Glacier National Park~ Polebridge & Hidden Meadow- July 14, 2012

I think we would all agree that one of the best days of our entire vacation was the day we went to Polebridge-- a tiny little speck of a town in the north-east portion of Glacier Park, not too far from the Canadian border.  Here is the road to Polebridge.

The road near Polebridge

This is the road approaching Polebridge.

Approaching Polebridge

There were signs along the road that said "Slow Down!  People breathing" and "DUST is a four letter word!"  In the distance of the above photo you can see our destination-- the Polebridge Mercantile, or just "The Merc" as it's known to the locals.

The Polebridge Mercantile- could you guess?

What is it about this place that made it so special?  Impossible to describe in words.  You have to be there.  The old west charm, the out-of-the-way-ness about it, but most of course THE BAKERY!

Yum!

Here I am, inhaling the aromas of the freshly baked bread behind me and enjoying my morning coffee, daydreaming about how we could transport the merc into our neighborhood.

Andy and Richard enjoying breakfast

We all enjoyed pastries.  I had a cinnamon roll with pecans, Andy had one with lots of frosting, and Richard's had huckleberries.  It was so good we didn't want to leave, but we weren't hungry anymore, either.  We sort of hung around until lunch, checking out the cool antiques and stuff inside while we waited.

Inside the Polebridge Mercantile

For lunch they make these sandwiches that have filling totally enclosed by their delicious bread.  It's sort of like a hot pocket, only a trillion zillion times better, baked by cute girls in Montana with love.  We took them to go, along with a loaf of their  Parmesan garlic pull-apart bread.  We had that for dinner with spaghetti.  Yes, it was so good we had Polebridge baked good for breakfast, lunch and dinner and would have taken up residence there if they'd let us.

When we reluctantly left the Polebrige merc, we headed past the ranger station, to a road that went above the valley and the town, to the Hidden Meadow trail.  Seeing how we were in the thick of bear country and there were no other people around, we though it wise to eat our delicious sandwiches in the car before our hike, rather than tempt the bears.  Yum yum yum!  They were SOOO good!

The Hidden Meadow trail was very pretty.  We passed by a lot of wildflowers and butterflies on the way to the meadow.

Not so Hidden Meadow

It was a very nice hike, despite the mosquitoes-- which there were a lot of!
We ended up back at Lake McDonald, near our campsite, to end the day.

Glacier National Park~ Apgar Village and Lake McDonald - July 13, 2012

On Friday July 13th, we needed some time to re-cooperate after our long hike to Trout Lake the day before.  Also it was time to say goodbye to Avalanche campsite, pack up and head to the next campsite.  We went outside the park past West Glacier to get some laundry done.  I read a book and Andy enjoyed the swings.  I'm not sure what Richard was doing.

Andy on the swings

We had hoped to camp next at Fish Creek, but when we arrived there the ranger informed us they were having problems with the bathrooms and probably didn't REALLY want to camp there.  So we set up camp at Apgar campsite instead.

Once our tent was staked we checked out the Apgar village.

Apgar Village

I loved the old school building they had converted into a gift shop.  I bought some gifts in this shop.

Apgar School- now gift shop

We spent some time checking out the Lake McDonald lodge.  Of course no photo album of Glacier would be complete without a photo of the red buses.

Red Buses outside of Lake McDonald Lodge

We had a late lunch/early dinner at the village and did some more shopping.  The highlight of the day was an evening cruise around Lake McDonald.  We all were looking forward to the rest and relaxation after so many hikes.

Andy and Richard waiting for the boat

Above is a photo of Andy and Richard on the dock, waiting for our boat.

The boat we rode

The boat ride was about an hour long.  It was fun and I learned a lot from the tour guide.  Unfortunately since it was dusk the photos didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.  We did get to see a mother white tail deer and her 2 fawns before we had to come back.

Glacier National Park~ Trout Lake- July 12, 2012

Thursday July 12th we decided to hike over Howe Ridge to Trout Lake.  We didn't know what we were in for when we started.  Here are Andy and Richard near the beginning of our journey that day.

Note:  they are smiling.

This was a very steep trail and it seemed very long, although the trail to Cobalt Lake was actually longer I think.  This trail was 3.7 miles each way, with an elevation gain of over 2,000 vertical feet in the first 2.5 miles.  Then it went down steeply 1,300 vertical feet in just over a mile.  Oh, and did I mention it was in the 90's that day?

Trout Lake from Above

Here is a view of Trout Lake before the descent.  You can see trees from a previous fire.

We made it after all!  We were the only ones there so no one to take our family photo.

I pulled out my painting supplies and did a painting of this beautiful locale that we all worked so hard to get to.

Heather Painting Trout Lake

Here is the view of pretty much what I was looking at when I painted.

The mosquitoes were eating us alive, so after lunch and this painting we were back on our way.  It wasn't really much easier on the way back.  Actually it was harder for me, because it was steep going back with a million switchbacks, the blister pads on my feet didn't help and my blisters popped, and although we each started out with two bottles of water, it wasn't nearly enough and we ran out of water on the way back.  I don't know how much it's possible for a human being to sweat in a day, especially when dehydrated, but I'm sure we were doing maximum output.

Here's a photo on the way back.  Andy is sucking up some of the last of the water.  Notice no one is smiling now!  I collapsed on the way back, but I guess it was just briefly.  I was given 7 grapes and somehow just holding on to them and knowing I had them got me through the next mile, at which point I shared them with Richard and Andy.

