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Glacier Trip Many Glacier (13 of 20)
Originally uploaded by Olivia Linkel

One of my favorite sounds in the whole world is the heavy thud that a shoe makes on the hard packed ground of a hiking trail. We had a glorious morning in Glacier. After showering and having breakfast, we drove 15 miles up to the Many Glacier area of the park which contains one of the historic lodges that the Great Northern Railway built when they were trying to attract wealthy Americans to see America instead of Europe in the early 1900’s. This is also the location for several hikes including the hike to Grinnell Glacier. Unfortunately for us, the extra wet weather this year and the timing of our trip have not meshed. The entire trail to the glacier is not open due to snow and ice. We decided to do the 5 mile hike to Grinnell Lake and set out with the sun shining but a fierce wind whipping at us whenever we were not in the protection of the trees. It was a really lovely hike and we had a ton of fun looking for animal tracks and scat. We saw tons of moose tracks and are pretty sure we heard them calling but we didn’t see any. We had originally hoped to see Iceberg Lake and the Grinnell Glacier but we are simply here too early and the trails are not completely clear of snow. Just like with our trip to Yosemite and Sequoia, we need more time and we need to come at a different time of year.
When we reached the lake, the wind was so biting and fierce that we could not have lunch on the lake. We retreated to a more covered area of the forest and ate the sandwiches we brought. After nearly 5 miles, the kids were tired and it worked out that we could catch the boat across Swiftcurrent Lake back to the Many Glacier hotel.
It was 12:30 by this time and we were all ready to relax a bit. Scott and the kids got in the pool and hot tub while I did the laundry and tried to connect to the internet to update the blog. Obviously that didn’t work. The little satellite connection that this campground does have isn’t nearly fast enough for picture and blog posts. It was also raining at this time and once the laundry was done, we all returned to the camper for a little downtime. We finished On the Banks of Plum Creek and then made bacon, eggs, crescents and strawberries for dinner. We still had to go back to the St. Mary visitor center for a ranger program so that the kids could complete their junior ranger badges so we returned there at 7:30 for a good talk about edible plants and flowers in Glacier.
By 9:00 we were back in the FunV with our pajamas waiting on the fireworks show that the campground promised. Of course that wasn’t supposed to start until 10:45. Scott and I were both tired but we played Uno and then taught the kids how to play poker. By 10 o’clock, I was beginning to crash and I snoozed until the fireworks went off right on time. All of us lay in the queen bed at the back of the camper and watched the fireworks go off from the back window. It was a great show and we were happy to be warm and cozy while the wind blew and the temperature dropped into the 40’s.