West Glacier National Park Again, Sunday

Sunday fun day!  This is our set up.  Thought I would take some pictures of the RV park. Here they are!

The park is big but you would never know it.  Our site was very private.  Several roads wound around the park. We never explored it all. We might have gotten lost.

 This was the view from the office.  Nice, you could fish in this pond.  There were rules but I didn't read them.

 The office and small store.

We headed up to Lake McDonald again to find a place to hike.  Safety in numbers!  The more people the less bears maybe?

 Mike had to return a shirt he bought first!

We decided this trail looked like a good one.  It was right across from the hotel.  6 miles up to the top.  We decided from the start we were not walking 6 miles up.

 Everything you read about hiking says to take bear spray on any trail, so we did.  We didn't have to use it thankfully.

Muscle man Mike!

 We met some trail riders going the opposite way.  Down.

 A nice little creek.

 This is Lake McDonald! Well, a small part of a very large lake.

 Upward we go.  Doesn't look like it was uphill but it was!

We sat down for a rest and met Stacy.  He said he was going to work hiking up the trail.  What?  Well, there is a chalet at the top of the trail and it burned down.  The rebuilding had started and the roof was rebuilt and anything else that burned.  Much of it was stone.  Stacy was working on the stone part of the chalet.  Making any repairs needed.  It has several rooms that hikers can rent.  The deal is you have to hike up 6 miles to get to it.  It hasn't reopened yet.  He showed us some pictures of the chalet.   Beautiful place for sure!

 I took this picture because it marked one mile up.  We hiked up a little more and then turned around.

 Down we go!  So much easier!

 Who lives here?

 We finished off our visit to the park with a picture to prove we were at Glacier National Park!

 And then another date night with Mike!  He knows all the best places.

Actually, the food and the service was great.  Very friendly people.  Mike had fun watching all the locals.  

These dollar bills were all over the restaurant.  They all had names or messages on them.  

 Dart board of course.

 These are all pool trophies.  I didn't get a picture of the pool tables.

 Well, that sums it up for Sunday.  Hiking and eating at the local joint.  I really like hiking!

East Glacier National Park Saturday.

My trip was complete.  I saw a bald eagle soaring in the sky looking for food on the way to East Glacier!!!  Isaiah 40:31 Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, run and not grow weary and walk and not grow faint.  

The trip to East Glacier is different than West Glacier as you can see.   More open spaces.  We were headed to go horseback riding on trails in East Glacier.  Mike thought it might be better for animal viewing.  It was. Our destination was Many Glacier.

We are here!  We were not allowed to take our cameras which was a bit upsetting to me at first.  The leaders say the camera straps get tangled in the trees and people drop them creating delays and a problem.  Especially if a horse stepped on your camera.  No cell phone pictures either.

Toward the end of our ride we say a large female moose in the river.  The pictures below were taken after the ride with our cell phones.  That was allowed.  The ride was beautiful and narrow at times, well most of the time.  We crossed a couple of creeks.  Lots of up and down.  My horse did a lot of slipping.  One big one.  I felt safe though.  The big one happened so fast and the recovery was fast so I didn't have time to be afraid.  Here is Mike on Tyson.  One of the workers said they always wanted to have a Mike Tyson on the ride. We were given instructions on how to maneuver the horses and what to do if we saw a bear.  Joe, our guide said he would start yelling, "Hey bear!" We should start yelling too.  Joe said the bears stay away from the big horses and the trail horses don't really react to the bears.  That thought process for the bears and the horses is a good one. Works well together!  You know what the horses are afraid of??? Plastic bags and ponchos!  Seriously, Joe told us the horses sort of freak out over plastic bags and ponchos.  If it is a rainy day no one can wear a poncho on the ride.

My horse that liked to slip was called Cool Whip.  Love that!   Joe told me Cool Whip liked to drift left.  He did!  In really weird places where you would think that was the last place a horse would want to go.  They even had his eyes checked to determined if the turning left was an eye issue.  It wasn't.

Mike and Tyson.

Cool Whip!

Many Glacier Hotel.  Big fancy hotel!   I like our trailer better.  Seriously, I do.

And now for the animal viewing.  Any time you see a group of people you stop to see what they see.  We were walking back to our truck after horseback riding and there were several people near our truck.  They were seeing big horned sheep and mountain goats.  Then the bears! The binoculars were out.  Mike got his spotting scope out and there they were.  I got a new lens for my camera and tried to get pictures.  The bears were far away and hard to find in the camera but I found them.  Every time I saw a black spot I snapped.  Most of the time the black spots weren't bears.  But I got them! We watched for a long time.  So amazing!  It was fun listening to the people.  "There they are, they are moving!"  "They are in the tall grass, the yellow grass!"  Everyone was joyful and excited.  I truly believe seeing God's creation in a wilderness setting makes a unique connection to God we only get when we are in the middle of the wilderness.

There was a debate on whether or not the pictures of bears above were grizzly bears.  The consensus was they were not grizzly bears.  One man insisted there was a third bear on the hillside.  None of us could see it or find it.  We sort of thought he was seeing things.  When I looked at my pictures I see the pictures below.  I thought they were the black spots I was taking pictures of.  Nope.  Blurry for sure but I kept them.  Here is the third bear.  And yes, it is a grizzly bear!

We did move to another spot down the road and saw a grizzly bear roaming around the hillside eating.  No doubt! See the hump on its back. We saw the bear through the binoculars and the spotting scope.  No pictures because it was too far away.  I tried.  Being far away was a good thing.  This bear was big! It was beautiful with different colors.  Silver and a silvery gray brown!

On the way back to West Glacier Mike decided to take me out for a date night.  Browning Casino on an Indian Reservation! Interesting date night for sure.  There was a private party in a nearby room.  We could hear the band.  I can't really describe the sound coming from the band.  It wasn't good.  Willy Nelson with laryngitis? The grilled cheese sandwich was really good though.