Horny, Hoary and Goats

Day 6. Dragged the kids out of bed at 7:00am for our trek to Glacier National Park. We had an extra person with us (Alisha) - Damon's cousin once removed (we think) - just trying to spread the fun around! It took us an hour to get to the infamous "Going to the Sun Road", which cuts across the park. The weather was in the mid 50's and the sun went away, so we decided to drive across the park and see some sights from the car. The clouds were so low that we drove through them, rolled down the window and tried to touch them - didn't work - just felt like air. Who knew.

We got about 2/3 of the way through the park and stopped at a place called Logan Pass where we picked up a trailhead and headed out for a 5.5 mile hike. The park is gorgeous - mountains surround everything and there are waterfalls from melting snow everywhere you look. The valleys are lush and green and somwhere at the bottom of the valley there is a river that cuts through the whole park. Of course, our luck continued and the skies cleared and the temperature got into the upper 70's. The trail we hiked was called the Highline Trail and it followed the Going to the Sun Road, only higher up. The path was about 3' wide the entire way and for some of it, the park service strung a giant garden hose (with a thick wire underneath) for people to hang onto if they got nervous.

After about 2 miles, we started hearing people talk about spotting big horn sheep on the trail about a mile away - we picked up the pace until we could see them in the distance. Unfortunately, the flock of sheep were walking on the trail away from us. We practically ran the last half mile and finally caught up to the last few stragglers and got some awesome pictures of them. They say if the wildlife notices your presence, you are too close. Oops. I think we were too close (see pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/donnaweinberg/AdventuresOfMonkeyHouse?authkey=Gv1sRgCNjf7I3an8-DNg#)

We turned around to head back after the sheep adventure and saw something sitting on a rock that looked like a beaver without a tail - turns out it was a hoary marmot (I don't think they like to be called that, but whatever). Took a few pictures of one that approached us on the trail - of course we were too close again. We were about 5 minutes from the end of the trail when Sydney (who was leading the pack) had a mini freak (see quote of the day). We happened upon a giant mountain goat just hanging out on the trail. So far we haven't seen any bears. Given how close these animals get to us, I'm thinking that is a good thing.

After the hike, we drove to a Glacier look out - looked like a giant patch of snow to me - but the sign said it was a Glacier, so I guess it was a glacier. We really wanted to hike out to a Glacier, but the kids are standing firm - no more hiking! We'll see about that.

Took us a few hours to get home again, we met up with the rest of the family, had another awesome dinner, another awesome sunset over the lake, a little more swimming and kayaking and canoeing for the kids, and now it is off to bed. Still not sure what tomorrow holds for us - I know that we are all tired!

Quote of the Day (Sydney) "DOOOOONNNNNNNAAAAAA - THERE IS SOMETHING UP HERE - IT IS ONE OF THOSE BIG MOLTING THINGS"