Oh wow, what a great day we had! What a difference the kids attitudes make in how the entire day goes. Today, they were focused on their work, no complaining, just getting it done. Not much messing around, no asking for help when help was not really needed. So, with that, the morning was pretty smooth.
I had some calls, Carol helped the girls with school when I was not available, and right after lunch, or around 1pm, they were both done with all their work. I even had time to do some maintenance work on the trailer, mainly had to put some WD40 on the keyholes for the compartments outside as all the dust from the places we’ve been and roads ended up jamming one of the locks. WD40 is magic! It took one spray and the door unlocked, so I decided to just get all doors done, and anything else that needed it.
I grilled burgers for lunch, and Carol got some snacks ready to go. We left right around 2, and were planning on driving to the end of the park, then turning around and stopping at everything we wanted to from that end, so we only had closer things to finish.
The drive in the park is just amazing, breathtaking and surreal.
We drove as far as we could, and the last 6 miles of the going to the sun road were closed, so we stopped at a picnic area right at the turn around and explored, walking around near the water.
The shore is all stones, round stones, and most are bigger, so we walked around and upstream.
We were skipping stones on the lake, and the girls, including Carol, were super excited to be able to skip stones for the first time.
We walked towards a stream, and were just enjoying the view, enjoying the moment and checking out nature.
Carol was a little freaked out we were out there in Grizzly Bear space with no bear spray, so we didn’t go too far.
We stayed there about 30 minutes, just enough for the girls to enjoy and play as much as they wanted.
Bia wanted to continue exploring. Her and Bella had started to put rocks on the stream so we could cross it, and Bia felt we were close to being able to cross, so I had to show her how the rocks they laid there were not solid and would move as soon as they stepped on it :). I stepped on the first one and the thing fell apart, glad I had waterproof hiking shoes on as half of my shoes were under water, but, no water in… my socks were dry.
We started driving back, and stopped at a few spots for some pictures. We were using the Gypsy app again, and “he” recommended a hike to St. Mary’s fall, so we stopped there and started the hike.
Almost within the first half mile, someone coming the other direction saw the binoculars on Bia’s neck and told her there was a moose in the water and kind of pointed towards where it was.
We moved a bit ahead and tried to spot it. It took a bit to find, but we were able to watch it. It was in the water, just in there, with most of it’s body under water, dunking its head in from time to time, seemed to just be enjoying it there. Maybe he or she was peeing. Hahahahah. That was cool to see, and I’m glad we got the binoculars otherwise all you’d see is what looked like a rock in the water.
After everyone had a chance to see the moose, we kept going towards the waterfall.
The hike was full or rocks on the ground, and started in the middle of a wooded area that was renovating from some fires about 5 years ago. The girls were enjoying the walk, and excited to see the falls and get close to the water.
We got the St. Mary’s falls within 40 minutes or so, and it was very pretty. It’s a pretty area. The falls are not huge by any means, there’s a good amount of water coming down, but it’s not big.
We tried to get close to the water at a few spots, and we got the girls down after passing the falls and walking a bit more, there was a small path off the trail that took you down, so we “adventured” down there.
It was a quick stop, but they touched the water, it was cold! We decided to keep walking on the trail as there were more falls, and the forest got thicker as we continued going towards the mountain. It was super cool. We stopped in many areas that had some smaller falls, or water flowing through the rocks.
Each time the girls wanted to get close to the water, so we tried as safely as we could. We picked a spot to try to cross the rocks and be closer to the water, but it involved walking on rocks that were wet. It was past 5pm, and the sun was not hitting that area, so mist was in the air, and it was getting cooler.
We decided to abort our attempt as it was too dangerous, and decided to start our way back. I told the girls I’d help them touch the water by St. Mary’s falls. The walk back was fun, girls were happy.
Bia was complaining a bit her arm was hurting, it looks like she may have tennis elbow, or some type of soreness in her upper front arm, maybe from typing, not sure. We’ll monitor this and hope it gets better.
When we got to the falls again, I helped them find some spots in the rocks that they could go down, but they had to sit and kind of slide so it would not be too dangerous. They quickly went down and were touching the water and were happy.
Carol and I stayed at the top, enjoying the view, the sounds of the waterfall and watching the girls having fun. S2. That was a nice hike, it was easy, and very pretty. It took us almost 2 hours, but we extended it and explored a few areas, total distance was less than 4 miles.
We got back to the truck and kept driving, we wanted to stop at Logan Pass to check it out, and the girls wanted to use the restroom. Everything was closed when we got there, and the sun was setting and it was getting colder, so we decided to keep going.
While I waited for the girls to “try” to use the restroom (they didn’t because it was really nasty) I had the binoculars and was scoping the mountains, and out of the blue…. Bam! Mountain Goats! Hahahaha.. so cool. I actually spotted some mountains goats way up in the mountain. It’s crazy to think about how they get there. We watched the goats for a bit, made sure everyone saw them.
Then we just drove back. We had to stop at the store for supplies for tomorrow. Carol got a quick dinner fixed while the girls showered and I unloaded the truck.
We ate, hung out and chatted for a while and went to bed. Bia wanted to sleep in my bed, so I slept in her top bunk. Bella was kind of scared that I would fall through, so we put the kitchen table legs on her sides to giver her a sense of security that if the bunk fell, the table legs would not let her get hurt. Hahahahaha. It worked and she went to sleep. It was a bit tricky to get into Bia’s top bunk, but not hard. Bed is quite comfy and I was tired, so I was out in a minute. Great day.