Obviously we made it because I'm here writing this.  When we got back to the car we each drank a liter or 2 of water.  In retrospect I'm glad we went on this hike, but at the time it sure was a challenge!  It probably wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been soo hot, we'd had more water, and my boots were better broken in!

Glacier National Park~ Logan Pass, Avalanche & Trail of the Cedars- July 11, 2012

Now I'm almost 2 weeks behind in my blog posting.  It's not easy living in the past and present simultaneously so I hope to get caught up soon-- which will mean a flurry of posts!

On Wednesday, July 11th we packed up our camp at St. Mary and re-established ourselves at the campground at Avalanche.  This means we got to go back over part of the Going to the Sun road.

We got an early enough start that we were actually able to park at Logan Pass and get out and walk around and take photos.  The first time we drove by the parking lot was full.

Andy at the Hidden Lake Trailhead

I had wanted to hike the Hidden Lake Trail, but this is what the trail head looked like.  Since we didn't have snowshoes or skis it looked a bit too much for us in our hiking boots, especially after Cobalt Lake.

We continued on to Avalanche.  We intended just to do the Trail of the Cedars loop so I unfortunately didn't bring my painting supplies.  We decided to also hike the Avalanche Lake Trail in addition to the Trail of the Cedars.  I am so glad because this hike was definitely worth it.  I was a bit put off at the beginning by how steep it was, but I was almost instantly rewarded by arriving at Avalanche Gorge.

Avalanche Gorge

The trail leveled off mostly after that and it was a very pleasant and shady hike.

Richard (and some others on the trail) claim to have seen a bear in the woods, but I didn't get to see it.

Avalanche Lake was so clear and beautiful.  It was a real gem.  It was hard to keep track of how many waterfalls could be seen from this vantage, but it was at least six.

Andy at Avalanche Lake

We asked someone to take a family photo.

Here is one of just the scenery.

It was so gorgeous no one wanted to leave.  We continued on to the Trail of the Cedars loop trail.  This is another very nice trail and is even wheel chair accessible.  I think it's great there are trails even disabled people can enjoy.  A lot of the trail had wooden boardwalks, and at the very end, we saw a deer.  Unfortunately the photos of her didn't turn out, as she pranced off too quickly.

Glacier National Park~ Two Medicine and Cobalt Lake- July 10, 2012

On Tuesday, July 10th we drove to Two Medicine.  I was amazed that we were able to just drive right to lower Two Medicine lake.  It was so beautiful.  Most of the other lakes we saw required some sort of a hike.

After checking out the lodge, we decided to hike to Cobalt Lake.  I think we picked it pretty much just based on the name, and the fact that we would pass by Rockwell falls on the way there.  I love Cobalt Blue.  In retrospect I sort of wish we had gone to Upper Two Medicine Lake instead since it is a much bigger lake, but that will be a journey for another day.

The hike to Cobalt Lake started easy enough.  We passed by several small ponds, one of which we saw a moose.  We went over a suspension bridge.

Richard crossing the suspension bridge

Here is a picture of Rockwell Falls.

The trial seemed to get very steep after that.  No, that's an understatement.  It seemed to go vertical on us.  In reality, the total elevation gain is 1450 feet and the roundtrip length is 11.2 miles.  It seemed much longer, but maybe it's because of the thin air in the high elevation (highest elevation is 6597 feet). We normally dwell at about sea level, so this was quite a change for us.  When we started seeing snow we knew we were up there.

Finally we got to Cobalt Lake.

It was a lot smaller I think than any of us were expecting after the long and strenuous hike, but we were the only people there.  We shared the lake with some crazy ground squirrels and lots of bugs.  The photo above is pretty much the scene I painted.  Here is the painting I did of Cobalt Lake.

While I was painting Richard took photos of me.

It is amazing to me that those 2 photos were taken on the same day, with me in the same exact place and just the photographer in different places.  That shows how quickly lighting conditions change, which definitely adds to the challenge of painting outdoors.

Luckily the hike down was a lot easier.  When we got back we all had a Coke.  Ah-- coca-cola never tasted so sweet!

Glacier National Park~ St. Mary Lake- July 9, 2012

I know it's been quite some time since my last post.  We just got back from a week and a half long trip to Glacier National Park.  Before that we were busy preparing for the trip.

We left Edmonds, Washington on Saturday July 7th.  We drove straight through to Kalispell, Montana that first day.  At the hotel that night I picked up a brochure about an arts and crafts fair in Whitefish, Montana.  Sunday the 8th was the last day.  I've always wanted to visit Whitefish and of course I love seeing arts and crafts, so I begged my husband to go even though it was opposite of the way we needed to go to get to Glacier National Park.

There were a lot of beautiful things in Whitefish.  It was interesting to me to see the differences in the art created in different places.  I bought a butterfly hair barrette from a lady who upcycled plastic soda pop bottles.  I'd never seen anything like it before.  Maybe I'll post a photo of it later.

Then we were back on our way to the park.  We entered Glacier on Sunday morning/afternoon and drove the entire length of the going to the sun road, from west to east.  I was awestruck by the beauty and took thousands of photos.  (That's part of the reason it took so long to get this post up-- sifting through those thousands of photos!)  Richard is working on compiling a video montage of that drive.  When it's done he'll post it on YouTube.  I can't decide on which photos to include here of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, so you'll just have to wait.

We spent a few days camping at St. Mary campsite.  We took a little hike to the lake the first night.  It was so beautiful, but unfortunately I didn't have my painting equipment with me.  We HAD to go back the next day.  I know this blog is getting pretty wordy so here are some photos.

Richard took this photo of me painting on the shore.  Do you see why they call it "Big Sky Country"?

And here is the painting I did at this location.