Category: Final 120 Days

One leaves, One stays

On second floor. My room is the lit window and the one on the left.
One last photo before leaving Glacier, from Apgar at the foot of Lake McDonald, a tradition.
He headed home on schedule yesterday, a Saturday.
From the airport, i drove straight to Avalanche Creek parking. Got a miracle “last open parking space” space.
Bird Woman Falls is 500’ tall (492’ exactly). One of the first of Bird Woman’s many spectacular views on the way up.
The iPhone has a decent zoom lens.
Heaven’s Peak through the Westside tunnel.
Nice color palate.
The Netherlands father and his High School Junior daughter (who spent her junior year with a Montana Host Family) offered to take this photo after i offered to take a couple pictures of them.

One leaves, one stays.

Be flexible. 

Give and take. 

Be intentional. 

Over-focus. 

We reserved two bikes for three days Tuesday-Thursday. Alas, a road project made biking Going To The Sun Road impossible. 

The only hope was to extend my stay through Monday instead of Saturday. 

Yesterday’s ride was incredible. 

So worth staying. 

Looking forward to today’s ride back up on this Father’s Day 2019. 

Our son and i are returning in July for several weeks, so i didn’t insist he extend his stay – it was his call. 

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Only six layers of mosquito repellant required

There are three primitive camp sites at Snyder Lake and roughly 10,000 mosquitoes.
We could not find a shore line to get an unobstructed photo.
Clouds suck energy from photographs. Yet we are grateful for the opportunity for a cloudy sky photo.
Panorama.
Discovered this angle as we were leaving Snyder Lake.

Only six layers of mosquito repellant required.

Had Snyder Lake trail been dry, mosquito-less, and an open lakefront view payoff, the 10 miles would have seemed like a bargain. 

Such is life. 

No bargain. 

But still a great experience because…

We got great exercise and built our hiking confidence.

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Never in 46 years

Hiking on Going To The Sun Road is not allowed. There are exceptions. We took advantage of one yesterday.
The Beargrass is insane this trip.
Beargrass would be even more prolific if it wasn’t a treat for the deer. Caught in the act.

Never in 46 years (since the first Glacier visit in 1973) have i hiked on the Going To The Sun Road. 

Until yesterday. 

We wanted an easy 4-mile, flat hike. 

A break from the climbing and higher mileage – a rest if you will. 

This morning after an early (6:40am) breakfast, we’ll hike to Snyder Lake, a 9-mile round trip hike with 2,400’ elevation gain. 

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Adjusted walking

Unique plant life on Fish Lake trail. Never saw this type. Ever.
Some force damaged this plant.
Capturing the moment.

Adjusted walking

We are adjusting our daily walking to acclimatize to sleeping at 3,000’ above normal.

First day: hike 2 miles on Sperry Chalet trail

Second day: hike 5 miles roundtrip to Avalanche Lake 

Third day: hike 6.5 miles on Sperry Chalet trail to Fish Lake

Today, day four, we’ll hike four miles on flat terrain from Lake McDonald Lodge to McDonald Creek bridge.

In a perfect world, tomorrow we’ll attempt Snyder Lake, 9 miles round trip. Steep climb and steep descent. 

Son, thank you for talking me out of Eddie’s ice cream last night. The banana, protein bar, and small apple were perfect – it was the only food in the car. 

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A physically special day on the calendar

A physically special day on the calendar.

We purposefully aimed for a relatively easy 5-mile round trip hike to Avalanche Lake. Our goal is simple. Gradually acclimate our stamina to higher altitude exertion.

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