It was a bit hazy along Lake Sherberne but the water was that spectacular turquoise that beckoned us to the shore. it was quite windy and the water was frigid so the girls weren't even interested in dipping their toes in. We even found a huge heart rock that we couldn't fit to take home so we took a picture to remember it.
After going through the old stone Many Glacier entrance we parked near the Many Glacier Hotel to take in the views. The hotel itself was beautiful, built in a Swiss chalet style architecture complete with staff in leiderhosen. It sat on the small Swiftcurrent Lake which was fed with the Grinnell Glacier as a backdrop. We had to get a partial family picture to remember the view. The haze was already settling into this area so we imagined just how amazing this view would be without it. And we made a note to return here next year on our trip somehow.
As we left the same way we came the view had dramatically changed due to the smoke so we were glad we'd seen it when we did. We headed back through the east entrance for our trip across the mountains to the west side. The day before I'd downloaded an audio tour of the road so we queued it up to see if we could learn a little bit along the way. We drove through Two Dog Flats, Rising Sun, Sunrise Gorge, and several more spots before we reached Logan Pass.
About 300 yards before we reached the parking area at the top I noticed people walking from their cars parked on the side of the road to the pass. This was a sure sign there would be parking issues up ahead so Dave dropped us off at the curb and joined the other 20 people casing the parking lot for a spot. We went up to the visitors center to stamp passport books and take a look at the exhibits.
I looked out the window every few minutes to see if I could spot our roof cargo carrier moving around and after about 5 minutes I couldn't spot it anymore. I figured Dave had finally decided to go back down the road a little ways to park when he walked in saying he'd gotten a spot. We'd just talked to the kids about the meaning of karma how good things happen to you when you do good things. This meant we could stay for the program and do a very cool hike to Hidden Lake.
The hike was about 3 miles and looked relatively easy along a paved and gravel path up the mountain behind the center. We enjoyed the view along the way of what we learned later were snow fields on the mountain instead of small glaciers. This hike may have been the most breathtaking we'd done so far. Even with the smoke it was just beautiful. We could only imagine how much better it would be without it!
Here is a perspective picture Dave took to show just how ginormous this place is. See those spots about 2/3 up the rocks in the front? Those are two people trying to make it up to the snow field!
We counted six small waterfalls on the way then made it to the lake where we were treated with a gorgeous view of the lake. The trail extended to the bottom by the lake, but we decided to head back to catch the program. Ryan did try out the water here along the way! Brrr!!
At the end we watched a little Columbian Ground Squirrel who'd obviously had a lot of luck begging for food here. He was definitely very cute! After Ryan bought a fox she'd had her eye on, we dropped in on a program just finishing so we had the ranger to ourselves. We were all excited to learn more about the weasels and wolverines that live in the alpine up there. We learned a little more about glaciers and headed back to the parking lot to continue.As we were leaving we told a cruising car to meet us at the end of our row to take our parking spot. Unfortunately he was blocked by big SUV who refused to leave even after he politely asked. We discussed sitting there until the SUV lost patience and moved but just decided to leave instead. We didn't see the car again on our way out so we were all hoping he got an even better spot. This was the perfect time for a conversation about bad karma!
We made it through the rest of the drive learning quite a bit about the surveying and construction of the Going to the Sun road way back in the 1920s and 1930s. We pulled into the Apgar Visitor's Center just before Grammie and Brayden. They had all finished their junior ranger books on the first day but were waiting until today when they were all together.
Grammie had leftover gumbo thawing for us so once we got all set up we headed to her site. Dave tried his best to tune her satellite for the FSU vs Alabama game, but it seems there might just have been too many trees. He'd asked several people in the park if they knew of any places we could go to catch the game but we were in the woods far away from any kind of sports bar. We settled for text updates from Peepaw and devoured our dinner.
Once we were all cleaned up we played cards for a little while then played a game the girls had made up. It is a cross between charades and improv with teams of 2 people. They'd actually taken the time to write up rule books with paper and duct tape! Look for "Two Brains - the ultimate thinking game", coming soon to a store near you!
We ended the night with the program at the amphitheater about "Being WILD". It was a great progam about the evolution of thought about what it means to be wild and where wilderness really is. Laney even had a part in the presentation reading a quote from Lord Byron. At the end we asked the ranger for hiking suggestions as Dave found out the trail we had planned to hike would be closed due to the fire. This fire is really starting to annoy me.
We crashed after our little trek home and fell asleep to the sounds of the lake. It was almost like home with the tiny, gentle waves rolling to the shore singing me to sleep.
