Glacier Gladness

Ahhhhh! Glacier National Park. This is just one awesome place!


We were able to spend a couple days in this northern part of Montana, relaxing...


throwing rocks....


...and hiking. The Going to the Sun road is only open to the Avalanche Lake trail head due to snow plowing. One can ride bikes on the closed road (until you hit too much snow) but we didn't have bikes so hiking it was. It's an easy 3-mile hike up to the lake through dense forests and rushing streams.






We stopped along the way to photograph small woodland flora and fauna.


Glacier lilies that have just shot up as the snow melted. Edible and very tasty indeed.


This is a harlequin duck, rare to see and such a delight. We watched it paddle around in the stream, ducking under the water for nibbles until it got caught in the rapid current and was whisked downstream.


Plenty of mountain goats were grazing way up high as there is an abundance of fresh green grass to munch on.


One of Forrest's friends, Eric, was able to join us for our stay.


Dad and boys


and finally making it to Avalanche Lake.


Avalanche Lake lies in a cirque high in the mountains. It was glass like this day with warm temperatures and no breeze.


These awesome vans called Jammers (named that because of having to 'jam' the gears) take tourists around the park. Here Forrest is buffing one up, readying it for its turn on the road.




Time to leave as a big thunderstorm approaches from the west.


Back to our little Swiss chalet where we ate great food cooked by Houston, drank wine, played games, read books and tallied some good down time.


Night scene across the 'pond' from our chalet.


Mom spent pleasurable time drinking wine and reading.


Our little chalet was called 'Moose'.


Taking a hike along the river, we came through the ranger's village, all neat and tidy. It was hard to leave Glacier as we hit it at a good time as most of the park was not open so there were no crowds. But with Forrest staying out in Montana, we'll soon be back.