My Latest Adventures in Walking the Dog

Walking the dog nearly every day can bring opportunities for adventure. Here's a couple from this past week:

Walking Cody at Blue Mountain on Wednesday morning with a friend, we came across something I've never seen up there. Coming down the hill on a path we noticed two very large, dark creatures in the field beyond. I stopped in my tracks and said, "Wait a minute! Are those moose?!". Sure enough, they were. You can't really see them in this picture because my cell phone doesn't zoom very well. They are the large dots in the middle of those trees in the very middle of the picture. We decided even though they were far away that we'd turn and go back to the trail head another way. We thought it looked like either two cows or a cow and a young one, and neither one of those are animals you want to mess with. We didn't want our dogs to notice them and then cause trouble. It was pretty cool, though we watched them as we walked away and they seemed to notice us too. Their heads turned our direction and they finally turned and slowly headed up the hill. I'd heard that there were moose on Blue Mountain, but I'd never seen them til this past week. It was eerily exciting.

Today Kera and I took a walk in the field behind our house and it was super foggy and frosty. We admired how beautiful the frost could seem at times depending on how it stuck out from or clung to the grasses and bushes. She thought this one was particularly pretty.

Taking a Walk

Last weekend was spent up in the Flathead valley with Erik's folks. We sort of got out of the smoke that had plagued the Missoula valley for weeks and enjoyed a beautiful weekend with family. We decided on Saturday to drive up to Lake Mary Ronan and take a walk/hike around the lake. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for a walk.

We all went, even Cody, of course. 

Lake Mary Ronan is smaller than Flathead, but it definitely has it's own beauty. We walked through an area with lots of cattails which had some cool fall colors going on.

It never ceases to amaze me how diverse and beautiful the landscape around Montana is. There's lakes, mountains, cattails, bushes, trees and so much more.

I'm truly grateful to live in such a beautiful area, and that we can drive just a few hours from our house to find such treasures.

Our dry summer was pretty obvious in the siltyness of the road at one point and the bushes and trees which were already turning so many fall colors. 

It didn't deter us in our walk however. 

Of course we had to stop a few times. Once to cross a ditch in which we found HUGE crawfish and once or twice to pet the pup. 

We finally got to the actual lake and spent some time chilling out there. Cody waded out in the water just enough to get his feet wet, but not too far.

While we skipped rocks and explored.

And, of course, just chilled out.

Once Cody was done in the water he came over to where Erik and I were perched on a rock and tried to crawl up into my lap. I didn't want a wet dog sitting on me, so I didn't let him.

So then he went over to Erik. Which is funny because he usually chooses me over Erik for some reason, probably because I'm the one home with him most days. Would Erik let the wet puppy, who was kinda cold and wet, sit in his lap?

Well, because under that hard exterior shell, Erik is actually quite the softy so yes, he let the cold, wet puppy cuddle with him until we left.

Seriously, though, how could you say "no" to that cute face?

We enjoyed this view of Lake Mary Ronan.

Papa and Grandma enjoyed hanging out with the kiddos.

Kiddos enjoyed playing with the puppy.

And puppy probably enjoyed the whole thing, but especially being able to cuddle with "Daddy".

And a good time was had by all. :)

Hiking in Glacier: Avalanche Lake

During our extended weekend away, Erik and I with his sister and her hubby managed to ditch all the kids with the grandparents and get away for a day to do a hike up in Glacier. We decided to do the one to Avalanche Lake since it's near the West entrance and short but scenic. 

In the beginning the trail is paved because it loops up with the Trail of the Cedars, which is handicap accessible.

 

But pretty quickly it veers off and you get a view of Avalanche creek almost immediately. The blue color from glacial flour is pretty cool and the way the water has carved the rock over the years is even cooler.

Erik with his sister and her hubby

Erik and I in front of the creek

The hike is shaded about 99% of the time and the forest growth is pretty impressive. 

Something even more impressive was a view of why the lake and hike has it's name. You could see an area on the hillside across a small valley where an avalanche had pushed down all the trees, but even more impressive was the fact that it was clear the avalanche had gone down the far hill, through the valley and up the hill to end right around near the trail. The trees were all plowed down through the whole path. That was some forceful avalanche for sure!

Erik at Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake

It was pretty cool to see so many waterfalls, I can't imagine what they look like a month ago with the runoff.

I asked Erik's sister and her hubby to pose for a picture and this is what they did. They are a couple of jokesters.

And a normal one!

The different colors and layers of rock in the hill were pretty cool

So it turns out I got to go hiking twice in Glacier this year, I'm a pretty lucky girl! :)

Our Adventures in Back Country Camping, Day 3

Since it took us forever to get there and since we had time commitments on Sunday, we decided that Saturday would be the day we packed up camp and headed out of the mountains. We'd tossed around the idea of staying at the campground at Lower Miner Lakes that night and heading home on Sunday, but decided to play that one by ear. So, we woke up on Saturday, had our camp coffee and freeze-dried eggs and began the long process of re-packing everything. We wanted to put everything away correctly and as dry as possible, so we spent some time laying things out in the sun, rolling up air mattresses, etc. It was right around 11am by the time we were finally geared up to hit the trail out.

This is me before heading out

A view back at what we were leaving

  

Me and Erik. He's eating sunseeds which is why he isn't smiling. He was happy, I promise. Well, for awhile at least. His ankles started to hurt and so we decided that when we got to the green bridge (remember, the one we neglected to turn at on our trip in?) we would stop and put our feet in the cold water for a bit. Hiking out was mostly downhill, so the hiking part wasn't hard, I felt like a million dollars. But I think he ended up with more weight in his pack on the way out and his ankles sometimes hurt on hikes, so together that made him kinda sore. Nearly two hours later we made it to the bridge.

The bridge you need to turn at to get to Upper Miner Lakes which isn't signed!

We ate some jerky, gorp and carrots while soaking our feet in the refreshing water. It was pretty cold you couldn't keep them in for more than a couple minutes.

It was a pretty spot for a breather, though. I dipped my hat as we were leaving and Erik dipped his t shirt and hat. That felt pretty refreshing. The sun was intense on our hike out and it was quite a bit warmer than our hike in. I was grateful we were going mostly downhill, going uphill in that sun would've been not much fun.

We crossed paths with three groups of hiker and one group of mountain bikers on our way out, which would be the only ones we saw the whole time we'd been there besides the helpful hikers on our way in. We didn't see one person the whole time we were camped back there, it was nice! We made it to our car after another 30-40 minutes after the bridge. It felt so good to take off my boots and put on my chacos and to sit in the comfort of the car. We still had to drive out on that unmaintained road, which took nearly an hour, but hallelujah we made it out without damage to the car and without me having a panic attack. 

Once we'd made that far we decided to just continue on home. The Lower Miner Lake campground was not very pretty compared to where we'd just stayed and it was $7/night. We decided we'd much rather just go home, take showers and rent a movie. So, we stopped in Wisdom for a burger and fries before heading home.

And you know what we talked about nearly the whole time we hiked and drove home? About what equipment we needed for the girls to join us when we do this again, because we will be doing it again. Although my legs are tired and I had moments of anxiety, this whole trip was just a wonderful experience. I loved camping out in the woods away from everyone and everything. I loved cooking over the camp-stove and fire. I just enjoy being in the beauty of God's creation. I cannot wait to do it again!