Montana - Day 3 Glacier NP (West Glacier to Logan Pass)

 Shawn and Karen are only 45 minutes away from West Glacier and so we thought leaving by 7:15am was plenty early. Much to our dismay, we not only had to wait in a line to get in but we also had to have our kayaks inspected before getting on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. This put us a bit behind and by the time we arrived at our scheduled first stop the "parking lot full" signs were already out. 

Rather than wasting more time trying to get a spot, we forged east with our first stop at the McDonald Creek overlook. While here we met three fellow Green Bay Packers fans, talked some football and about how all of creation speaks of the Creator... 

Thankfully the parking lot at The Loop/Heavens Peak scenic view had a few spots open. So we nabbed one and took some shots. 

While we were wandering around we "happened" to overhear that the parking at Logan Pass was already full. So we made the decision to gear up, wait for the shuttle and ride it to the pass so we could do the next hike on our list... Hidden Lake.

We had to let a couple of shuttles go by full before one came that had space for the group of us that were still waiting. Even the view from the bus was very nice. Chris was even able to grab a shot of this mountain goat from the window of the shuttle. It was easier since everyone was stopped in the road to take this same picture... LOL

We eventually made it and hit the trail, that was closed past the view point because of heavy bear activity. 

Both the trail up and the view point were spectacular!

We were high enough that we could even catch a glimpse of Grinnell Glacier in the distance...

Hidden Lake was massive! Much bigger than we expected and much to far away to get to see any of the alleged "heavy bear activity"... 

Back at the trailhead we enjoyed the mid summer wildflowers (things bloom rather late this far north in Montana) and some wildlife as well... :) 

This cute hoary marmot was just relaxing and keeping cool in the shade... 

But I'm pretty sure this ground squirrel was really hoping that some kid would feed him or leave their pack where he could get his paws on it... 

Montana - Day 1 & 2

 How do you know you have really good friends? Because when you contact them only a couple of weeks in advance and ask if you can stay with them for a week, they say yes. The Osbornes never fail to be fantastic hosts in spectacular places. And their new home in Bigfork, Montana lived up to expectations! 

Only an eleven hour drive away, we only had to stop for gas once and made it there in time to eat at their weekly Wednesday night community meal hosted at their church, Bethany Lutheran. Not only did we get to eat good food and yummy local homemade cherry pie, we also got to catch a bit of the worship/prayer time (led by Shawn). 

Unfortunately, we did arrive too late to get our Going-to-the-Sun Road vehicle pass for Thursday. So instead of going to Glacier, we spent the day hanging out with Shawn, Karen, Lydia and their nephew, Mason. 

After breakfast, we wandered around downtown Bigfork for a bit and then hiked a couple of miles along the Swan River. It was quite busy but very easy trail, and it was enough to work up an appetite for a roast beef & horseradish sandwich at the cafe where Karen and Lydia work. Yum! 

After Karen got off work, Shawn dropped us off and we floated down the river for a couple of hours. It was the perfect relaxing and refreshing way to spend the afternoon and see some of the area.

There was also a fun spot to stop and swim and give ourselves a mud spa treatment. And since the water was so warm, it was glorious! On the down side, it turned out my tube had a slow leak and we had to stop and inflate it multiple times. On the bright side, I didn't have to swim or share one with my hubby... LOL

When we got home, we enjoyed a delicious taco dinner courtesy of Lydia, got our passes for the next day at Glacier, and played some cribbage and Quiddler.