Ockey Family Adventures: Glacier Day 2

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!