Sunday, July 13, 2014 OMG!!! We saw a female moose and her baby today!! We were able to have a leisurely morning because we didn’t need to be anywhere until 11:00. It was cool this morning, but it’s so amazing how quick it warms up with the sunshine. Bob cooked our “Sunday breakfast” and we got ready to go to Many Glacier. We left around 9:30 and made the short ride to Many Glacier. Sherburne Lake looked like glass and the mountains were perfect mirror reflections in the water.
Along the road into Many Glacier, we saw some cars stopped along the road. We slowed down and spotted a female moose and her young one. We stopped and waited.
We were able to see her in the trees and eventually her baby ran out to the roadside and then back in the trees. Mom followed her and stood at the edge of the road.
She didn’t linger long and then they vanished into the trees. I feel very lucky to have seen a moose on my visit here. We have been lucky enough to have seen most of the “bigger mammals” here in the park. On our drive in, we passed the location where our trail ride crossed the road on Friday.
This is where we rode up into the mountains on our trail ride.
We drove into the Many Glacier Hotel parking lot a little early, so I could take a short hike to view the waterfall that cascades from Swift Current Lake into Sherburne Lake.
I walked along the river to view the waterfall there. It was cascading down 4 levels to the lake below. Awesome!! Bob stood on the bridge to see it from above.
We walked over to the hotel and spotted a family of 4 mountain goats grazing near the hotel.
The view of Swift Current Lake was picture perfect.
We checked in at the boat office and boarded the boat at 11:00.
The Chief Two Guns boat took us across Swift Current Lake to the other side. It was nice to see the mountains from a different perspective. We got our boat “fix” today.
The view of the lodge was also different from the water.
After about 30 minutes and a narrated talk of the geological history of the area we landed on the other side of the lake.
They reminded us that we were in grizzly bear country and to make LOTS of noise when we moved through the woods. Bob yelled “Hey, bear” and I clapped my hands while we walked. We had left our bear bells in the trailer. Lots of good they did there. We’ll remember them for our next hike!
From there, we had an easy 1/4 hike to Lake Josephine where we hopped on another boat which took us across the lake.
It was so peaceful to ride on the lakes. The water is an amazing aqua color from the sediment that lies suspended in the water from the glaciers.
We took a very interesting 1 mile walk from Lake Josephine to Grinnell Lake, our final destination.
It was interesting because we had to walk on a boardwalk for part of the way, cross a suspension bridge, and ford a couple of streams.
Then we had to walk over a suspension rope bridge to cross the river. One hiker at a time.
The walk then followed the river. It was so colorful from the stones that lie on the bottom of the river.
We had to walk over a couple of streams to get to where we were going. It was an easy walk and the scenery was gorgeous.
When we finally got to our destination…Grinnell Lake, it was so worth the walk.
We stopped there for about 30 minutes to eat our snack and enjoy the beauty that surrounded us.
We visited with other hikers and shared stories of where we’ve been and what we’ve done. From where we sat to rest, we saw no less than 13 waterfalls cascading down to the lake.
From there, we had a perfect view of Grinnell Waterfall. We have looked at that same waterfall for a few days now and not known what it was called. It is very distinctive because it splits into two streams.
We could not hike up the Grinnell Glacier trail because part of it is still closed due to snowfall, but we were able to see Grinnell Glacier just the same.
Standing on the banks of Grinnell Lake, we spotted two young deer being playful along the water’s edge.
They spotted us there and then disappeared into the woods. We stopped along the way to check out another waterfall that was a short 0.2 miles from the path. It was an easy, short walk to Hidden Falls. I am totally amazed at the number of waterfalls in the area. It was well-worth the side trip to see such an amazing creation.
We took a slow walk back to the boat landing, in time to catch the 1:45 boat. There were more people than the boat could hold, but Bob and I made it on the 1:45 boat.
The ride back to the hotel was as beautiful as the ride there. Of course, we saw it from a different perspective going back.
We were enthralled with where all the waterfalls entered the lake. The boat captains were a wealth of knowledge and showed us where that was. We got back to the hotel at 2:15 and checked out the photographs in the hotel lobby that showed the glaciers in the 1910-1940’s compared to what they looked like now. What a difference!!
We drove back to the campground after topping off the gas tank in Baab(only $4.09 here WOW). We arrived at 3:00 and enjoyed cocktails before dinner. The thermometer showed a temp of 100 degrees in the sun at the campsite. It felt warm, but not that hot. We decided to order a fresh homemade pizza from Pete’s Zzaria, the pizza shop at the campground. Tomorrow we move to the west side of GNP for a week. We have really seen and done a lot over here. I have enjoyed every minute of it!!!!!!!
Absolutely gorgeous!