As I said in my last post, we were very privileged to spend a whole week at Glacier last week. My parents and my three youngest siblings also went with us. We had hoped to do some backpacking while we were there, but we ended up doing car camping and day hikes. We discovered that there are enough day hikes there to keep a person busy for weeks, we weren’t shorted a bit. Our longest hike was on Tuesday and most of us hiked 12 miles. A few went more. I nick named my brothers on this hike. One was Race Horse, because he talked Zippy and my sister to go an extra 4 miles with him. (Okay, I’m a bit proud of my 9 year old daughter for hiking 16 miles with quite a lot of elevation change, all in one day.) My other brother, I nick-named Pack Horse, because he took on the very honorable job of carrying G’tums on his shoulder for probably 4 miles, my husband carried him a couple more of the miles. G’tums walked around 7 miles of the hike–not bad for a three year old. The name of the trail was the Highline Trail. Here are a few pictures.
That was a tiring day, but we all thought it was awesome. It ended up exciting for Zippy and JD Boy and my siblings and my dad as they came face to face with a bear at the end of the trail.
The next day some of us got to go on another trail. (I stayed with G’tums and gave him a nap.) It was a 9 mile hike (roundtrip) to the Iceberg Lake. It was no less stunning. Here’s the lake.
Zippy hiked around 35 miles last week and JD Boy 30+ miles. Not to bad for a couple of youngsters, and both did quite a bit better than I did! There was lots of beauty from the road side too. There whole park had wildflowers galore and vistas that would take your breath away. Here are few more shots from around the park.
Upper Two Medicines at Sunrise–This was where we camped the last half of the week.
Wild Goose Island–close to where we camped the first half of the week.
A beautiful waterfall!
We also got to see quite a bit of fun wildlife. Unfortunately the birds were a bit sparse, but we saw bear, deer, mountain goats, long-horned sheep, marmots, ground squirrels and more. Here are a few of some of the animals.
The kids watching Mountain Goats.
An adorable Columbia Ground Squirrel eating wildflowers. (This might be my favorite shot of the trip.)
And last, but not least–The Natives!!
There are many, many more pictures that I’ve posted on Flickr (around 60). Some of them are outstanding too, so I hope you’ll stop by my album and check them all out. Here’s the link.
These are all just breathtaking! Makes you wonder how Heaven will look doesn't it!
Becca
Time Well Spent
Wow, what an awesome place to visit and what absolutely wonderful pictures. I can tell your family is really a family after our family's heart. We thought of going to Glacier National Park, but decided Yellowstone was the tamer place and better for going with a toddler. What is your opinion? Did you see Grizzlies? Glacier's website had warnings all over it about the Grizzlies.
Don't bee too concerned about the itimidation factor with Charlotte Mason's writings. What I did is tell everyone on my blog what I was going to read – and that made me finish my chapter and really process it. Most people either start with one – which is really good – I think especially the second chapter and forward. Or, they skip to the sixth book which I guess is really the nuts and bolts of Charlotte Mason's methods. The one thing I read that made sense is the reason that Charlotte Mason seems challenging to read at first is that she doesn't add a lot of fluff to her writing and we are used to reading 99% fluff.
Regarding when we start school…well our school district doesn't start until the 9th of September believe it or not – but I hope to start at least a week before that, if not two weeks. Have a great rest of your summer.
In Christ-
Cathy
What a wonderful place to visit. I would love to see that in real life someday.
Blessings,
Dawn
Beautiful!!!
Just stopping by to catch up after a busy week or so and WOW! What an amazing trip!
I love the squirrel photo and the lake and boats at sunrise…calendar worthy at least!
This was an amazing trip that I would love to do with my kiddos soon.
Thanks for sharing and inspiring.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Breathtaking Photos! I loved the one with the boats on the bank and then the closeup of the water running through the rocks! Your children are so blessed to have such wonderful teachers for parents and nature lovers too!
Hope your week is going great, Julie
These are amazing! Truly beautiful! Was it a pain to lug a camera around on your hike? Your results are so gorgeous that I'm assuming you've got a professional camera. Or is it just so pretty there that all pics turn out this amazing?
http://jimmiescollage.com
Absolutely beautiful!