Glacier Trip 2013

This weekend we went to Glacier and hiked the Highline Trail for the second year in a row. Last year we just went as a family but this year we went with a BIG group. There were 18 of us! We went over Friday night and stayed at the Mintyala/Fortmann residence on Swan Lake. Then early Saturday morning we headed to Glacier. Since there were 18 of us we had to take three cars. When we got into Glacier Park we stopped at Lake McDonald Lodge and had a snack before loading onto the shuttles. Then daddy, Jay, and Monique took our three vehicles up to "the loop" so we'd have vehicles at the end of our hike. This definitely was a must especially when one vehicle had a cooler full of cold drinks in it! The rest of us shuttled up to the top of Logan Pass and met the rest of our group. Then it was off to the Highline Trail, an 11.8 mile hike! Our goal was to make it to "Haystack Pass" and then take a break for lunch. We made it there no problem and it was a good stopping point because it was about 4 miles into the hike.

We had a slight delay just before "Haystack" though, a few of us in the front encountered a grizzly bear on the trail. This was your first Grizzly Encounter! A couple hikers in front of us warned us there was a bear on the trail and that it was only a 100 yards away. So daddy went up the trail just enough to see it to confirm if it was Grizzly or not...it was! We all started walking the other direction yelling bear and making a lot of noise. We caught up to the rest of our group and let them know a bear was on the trail. Daddy was carrying you in the backpack so we switched backpacks so I could carry you. Then daddy got his gun and pepper spray out and Jay & Jesse got their pepper spray out and they headed up the trail. We followed but made a lot of loud noises hoping to scare the bear away. The bear got off the trail but stayed nearby, at one point I saw his head peaking around a tree. He eventually wondered farther up the mountain and we were able to run by and continue on the trail. Daddy, Jay, and Jesse made sure we all made it through before following us. It was cool but definitely a little scary! So it was nice to stop for lunch and let the adrenaline wear off a little bit...

After lunch, we hiked another 4 miles and made it to the Granite Park Chalet. It's another great resting spot which actually has some lodging and a really nice lodge area where you can buy water, pop, and other snacks. We bought a couple snickers! A few people went up the Garden Wall trail just before Granite Park Chalet. This is something we want to do but we decided not to do it this trip. We had a great time relaxing at the Chalet. It gave you time to run around and all of us to get rested up and have some snacks. It was a good thing to because you hadn't taken a nap yet and were getting restless so it was perfect timing!

After we were all rested up, we only had 4 more miles to go and then we were DONE! But I remember these last 4 miles and they are the longest 4 miles of the whole trip. It's all downhill but switchbacks all the way down. We were one of the first to arrive at the Chalet so we decided to leave the Chalet a little earlier than the rest of the group. We knew you were getting tired so we wanted to get a head start so we could take our time. Kody and his friend Riley came with us too. You did really well but we had to stop a couple times. You wanted to walk for a little bit and even rode on Riley's shoulders for a while. But then you wanted to just play in the dirt so back in the backpack you went and we pushed it the rest of the way out.

It was a great feeling to see the cars and know we were done! We had hiked the 11.8 miles again!! It is such a beautiful hike and so worth it! We were just a little sore and tired afterwards!

Thanks Jay and Sandi for inviting us to hike with you guys this year! We had a blast!!

Lunch break at "Haystack"

Flying!

"Granite Park Chalet"