Ockey Family Adventures: September 2018

The drive along Going to the Sun Road was beautiful!

This was the best day yet! The only difficult thing was saying goodbye to our beautiful room on Lake McDonald. We had a lot to do, though, so we ate up Mom’s pancakes and loaded the car by 6:30 am. Then we started driving up Going to the Sun Road. We made only one stop when we spotted two moose down by the river. They were munching on grass along the bank, and we didn’t see much more than their rear ends, but it was a promising start to the day.

We saw an otter one morning, and we also saw this momma Merganser with a lot of babies!

The boys really didn't want to leave this place.

The moose were hiding through the trees, so you can only see one face here. The other moose is right behind her.

Mom was freezing as we drove on Going to the Sun Road.

We loved the waterfalls that went right under the road.

We arrived at Logan Pass early enough to get a parking spot and headed up Hidden Lake Trail. The boys were all keyed up to see a wolverine, but as they are nocturnal, and it was now after 7:30, we new that was very unlikely. Still, we started the climb with high hopes. Not far from the Visitor Center we spotted some bighorn sheep on the right side of the trail. They were a long way away, but everyone saw them clearly.

It sure seemed like a lot of snow for the middle of July!

The boys love using their binoculars.

We saw the Bighorn Sheep from quite aways away.

Same with the bear. He was far away!

Then we started up the snowy incline. It was deep and slushy, and with the climb, we made sure to hold on to hands, but there were still a few falls. After about a half mile someone showed us a grizzly bear. He was hundreds of yards away, but we could spot him in our binoculars, and we watched for a long time as he wandered around aimlessly doing whatever it is that bears do. Because he was so far away, he was visible for much of the hike, so we kept an eye on him both up the trail and back.

We had nearly crested the pass when Dad shouted, “There’s two goats!” Sure enough, high up on the mountainside we saw two goats walking along the cliff’s edge. We watched them for a while and then went another hundred yards and were surprised to see four goats right on the trail! In fact, there were goats standing less than ten feet away all the way up to the lake overlook. We saw several dozen, including a few babies born this Spring.

We were so excited to see these two mountain goats walking along the mountainside.

Then we turned around and this guy was right on the trail.

Seriously, they were so close.

As we were standing watching the goats a weasel ran right past Mom. We were all surprised that he was carrying a dead vole in his mouth. We wasn’t more than a few feet away either! Soon he ran down a hole and stashed away his breakfast. We saw him run out to do weasel things a few minutes later.

This was the best sighting ever. How can that little weasel carry that huge vole?

Hidden Lake was a beautiful area.

As we neared the end of the trail, we saw a hoary marmot. Everyone around us thought it was a groundhog, and the boys thoroughly enjoyed correcting them. This old fellow had clearly been fed before, because he came right up and sniffed Seth’s hand, even though Seth didn’t have any food. Neither Seth nor the marmot were scared at all.

This Hoary Marmot followed us along the trail. I think he wanted our snacks.

He was going to let Seth pet him.

Seth loved finding mountain goat hair everywhere.

On the way back we had fun skating down the snow. Mom’s eyes shone as she watched her boys sliding down. “Look how much fun they are having!” she cooed before giggling all the way down as she clutched Dad’s hand and skated this way and that. We loved this hike! Dax declared it the “Zoo Hike” because we saw so many animals, and Seth said it was the best hike he’d ever been on. Even Mark wasn’t too upset he hadn’t seen a wolverine.

We begged someone to take our family photo.

It was a great hike!

And slipping and sliding down the mountain was really fun, too!

The boys were in heaven. Other than the frozen hands.

We got back to the Visitor Center and went inside to stamp our passports. Mom got a passport and a new shirt to celebrate the awesome day we were having. The boys had crossed six animals off their Bingo sheets, and it wasn’t even 11 o’clock!

Next we drove down the mountain a bit and found a beautiful pullout. We stopped and Mom made lunch for us as we looked out over a large valley surrounded by waterfalls. On the drive down the mountain, Dax spotted a bear that ran right across the road. We got some good pictures and didn’t have to share him with anyone else at all. Going to the Sun Road is really beautiful, and we were grateful to have such a nice experience.

The views of Glacier are amazing.

That is Jackson Glacier behind us. The Glaciers are all disappearing so fast.

This bear walked right across the road, but Dax spotted him before he crossed.

We loved watching him scratch his back!

On the east side of the Continental Divide, we did another short hike. This one was called Baring Falls. It was straight downhill, but only about a half mile. We saw a red-naped sapsucker feeding her squealing baby on the way down. The waterfall was really pretty, too. It had a ledge that allowed you to climb right up next to it so you could feel the splash on your face.

We love crossing bridges.

We are still trying to take pictures together as much as possible.

The ledge walked right up to the waterfall. The boys thought it was so neat!

We purposely planned a long drive after those hikes so that the boys could rest a bit. It was nearly two hours down to the Two Medicine area. We left the park boundaries and took a winding road down to see two more waterfalls. The first was called Running Eagle Falls, or sometimes Trick Falls. The trick is, that in early Summer, it is a double waterfall. The water cascades behind the rock and in front of it. Later in the season, the front waterfall disappears. It was one of the most unique falls we’d seen.

Mom is in heaven with all the wildflowers. More pictures will be coming.

This waterfall is so cool with the two falls.

Dax was in a really great mood this day!

