Glacier National Park ’23

08.23.23
Flew out of Indy airport at 6am.  Flew to Dallas Fort Worth.  Had about a 4 hour layover.  Clint and I walked around the airport for an hour or so, then he got an airport massage while I walked some more.

Landed in Kalispell a little before 2pm.  Got luggage and jeeps and headed to our house.  Checked in and got settled.  House was fantastic!  Headed out to supper early and ate at the Backslope Brewing. Stocked up on groceries and were back at the house around 6pm.  Unloaded and headed to bed before 8:30.

 

08.24.23
Woke up bright and early around 3:30.  On the road around 4:15.  Headed to the east side of the park and started the Grinnel Glacier trail about 6:50.  It was very cold and very windy – Clint and I were chattering loud enough to scare off any bears in the area.  Hiked was 11.75 miles and it took about 6:45 hours.  Beautiful hike and views.   Saw a moose and a few mountain goats.  Clint got to use his first aid kit on Mitch’s hornet sting – not a necessity, but hey, we wanted to try out the kit.  Stopped at a pull off and ate out packed lunch about 2’oclock.  Stopped at The Two Sisters coffee shop and got coffee and Huckleberry pie – everything seems to have a huckleberry theme out here.  Took the Going to the Sun Road back to our house!  Ordered pizza and salad from North Fork.

 

08.25.23
We were on the road a little after 5:00.  Headed into the west entrance and parked at Logan’s Pass – very foggy.  Walking in the fog felt like we were hiking in Ireland!  Hiked the Hidden Lake Trail, 6.3 miles, around 4:40 hours.  Fun hike with some switchbacks coming back up.  At the turning point of the trail, we continued on crossing the river (Mitch fell in – and got another sting ) and were able to see and explore the smaller hidden lake.  Saw some deer very up close and personal.  Back at Logan’s pass, ate lunch in the parking lot and hopped on the shuttle around 1:00 to head to St Mary’s and Virginia Falls. 2 miles total round trip.  Nick and Clint jumped in at the Virginia Falls.  Back on the shuttle headed to our vehicle at Logans Pass at 2:50.  Headed home at 3:15.  Went to Whitefish for dinner, ate at Wasabi Sushi Bar.  Got ice cream at Sweet Peaks afterwards.

 

08.26.23

Left the house at 6:30.  About an hour drive to the Avalanche Lake trail head.   Started the trail around 7:45.  Hiked 6 miles in 4 hours. More wooded than any of the other hike we have done, but fairly moderate and very pretty.  The sun shining on the lake was gorgeous.  Ate lunch at the trailhead and then drove a little down the road and parked and did a little rock hopping.  Guys jumped into the ice pool and swam for awhile.  2:00 we left the park and headed to the many Glacier Village.  Shopped a little and got ice cream and coffee.  Hung out at the house and played games in the afternoon. Ate dinner at Gunsight Saloon. 

 

08.27.23

The guys cooked breakfast and we ate in.  Headed to the 9am service at Canvas Church in Columbia Falls.  Met the pastor, Josh and had a great service!  Came back home and played a few games.  Headed out around lunch time and ate lunch at the Montana Coffee Traders.  Started our kayak journey around 2:00 after a slight hiccup in forgetting a paddle at the shop.  2 hour kayak trip turned into 3 hours when we missed the “very obvious” pullout and floated an extra hour down the River.  Not sure how far we went, maybe 10-12miles.  River was moving which made for a relaxing paddle.  A handful of small rapids were a fun addition. Wow is that water cold! Stopped on our way home and grabbed dinner at food trucks.  Very yummy and relaxing on our back patio. Glacier Açaí, Wild Child, and My Thai to Go.

 

 

08.28.23
Left the house around 5:15. Parked at Siyeh Bend. Started the trail around 6:50.  Hiked 10.6 miles in 6.5 hours.  Super cool trail with many big things to see; parts of it was what I would picture hiking in Turkey or the Middle East to be like.  At the top, we went a little further off trial and touched a glacier!! This trail had some switchbacks on the backside, and the second half was full sun.  Waited about 20 minutes for a shuttle back to our vehicles.  Drove up the road to a shaded pull off and ate lunch before heading home.  Played a few games and some swam in the late afternoon.  Headed to Three Forks Grille for supper and Cup of Soul for Ice Cream afterwards.

 

08.29.23
Last morning to be in the park; left the house around 5:15 again.  Parked at Logan’s Pass at  6:45 to hike the Highline Trail.  After much debate about if we should do the entire trail, which end to start at, etc. we wended up hiking out 3.6 miles and then turned around and came back. The trail was high and narrow, but so cool to be up high and look all around.  We could often see the Going To The Sun Road far below us.  Saw around 15 big horn sheep near the end of the trail.  Ate lunch and headed back to the creek to jump in.  A tour guide told me it was 42 degrees and it was freezing…like hard to think, move and fully process how to climb out!  Headed back to the house, hung out by the pool again.  Headed into Whitefish for our last dinner, ate at Craggy Range. 

 

 

08.30.23
Our last morning and we slept in a bit.  Guys made breakfast again and spoiled us girls.  We had amazing weather our entire week, but we woke up to dreary and rain.  Made us all even more thankful for the amazing weather we had all week.  Got mostly everything packed and played a few games before it was time for checkout.  Used up the rest of our lunch stuff for a last lunch on the go and headed out around noon.  Drove through the town of Kalispell on our way to the airport.  All checked in and headed home.  Short layover in Chicago and landed in Indy around 10:30.  Thankful!!

 

What an amazing week…lots of…

Laughing

Breaks on Trails

Snacks

Driving

Ham and Turkey Rollups

Coffee

Wizard

Tylonal

Calamine

Coughing

(journal credit goes to Janelle – thanks so much! )