Fantastic Fall Colors

 The fall colors in Great Basin National Park have been amazing this fall. The temperatures have stayed mostly above freezing, and we haven't had rain in 45 days. Thus the colorful leaves have held on longer than normal.

I took the kids up one day, and we had fun wandering around the campground. When it became a game ("get up in the trees and don't let your feet touch the ground"), their smiles came easily.

I wanted to hike, though, so I went up early one morning, arriving at the Wheeler Peak summit trailhead before sunrise. The array of colors made my heart beat a little faster.

The sun rose as I was nearing a big aspen patch, and the yellow glow was amazing.

I came out to a clearing where some red aspens looked like they were on fire.

I wandered off trail for a bit, not sure what I would find. I saw beauty all around me.

Then I found the old Wheeler Peak trail, which I had seen a few times from above. It was still in remarkably good shape (the newer trail is much easier!). The colors were great here too.

My goal was to get above Stella Lake and get it in a photo with some fall colors. That part wasn't too hard. But getting down from there was so steep! I had some crawling moments.

Back on the trail to the car, I had to stop again to enjoy the beautiful aspen canopy. Sigh. I could have just stayed here all day, but alas, I had to go to work.

I didn't think I would be up there again very soon, but it turned out we had a backcountry carryout the next day, and the helicopter landed in the meadow at Wheeler Peak Campground. The yellow aspen made for an especially scenic backdrop.

I just had to go see the colors about a week later. The highest leaves had fallen off, but colors were still good just a little lower on the mountain. And we got to watch a most marvelous sunset.

We're expecting rain for about a week, with snow at the end of it, so lots of leaves will be coming down soon. We've been blessed with such a colorful display this year.

Going Home from Montana

After so many great adventures on our summer vacation (see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4), it was finally time to go home. But first we took a detour over to Bozeman, Montana, where my friend Mimi Matsuda was set up an art festival. It was so great to see her and her sister Erika and take home some fantastic art (check out her website for her whimsical wildlife art).

Also in Bozeman is the Museum of the Rockies, and I wanted to take a look. The kids almost got eaten up before we even entered.

There were plenty of opportunities to get eaten (maybe my imagination gets a little carried away).

I enjoyed seeing the paleontological exhibits.

We also spent a little time in the guitar exhibit.

But the kids seemed to like the kids' section best, with geyser simulations and a place to "fish" in the Yellowstone River.

And then we went to Yellowstone. I worked there years ago so didn't feel a huge need to go. But when I asked Desert Girl if she remembered what a geyser was and she wasn't sure, I knew we had to go. We went in at West Yellowstone, where to my surprise, there was no line at 3 p.m.  Our first destination was the Firehole River, where we saw a bison sharing the road with us.

I had really enjoyed swimming in the Firehole River when I worked at Yellowstone, and since we had swum (or at least touched water) in most other national parks we had visited on this vacation, this seemed to be a good bet. We went to a spot that was much calmer than the section in the photo below and floated through a narrow canyon section a couple of times. It was a lot of fun (even if I lost my sunglasses!).

Next up was Grand Prismatic Spring. It was so crazy busy.

But the amazing colors really are worth seeing.

We checked out the new visitor center at Old Faithful. I was impressed that they had an exhibit on insects and spiders.

We wandered around a bit, admiring hot springs.

And then Old Faithful blew! It wasn't much an eruption, but at least the kids got to see a geyser go off.

I was really enjoying the area, and it was hard for me to leave. But we were hungry, so we got some food.

And then we headed south. I had to hit the brakes when this elk crossed the road.

And then we had to stop again to avoid these young moose. Their mom soon followed them across the road. This was the Grassy Lake Road, a road I had never taken before that cuts between Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. We drove quite a ways and then found a place to camp.

The next day we got up and drove the rest of the way home. It was a fun trip. And now Desert Girl says she won't complain about driving to Las Vegas---it's way shorter than driving to Montana!

Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park

 This is Part 3 in our Montana Adventure. (Part 1 and Part 2) I woke up the kids really early so we could get on the Going-to-the-Sun road early in Glacier National Park. It was a Sunday in July and I knew it would be packed. But our early start let us have some pull-offs to ourselves.

 We joined a lot of people at the Wizard Island pull off to enjoy the first rays on the surrounding peaks.

Then we pulled over to look at a cool canyon. The stairs also went under the bridge, which made a nice frame.

The creek looked so pretty.

And Desert Girl was delighted to snack on ripe raspberries.

We continued up to the Jackson Glacier overlook. Finally, a glacier! Even if it was many miles away.

This sign was really interesting about how much the glaciers have shrunk.

Then we got up to Logan Pass and found one of the last parking spots at 8:30 a.m. The visitor center didn't even open until 9 a.m. People were heading off in big packs along the trails. The kids didn't want to hike after the previous day's big hike, so we just looked at some signs near the visitor center. They were done in comic-book style, so they liked them a lot.