The longer hike was called Aster Falls. It was over two miles, and we weren’t sure the boys were up for it. They’d been a little testy when we’d woken them up. But we stuffed them full of treats and snacks and started the hike with a story. Soon they’d forgotten their troubles and were hiking magnificently. After a short distance we came to a beaver pond. There was a large hutch right in the middle, and we stopped to see if Mr. Beaver would make an appearance. After a few minutes, Seth got bored, so he and Dad started down the path. Just then, Mom, Mark and Dax saw the beaver. Dad and Seth just missed him. We waited for quite a while, but he didn’t turn up again. We continued on around the pond. We soon found another vantage point and settled in to wait. Seth and Dax saw the beaver on his second appearance. Only Dad missed him. We decided to go ahead to the waterfall. Along the way we had another surprising discovery. Two spotted leopard frogs were in the stream right below our feet. We finally reached the waterfall, and though it was beautiful, we were thoroughly worn out. We still had a long hike back, too. We were disappointed again at the beaver pond. The first viewpoint turned up nothing. But farther along we saw him swimming underwater right next to us! We could even see his little feet kicking and his tail. Eventually he swam away and surfaced and everybody saw him, even Dad!

Seth loves all the lakes.

These are normal pictures.

Dax and Mark jumped across the river to see the waterfall better.

Seth and Mom stayed on the safe side. No jumping involved.

One of the frogs we spotted.

The beaver was so quick, it was hard to get any great pictures of him.

The long drive back got us to dinner at about 7 o’clock. We ate dull, over-priced National Park food and then checked into our new place. It was much smaller, and the view wasn’t nearly as nice as Lake McDonald. But there was room to sleep, and we needed to get to bed early. We wanted to get up early to see some wolverines!

This cabin is not quite the same as the Village Inn at Apgar, but it will still be fun!

Dad had to sit in the lobby to check emails, so the boys and Mom explored around the St. Mary's area.

Mom really wants to live at Glacier.

We woke up at six and peeked out the window. There was a beautiful golden sunset over the lake. About an hour later during breakfast, Mark spotted an otter swimming just out the window. We all rushed out and snapped a few pictures as it glided past on the water.

The otter was swimming too fast for a great picture.

We had a long hike this morning, and we got started by about 7:45. We walked through the thick cedar forest and up to a lake called Avalanche Lake. The hike was long and fairly steep, but the boys told each other stories and we hardly even noticed the distance.

This tree had tipped over and we thought the roots looked like spider webs.

The waterfalls here are extra beautiful with the blue glacier water.

Dax loves this pose!

We actually got two family pictures on this hike!

I think of all the hikes these boys have done, and I am amazed at them.

Seth loved walking along the river for the first half of this hike.

We watched this little chipmunk for a few minutes.

Mark is always our trail leader pushing us along.

When we arrived at the lake, it was in a massive bowl. There were dozens of small waterfalls flowing out of the glaciers into it. The water was an amazing bright green. We took off our shoes and dipped our toes in. It was like stepping in liquid ice, and our feet ached after only a few seconds in the water. On the way back to Apgar, we saw three beautiful bucks. Mark would also want it mentioned that we saw a varied thrush and a fox sparrow. We also saw a lot of chipmunks.

Avalanche Lake is spectacular.

We were lucky enough to get another family picture.

The boys froze their feet off in this lake.

They couldn't stay in the water for more than a few seconds.

Mark is always excited when we spot new birds.

These are the moments that we will always treasure.

There were 3 beautiful bucks along the side of the road.

Once we got to the Apgar area, we stopped in at the nature center. We listened to the ranger program so the boys could finish their junior rangers. They were thrilled because it was all about wolverines. That is the one animal they really wanted to to see while we were in Glacier. After the program, we had lunch in our room and the boys waded and threw rocks in the lake for a little while before we headed out on a new adventure.

We have the best Junior Rangers, but we still didn't spot a wolverine.

Mark is at home in the wilderness. He loved this lake and skipping rocks.

The boys couldn't be happier.

The idea was to go to Polebridge up the west side of the park and try out some huckleberry donuts. The road was rocky, but not really bad. Still, after about 20 of the 25 miles, Mom said, “What’s that noise?” just as Dad noticed the tire pressure light. Sure enough we had a flat tire. There was no place to pull off, so we said a quick prayer that all the tools would work, the spare would be fine, and we could get the van back to a town before 5 pm when all the tire shops closed up Saturday night. As luck (or prayer) would have it, we got the tire replaced in Kalispell for only $17 and made it back to the hotel for dinner by 5:30. We ate leftover tacos and because we’d missed out on our donuts, we got huckleberry ice cream cones.

We ventured into this meadow at one of the rest stops.

We saw a beautiful swallowtail.

At least the spare went on easily.

The boys were good sports and hung out in the shade while Dad changed the tire.

While we waited for the tire to get fixed, we walked through the pet store.

We also walked through Cabelas.

This was not an adventure we had planned, but we tried to stay positive and make the best of it.

Ice cream makes everyone happy!

The huckleberry ice cream was delicious.

Mom was glad she could enjoy her ice cream in such a beautiful place.

Finally, we started our last adventure, a hike to Rocky Point on the other side of Lake McDonald. It was a really nice, mosquito-infested hike that allowed us to look back across the lake at our cabin. We saw a few tanagers, but not much else. Still, the hike was up and down through the trees and along the lake. It was a really nice day, but it was especially nice to get that flat tire out of the way!