Glacier National Park
Day 8
“Wake-y, wake-y” Desmond whispered near my head at about 7AM. “No…” I protested. Bryan did not sleep well last night. The adrenaline from the white knuckle last hour of driving seemed to have kicked off his restless leg syndrome. Bummer. I had hoped to sleep until closer to 8:00. Ah well. Desmond was hoping to head over to his friend’s room and go down to the creek to play again. Redirecting him to eat something, and get dressed while I checked in to see if Easton’s invitation from the balcony to come over was sanctioned by her parents. Desmond dubbed the closet his own little dressing room and got into an outfit for the day.
While texting with Debbie I learned that Easton had a sore throat this morning. They got her a London Fog tea to soothe her throat, and after that the kiddos hung out on the balcony playing video games while the adults got ready for the day.
Desmond got ice for us again from the ice machine and Bryan filled our water bottles with ice water. We hopped in the cars and started down the road a few hundred feet. We showed the rangers our annual pass there at entrance and drove into Glacier National Park. Shortly after we were stopped at another check point to ensure that we had a permit to travel the Going to the Sun road (this is required between 6AM and 3PM). A screenshot of our camp reservation sufficed, and on we went.
Our first stop for more than a photo was the Sun Point trailhead. We parked easily, side by side, and took the trail on foot leading off to the right, heading to Baring Falls. This trail was 0.9 miles to the falls, and beauty per mile is the most gorgeous trail I think I have ever walked. Wildflowers abounded on either side of the trail. Familiar favorites like Indian Paintbrush and Fireweed mingling with flowers for which I don’t yet know the names. Tall bare grey tree trunks rose above the brush, and the blue lake sparkled to the left. Behind the lake and off in the distance rose the mountains, too close to be called a backdrop. And then, in less than a mile, we were at a pretty little waterfall. Desmond asked Bryan if he could go over closer to the falls. They scrambled to the bottom of the falls and I clicked a jillion pictures.
We returned by the way we had come, and Desmond spoke to a ranger on the trail. He asked a few questions, about the ranger’s job and whether or not fireweed is edible (it is). Ranger Steven signed off on his booklet, while Bryan and I began dreaming of what it would be like if our jobs were to wander up and down beautiful stretches of trail, answering questions and making sure hikers were safe.
We hiked up to Sun Point, the kids doing their bingo activity, spotting various plants and signs of wildlife as we walked along. Up at the top it was bare rock, and very windy. Desmond crouched down to get out of the wind. We snapped a few pictures and then walked back down the trail. Desmond confided in me in the parking lot, “I was ready to fight a bear up there, mama” (referencing previous conversations about the purpose of adrenaline). Poor guy. He really feels like a strong gust could blow him off the rock. We will have to keep a look out for other places that are that windy and make sure and prep him first before going up there.
When we were back in the car and continuing the drive, the scenery continue to change. Before long we had climbed up higher and you could see great distances, the green valley opening up below, distant waterfalls and mountain streams sparkling invitingly, all of it surrounded by the mountains. It reminded me of the alps.
Bryan began to feel queasy due to the heights. We drove up to Logan Pass. The parking lot was completely full and closed. Bryan and Jamey dropped off Debbie and I and the kids. We went to the visitor center, stamped our passports, and then walked about a hundred feet of walking path around the visitor center. The kids enjoyed cranking the wheel and listening to the recordings at the interpretive signs. They were large color comic book style and geared toward children, highlighting the abilities of different species as “super powers.” We saw some ID ANIMAL HERE standing up as though they were posing for the tourist’s photos. Around a bend, we were able to watch big horned sheep just behind the sign that taught about them. Well done, guys. Way to play along.
We didn’t linger, as the guys were still circling in the cars. I flagged Bryan down and offered to switch with him so he could take a look around. But he was over it, and ready to get off the cliffs. We drove from there down to the valley floor and decided to pass on the Cedar Loop hike in favor of just getting to Apgar campground and being able to unwind. We had pizza, I went to the little camper’s village nearby and got us a bag of ice and some cider, and we enjoyed a late lunch.
Desmond finished up his activity booklet while we enjoyed slices of pizookie fresh out of the oven. Ah… camp life. Easton’s throat was still hurting her so Debbie went with us to get sworn in as a Jr. Ranger in her stead so their family can have a full set of badges for their trip. Desmond had fun showing the ranger the badge of Fort Vancouver and explaining that we live there on the historical site. She told me, “You have a cool kid.” I agree.
After dropping Jr. Ranger Debbie 😄 off at the campsite, Bryan informed us he wanted to go do something before we called it a day. So Team Schmidt jumped back in the car and headed down the road. We ended up going all the way back up to Logan Pass and, after a bit of rain, a rainbow, and some big horn sheep sightings, we took a hike up to Hidden Lake Overlook. We saw a herd of goats on the trail, including two baby goats. That made the 494 feet of elevation gain over the 1.5 mile hike very worth it. The hike was beautiful. Desmond jinxed me on the way down the hill, and since I couldn’t talk according to the rules until someone said my name, I used sign language as we hiked along. Desmond made crazy guesses as to what I was signing and finger-spelling, and I pretended to be exasperated. He giggled. We had a fun time.
Before getting in the car, Bryan decided to use the little boys’ room. Only, there were about 7 or 8 big horned sheep walking all around the entrance to the loo. In light of this, he decided to find a different restroom to use. On our drive back to camp, we got stopped in a ram jam with big horn sheep in the road. We were stopped for a while, until they decided to use the stone guardrail as a sidewalk for an evening stroll and we were able to slowly roll away.
The trip down the rest of the road took longer than anticipated, because of some night construction. Desmond asked Bryan to tell him stories about each band that came up on the playlist. Bryan kept us entertained during the long drive with interesting facts about the artists. So at least we weren’t bored. We did become hungry, and when we finally reached our campsite at about 10PM we hungrily gobbled down left over pizza as we set up our tent.
There was one more thing planned for the evening. We had heard there was a chance to see the aurora borealis, so we took a hike over to an astronomy event being hosted by the visitor’s center. As it got dark, the presenter shared about the mind numbing vastness of space. Desmond kept turning to me his eyes wide and mouth hanging open at the facts being shared.
As the skies darkened, it was really beautiful to see so many stars above. My mind drifted to the Maker of the stars and how the heavens declare his glory. We enjoyed gazing at the work of his fingertips. Desmond saw his first shooting star, as a meteorite blazed across the sky, leaving what appeared to us to be about six inches or more. So that was worth being there just for that. I began to yawn steadily, as the presenter used his laser pointer to point out the Milky Way galaxy and constellations. Finally it was time to take turns looking in the telescopes. I had never looked into such a big telescope. Desmond had to climb up a step ladder to look in the eyepiece. We saw a binary star and a globular cluster through the different telescopes.
After we had looked in both telescopes, we took the hike back to our campsite grateful to go to bed. It had been a good evening, but at almost midnight, we were all tuckered.
Tomorrow we head to our surprise destination, as yet unknown to the kiddos. Shhh!
Comments
Post a Comment