More fun at Glacier Park

 

On Labor Day we joined the rest of the Western Montana at Glacier National Park –that’s what the line at the entrance would have led us to believe, at least.

 

Our goal was a 3 mile trek to Avalanche Lake via Trail of the Cedars. The trail (to the trail) was beautiful – very reminiscent of Western Oregon forest. Sophia really enjoyed "finding" the creek again and again along this short trail.

 

 



 

 

 

At the trailhead to Avalanche Lake, a ranger informed us that our trail was closed due to a forest fire; bummer.

Take two: John’s Lake Loop Nature Trail. This started with a short trek through the forest to the John’s Lake. We were happy to have our bear spray with us as there were surprisingly few people along the first part of this loop. Here we are at John's Lake:

 

As we continued past the lake and farther into the forest, Sophia was disappointed at the lack of creeks on this trail so we started looking for moss– which was EVERYWHERE. (Ok, so it wasn’t a terribly edifying game, but it kept her occupied.) After another ¼ of a mile, we were pleasantly surprised to cross the Going-to-the-Sun Road to a populated and SPECTACULAR place – Sacred Dancing Cascade and McDonald Creek.

 

We went down to the water and enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch. And Greg and Sophia had a fun time skipping, "kissing", and throwing rocks into this crystal clear creek.

Here are a few more pictures of the landscape on our way back to the car:

 

 

So it was a very different experience than our first trip – no wildlife, very few people, and vastly different landscape – but Greg and I smiled at each other when we got back to the car and Sophia affirmed “had a fun time at Glacier Park!” We did too, sweetheart. : )