Day 4 started off overcast, windy and cool. The Amtrak and freight trains are regular sounds and you get used to the thundering very easily. Mark has his own Snow Trac(tor) which is sitting idle for the summer season and the place is surrounded by my favorite...lilac bushes! Leaving the room around 10 for Appistoki Falls, a 1.3 mile round-trip hike. The weather hadn't reached 65 degrees at 10:30a so we donned our hats and jackets for the hike.
We met 4 ladies hiking from Whitefish (a town north of Kalispell) and they were kind enough to allow us to tag along as they gave us a botany lesson on the way to the falls.
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| "Mama" (on left), Diane in foreground, unknown in back, "The Preacher" on right |
"Mama"was the go-to person in identifying the flora and she has a wealth of knowledge. Diane is taking her Border Collie to Canada to a trainer for the dog's 2nd birthday. She raises and cares for all kinds of animals but her Murino sheep produce the wool she uses to make a variety of clothes and her dog is invaluable. She'll ship her load of dyed wool once she gets into Canada since the spinner is another 4 hours away. She uses plants to dye her wool and keep organic.
Melodie has a knack for perching herself on the brim of a drop-off for photos and this just turns my stomach into knots so I don't watch her any more and walk away. I figure I'll hear a yell if she falls.
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| Appistoki Falls |
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| View from the Two Medicine boat ramp |
Leaving Appistoki, we had decided that would be our only hike for today and headed for the boat dock for some photography and perhaps a boat ride to relax. As luck would have it, we arrived at 12:20 and became the first name on the wait-list for the 1:00 boat. Had our peanut and jelly sandwiches and waited to see if there was room. Hurray! We're off for a 45 minute boat ride around Two Medicine Lake. What? Did Captain Carlee say there was an easy hike to Twin Falls and SHE would be our guide? Well, that's a horse of a different color. Waterfalls and easy (little elevation gain) helped us make up our minds to do this hike. The 2 mile round trip brought rewards unimaginable. With 25 in our party and Carlee leading the way by clapping her hands or yelling "bear" once in a while, we hiked. She stopped a few times to point out interesting things on the way. A recent college biology grad from Minnesota, she's still trying to make up her mind where she wants to land after this season.
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| Yup. That's snow! Water temps in upper 30s. |
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| Carlee explained that these bark peelings were caused by porcupine's eating the cambrium layer just under the bark. |
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| Elk track |
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| Twin Falls. Best falls so far! |
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| Snow alongside the trail. |
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| Fresh bear scat on the trail. It wasn't there yesterday! |
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| Watering hole for Swallowtail butterflies. |
Almost to the end of the hike, my hips started hurting and I had to make a few pauses to recoup but I'll get them in shape by the end of these 3 weeks.
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| Can you find the brown bear? I've zoomed in to help you! |
Our boat ride back to the dock gave us even MORE rewards! A brown bear, a black bear, AND a moose! The bears were far away and that's fine but we watched them as the crossed the North Shore hiking trail where a couple hikers had passed before! You just never know when they will cross your path. A couple from Great Falls gave us tips for lots of animals in Many Glacier (our next stop) and the trails that will reap us more photo rewards.
We met a young family stationed in Great Falls and they have two more years to have Glacier as their backyard playground.
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| Black bear only yards from the brown. |
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| Young moose getting his favorite beverage. |
My body was happy to sit in the car, have a banana, and then drive back to East Glacier Park (that's the city name) to download our photos and relax. Luna's was on our dinner plans, Zita was our waitress again, and we ordered the Hawaiian sandwich of chicken breast, pineapple, bacon, onion, pickles, and lettuce. Yum! And, of course, Huckleberry pie a la mode for dessert. We plan to go back to Luna's tomorrow for yet another delicious dish AND huckleberry pie one last time. A young family was at an adjacent table and we enjoyed watching their interactions throughout the ordering and mealtime process. No electronics to be found! When we complimented the mother as they were leaving, she explained that the two children had to earn their "play" or electronics time through doing their chores on time or with a good attitude...depending on which of these two skills they were lacking. ;-) It's a ready-made program for teaching children responsibility. Nice!
Well, you're all up-to-date so I'm off to dreamland until tomorrow and another hike to Aster Falls.
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