Glacier Paradise

Gail writes:
Glacier National Park is certainly a breathtaking place. The views of the mountains from our campsite across Lake McDonald are lovely, and the water is bracingly cold. Yesterday we took the shuttle up to Logan Pass. The Park Service is really encouraging use of the shuttle, since Going To The Sun Road is undergoing construction and they’re trying to minimize traffic. The shuttle driver was knowledgeable and provided good commentary on the way up. I’m sure the road is stunningly beautiful (Armin & the boys told me so), but I spent most of the ride studiously examining the seat in front of me and the rocks on the mountainside. I sneaked a few peeks at the sheer drops on the roadside and had to shut my eyes.

I was glad when we reached the top and had our feet on solid ground. We did a 3-mile hike that was one of our most challenging because of the snowy conditions. The boys absolutely LOVED the fact that it was the end of July and they could throw snowballs at each other. We slipped and slid on the snowfields and were rewarded by a close-up look at a mother and baby pair of mountain goats. They were not more than 5 feet away from us, calmly munching on grass. The father goat tried to join them, but the mother gave him a stern warning to keep his distance. We hiked past them to the Hidden Lake overlook, where we enjoyed the spectacular views. On the way back, we saw the goats again. This time they were lying on the snowpack, licking at the snow. A crowd had gathered to watch and take pictures, and everyone was very amused.

The shuttle trip down was a bit slow, and we finally got back to our campsite at around 5. We made a tasty dinner and then headed out to the amphitheater for the evening program. Usually it’s a ranger talk, but this time we were in for something different. It was a one-woman play by an actress from Boston who portrayed early settler Josephine Doody, a working girl who certainly had some wild times in the late 1800s-early 1900s. She spent some time addicted to opium before she got straight and became a bootlegger. The play was very entertaining, and I learned a lot about the struggles of life on the frontier.

Armin set out after the program for his midnight bike ride. I was glad when he came home safe and sound at 2:30 this morning!

We had a leisurely morning before we set out to find a hike that a ranger had recommended. It started at a little-visited area of the park, near the town of Polebridge. The ranger had told us that there’s a good bakery in Polebridge, so I was excited. The town is miniscule—barely more than a wide place in the road. But it boasts the Polebridge Mercantile, a store/bakery that’s been on site for nearly 100 years. We enjoyed huckleberry bearclaws, brownies, and cinnamon rolls, all of which were made from scratch and very tasty. Next door to the store was a saloon/restaurant. The menu even featured a quinoa salad and vegan burrito! There was a poster for an upcoming show at the outdoor stage, and another poster at the store invited folks to meet on the porch for an ongoing discussion of Plato’s works. What a trip! I wanted to hang out there all day, eating pastry, people-watching, and maybe enjoying some quinoa salad.

We tore ourselves away and headed out to find our hike. We couldn’t find the one we wanted, but then found another trailhead and had a short (2.4 mile) meadow hike that was just full of butterflies.

We’ve made reservations for a whitewater raft ride tomorrow. I’m really stretching the edges of my comfort zone for this activity, but everyone else is up for it. I’m sure the guides will make sure that everyone is safe and sound—you’ll get the full report tomorrow.

As our time in Glacier dwindles, we’re starting to make plans for the drive home. We’d budgeted 10 days to get back to Ithaca, but I think we’re going to push it and get home sooner. The boys are itching to see Poe and their friends, so they’re willing to have some long driving days. We’ll leave here on Sunday and aim to be home on Friday. We’ll be road-weary but glad to see our yellow and red house.

Yellowstone camping recipe

Gail writes:

Yellowstone is a big place. You don’t quite realize that until you’ve driven around for about 7 hours and covered a fraction of the territory (as a point of reference, that’s almost as long as it takes to drive from Ithaca to NYC and back). That pretty much sums up today. We left camp at around 9:30 and drove around to various hot springs and viewpoints. We lunched at Mammoth Hot Springs (where we got to say hello to a pretty grey housecat whose family was moving from Wisconsin to Nevada) and then walked a bit until thunder and lightning sent us scurrying back to the Visitor Center. After things cleared we went to Boiling River, where Armin & the boys soaked in the hot/cold waters.

Then we headed back to camp, and from here on in I offer up a recipe for camping adventure & dinner:





1. Arrive at camp to find winds gusting to 40 mph and thunder rumbling in the distance. Re-stake the tent as it tries to get airborne. Order everyone into the tent to hold it down. Read while it rains and rumbles.




2. Once the wind dies down and the rain is manageable, drag your cooler, stove, and kitchen boxes out of the car to start dinner. Open that bottle of wine you bought in the Grand Tetons and pour it into the fine plastic cups you brought with you.




3. Use 1 burner of your stove to make mac-n-cheese for the boys. On the other burner, start sautéing sweet potato and corn with some salsa. Add rice and water. Simmer. Drink more wine. Open the tortilla chip bag that is puffy because of the altitude. Munch on them and wait a while.




4. Add a can of drained black beans to the sweet potato mixture. Simmer some more until everything’s done. Serve up the boys’ mac-n-cheese, drink some more wine, and rummage in the cooler for the artisanal multigrain tortillas. Juggle things on the burners so you can heat them up. Watch your boys have a pinecone war with some kids from New Jersey. Pull up your raincoat hood against the next round of rain and enjoy a delicious burrito. Stamp your feet at the ground squirrels that want to eat your food. Finish the bottle of wine. Let the guys do the dishes while you blog.




5. Watch the sun come out over the mountains and put away the cooler, stove, and kitchen boxes so the ground squirrels and bears won’t get into them. Take a deep breath of cool mountain air and realize how lucky you are to be on this adventure with the people you love most in the world.

Armin writes:
The drive to Mammoth made it abundantly clear that heading north on the bike out of the Madison campground would have been a terrible idea. In addition to the endless stream of campers and RVs suddenly pulling off to view wildlife or make a sudden decision to visit a thermal area or waterfall, the road is under construction right now. Chip seal road work is very annoying, especially when there is loose gravel for about 30 miles, so I headed west on the flat-ish road to West Yellowstone. 

I was overjoyed to see the "Welcome to Montana" road sign, since Montana is my favorite state. West Yellowstone is a tiny park border town, and the ample signage advertising lodging and food had me imagining a focus group that was asked to identify the most appealing words for weary campers. My incomplete list includes:

Espresso
Internet
Showers
Hot Tub
Pizza
Gift Shop
Wildlife

Sunday afternoon update:

The list was much longer yesterday, but now I'm just exhausted and happy to be safely in a Missoula motel. We stopped for a nice lunch in Butte, Mt., and while waiting at a stop sign behind the sheriff of Butte, he decided that he was too far into the intersection and backed right into our van, in spite of the fact that I was laying on the horn. How could he not have seen or heard us? Perhaps he had is Lady Gaga CD turned up too loud. I didn't have enough time to throw the van into reverse, and was extremely bummed out about the bumper and body work damage. Fortunately the damage was cosmetic, and we were able to continue our journey to Missoula. You can bet, though, that if I lived in Butte, I certainly would not be voting for Sheriff John Walsh in his re-election bid.

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