I couldn't resist going on some kind of hike, but I didn't want to be with a lot of people. So we went back to a pullout and started hiking up along a stream. The flowers were terrific. Even Desert Girl took some photos.

Ferns!!! We don't see many of those in the desert!

We just went a short distance, then kept driving on the very scenic road. I was surprised by all the bicyclists. And how some people weren't really giving them much room when they passed them. I like bike riding, but I don't know if I'd be brave enough to test the drivers on that steep and narrow road.

My optometrist had recommended some hikes when he heard we were going to Glacier, and one was Avalanche Lake. The kids weren't too keen on the idea, but it was a relatively short hike and we managed to find a parking spot.

There was more whining than I liked until we found this log that Desert Boy could crawl through. Suddenly the hike became a lot more exciting.

Success!

The lake wasn't much further. And you can guess what we had to do!

It was a very shallow lake on our end. We had to find something adventurous to do, and this log beckoned to us.

They made it to the end! We enjoyed a bunch of snacks and the beautiful day.

On the way down, Desert Girl had to try going through the log. It wasn't so comfortable.

In fact, it twisted her up and stretched her out! Ha!

Desert Boy had fun saying "G'day mate" in an Australian accent to practically everyone on the way back down. It was fun watching the reactions--or in most cases, lack of reactions. We probably passed over a hundred people.

We drove out of the park without stopping anymore. We never made it inside a visitor center, the two we stopped at were closed, and we didn't want to battle for parking to get to another one. On the way out the east side, the line to get in was over a mile long. So glad we started early!

Then it was time to drive to Helena for the big event--the National Speleological Society Convention!

Hike to Crypt Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada

This is the second installment of our Idaho-Montana 2018 Summer trip. For Part 1, click here. 

We woke up early at the Belly River campground and packed up. The kids were good at packing by now. We headed down the highway and spotted a dark spot along the side of the road. It was a black bear!

We had so much fun watching it forage. And it totally ignored us, which was nice. So was being in a vehicle!

Already feeling great about the day, we continued on. The night before, I had realized that we had a full day we could spend in Waterton and/or Glacier. We could deal with crowded parking lots and do short hikes. Or we could sign up for the Crypt Lake hike, which included a boat ride across the lake and a 5.5-mile hike to a mountain lake, with a tunnel to traverse along the way. The kids weren't super sure of so much hiking, but a few sweet snacks convinced them it might be okay.

The boat ride was uneventful, but we were surprised by just how many hikers were with us! It turned out a lot of people wanted to do this hike on this July Saturday.

We hung around the dock and let the crowds take off, then entered the very green forest.

Before long, we realized that we could forage, too, just like the bear. This made us all so happy. And we had most of the forest hike to ourselves.

Eventually we got to some very rocky sections.

We had been warned that we might see bears and were carrying the requisite bear spray, but all we saw was this little ground squirrel.

We also saw lots of waterfalls. Here's the second one along the way.

A bit further on and we saw the third one. The lake wasn't much above that! But how were we going to get up past that big cliff?

The answer lies in a tunnel. I'm not sure when the tunnel was made, but it was impressive to see people disappearing into the dark.

After walking on a narrow ledge, you climb up a steel ladder bolted into the cliff.

Then it's time to go into the dark.

The kids were right at home.

It was a little scramble coming out the other side.

The ledge got narrower.

And then we hung onto a cable as climbed higher along the cliff face. I had total confidence in these kids, they had done much harder stuff before.

Soon we were back in the forest for a short hike...

...and then we arrived at the lake! It was beautiful--but crowded.


The kids were happy to skip stones and eat more food while I walked around the lake. I even went into the U.S. at the far end of it, but thankfully there are no signs.


Here's Crypt Lake from the U.S. side.

We had to keep an eye on the time so we could catch our boat ride back. The return hike had more spectacular views.

Going back through the tunnel and down the ladder was easy.

And then we continued the rest of the way down to the lake, about 2,300 feet in elevation.

When we got to the dock, there was quite a crowd and we prepared ourselves for a long wait. But it turned out we had tickets for the first boat, and they went by ticket time. So we were able to board right away.

That meant we had time for dinner out in Waterton. The kids were into carbo loading--pizza and burgers! I didn't disagree.

Next up was a drive back into the U.S. (with a bear sighting at the boundary) and down to St. Mary's, where we found a private campground for the night. But I couldn't resist popping into Glacier, where we celebrated again with dessert. And if you're wondering why Desert Boy is making such weird faces, he thinks I'm just so millennial taking photos of what we're eating. The joke's on him--I'm too old to be a millennial. But whatever!

Here's more info on the Crypt Lake hike. It was a wonderful way to spend the day and get away from our vehicle for many hours. And when I ask the kids what was their favorite hike this year, they say Crypt Lake.