Glacier National Park

After a great day with the Foster's on Swan Lake we towed up to Apgar Campground on the south end of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. We did have smoke the whole time in Glacier but thankfully it wasnt noticeable by smell but it did block out the bright blue skies behind the huge mtns and made long views hazy.

7/28/26 - Our first full day in the park started with a spontaneous "we are up early and everyone else is still asleep here so lets go see the park!" when we were actually planning on a chill day around the campground to explore. We decided to just start driving and see which trail would have parking. We had our eyes on the Avalanche trail as it sounded like a great hike through Cedar trees and not too hard, but it was pure chaos already at 8am so we drove on. We stopped at some pull offs to look at the rivers and views and then found a spot at the Loop Trail. We didn't know anything about that one, but we just started hiking. It started out mostly flat then turned fairly steep after about a mile, at that point we were mostly surrounded by tall bushes and trees. Another half mile or so in we saw a guy coming back down the trail that had asked us earlier if we'd seen a bear or heard of a bear sighting but now, he was with a group. They had just seen a grizzly and said it was starting to get curious of them and turned towards them so they retreated. We decided we did not want to have any encounters with Grizzly bears so we turned around as well! Mackenzie was pretty mad as she really wanted to see the bear, so for the entire hike back we explained why we turned around. Needless to say she was even more mad when we finished because of the lectures.

A little bit before we got turned around due to Griz activity

When we got back to camp it was still only half way through the day so we hopped on our bikes and rode the bike paths into Apgar Village and then to West Glacier for some ice cream.

7/29/26 - The girls were real champs this morning and woke up at 4:30am to go into the park for sunrise. We drove to the "top" Logan Pass and were only planning to watch from there but we kept pressing on and up on the trail bc it was so pretty, then we got close enough to Hidden Lake that we wanted to see the lake. The girls were in PJs and sandals but they made it the 3 miles roundtrip! If you ever come to Glacier, get up early, beat the crowds and watch a sunrise from Logan Pass, it was magical even in the smoke. We saw a few mountain goats, got up close with a few ground squirrels and watched a marmot lick pressure treated wood.....

Reef "hiking" sandals

That evening we had dinner at the historic Lake McDonald Lodge and then went on a boat tour on Lake McDonald. It was a cool way to see some of the park and hear the history of the area including why the Bald Eagle population declined and the effects of the Howe fire in 2018 along the lakes western edge.

7/30/26 - We slept in this morning after the long day yesterday but were ready for more exploring once we were all up. We found an easy hike along McDonald Creek, where we walked through big cedar trees to the crystal clear bright blue river then followed it up for a little over 3-miles. So all in we did 6 miles, more than we meant to but we did it. Everything is so beautiful here its easy to wander further than you mean to. We only saw a buck the whole time but it was not concerned with us, he slowly walked in front of us for a bit then he pulled over and let us pass him within like 6', too close but he almost seemed tame - which is probably the case for many animals in this park. After the long hike we finally went to lake we are camped on and played in the water. Its crystal clear and around 70-degrees.

7/31/26 - Today the parents let Kennedy and Mackenzie take over to give them a break from the parent control. They planned the whole day starting with getting to sleep in until 8:30. Mackenzie woke up and found out she had 25 bites on her thigh alone; (she had them on the entire rest of her body!!!) she had been gnawed on by no-see-ums which are tiny little biting insects that are monstrous. We followed up with a confetti pancake breakfast with huckleberry syrup to make her feel better. After the scrumdidllyuptious breakfast we set out for a goat tour at Glacier's Goats where you can book goat yoga, a goat tour, or a VIP goat tour (we did this one) where you can get up close with the animals, you get a guide, and a cup of feed for the goats, donkeys, and mini highland cows. After the wonderful tour, buying some eggs from their chickens at the farm and getting our own bergy the buffalo (it is basically a stuffy that you get and take everywhere you go over one of the school vacations and take lots of photos and then present them to the class, usually in kindergarten and preschool.) who is known as Leap the highland cow (he will be popping up in the blog now). We were all starving at that point and needed to do laundry, so Inness stayed at the laundromat with the amazing job of staying till the laundry was done while Kelly and the girls set out for sandwiches. We went to Lauri's Sandwich Shop in Columbia Falls, and it was amazing!!! Mackenzie was dying to get in the water again, so we went to the lake at our campsite and swam for a very long time. That was sadly the end of our very fun day, but Kennedy and Mackenzie will soon take over and out rule the parent control.

8/1/26 - Parents were back in control today, kind of. They went running while girls slept to burn off energy and hopefully be more bearable for their children. After the beauties woke up we walked into town for breakfast expecting that a Saturday in Apgar Village of Glacier would be bonkers crazy. Turns out people dont go to Glacier on the weekends to sit around and eat brunch, so we were the only folks there when we sat at 9am. There is a pretty cool local artist and craftsman store right in Apgar too that we had to go in and we picked a few small things, mostly food and postcards. On our walk back we continued to forage for Thimbleberries, we finally figured out what they are when we got here and we've been eating them and now collecting them to make a cobbler. They are similar to raspberries but they are softer and arent quite as delicous but are still lovely berries. Also side note, we are really only collecting them from right by trails but we have been and will continue carrying bear spray with us everywhere in bear country!

Then girls chose to spend more time at the lake and we abided.

 8/2/26 - Leaving day again. Kelly and Inness thought they should go on a romantic sunrise paddleboard so they hit the calm water around 6:45. It was around 55 out but ok with pants and a sweatshirt on. After a short stint of admiring the sunrise, the calm waters and choosing a destination across the lake, the wind started to pick up, before we realized how bad it was we were in the middle of the lake fighting to do anything. Multiple times we should have turned around but we kept thinking the abnormal early morning wind would wain. It did not and we fought a strong sidewind the entire paddle. We got absolutley soaked by the waves crashing over the front of our boards but we survived. We didnt get any pictures because it took everythign we had to stay in control adn on the boards, lesson learned any wind is too much wind for a nice paddle.

We are in the thick of smoke today and modifying plans on the fly, we wanted to stay up in Whitefish at the ski resort but there is a new fire near there adding to the smoke and concern. So we are turning down to Kalispell instead as it is further from the fire. We also need to do some food shopping, get 2 more bear sprays so the girls each have one too and some camper repair. We had our first oopsie of the trip and backed up too far colliding one of our stabilzers with the ground.