he's a small animal), "Okay, you got any food for me? No? I'm outta here". He just took off running. Unfortunately, he was so fast, I couldn't get the camera ready to take his picture.

So......now I'm extremely happy I made the hike up the mountain, but I'm thinking now I have to walk 2 miles back down. I asked one guy where the shuttle picked you up to get back down, and he laughed and said, just sit on this log -- I'm sure one will be along -- NOT. At least the walk back was pretty much all down hill, and while that takes a toll on your hips, knees and ankles, at least I wasn't breathing hard. On the way down, I came upon a deer that was also walking down the path. And she didn't seem in the least concerned about me. I thought when she knew I was behind her, she would take off running -- but she kept walking until she found the ground and grass that she was looking for.

They say you can see a lot of wildlife along this trail. I stopped to eat at the West Glacier Restaurant, and the waitress there said a couple saw a grizzly bear just the day before. I always thought bears stayed away from areas that were frequented by people, but apparently not (and the park does say that bears will go where there are people, so watch for them). There were lots of people on this trail. She said the lady was sitting on a log resting, her husband was a ways ahead taking pictures, and a grizz walked out of the woods, across the path, and the down wooded area on the other side. AMAZING.

I didn't realize how sore I really was till I hit the end of the trail, and still had to walk a half mile on the "Trail of the Cedars" to get to my truck. Each step I was saying, "ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, and ouch". And I mean OUCH!! Boy, did my feet hurt. And now I am STARVING. All I can think is that I need to get out of the actual Glacier Park, and get someplace to eat. So I got to the first restaurant, had a great french dip, and even finished up with dessert. I knew I should have stayed with the apple pie, but I asked the waitress what their best dessert was, and she suggested "Huckleberry Cream Pie". Not the best decision I had made that day. It tasted like Huckleberry, but way too much cream. Oh well....live and learn.

So today I'm thinking I might just take a 2 mile walk on the flat and go see a movie. Sounds like a winner.

Upcoming activities: Saturday is a dressage show at Rebecca Farms in Kalispell. So I'm going to see what kind of dressage they have around here. And Sunday, I'm going horseback riding with Jane and Jack up Jette Mountain. They are going to haul over several of their horses, and we'll take them up the paths to the top of the mountain. Now that's how to climb a mountain -- on horseback. Can't wait -- that should be fun.

I'll add the pictures when I get them downloaded tonight.