We spent our time in Glacier with the Liebermans who will be guest writing the first 3 days of this post. We are still waiting on Micah to submit his post so here are a few highlight pictures from his day in the meantime:

July 31st (Written by Doug): After a refreshing night’s sleep, Wednesday morning dawned clear and cool. While our resident rooster crowed and strutted, Jolee, Doug and Micah had a relaxing breakfast and quiet time at the VRBO.  Since we had to be at the stables for our trail ride by 3:30 pm (C & C’s anniversary gift to Doug and Jolee) we had planned to do some exploring closer to home base. When the Liebermans arrived at the campsite, the newlyweds were still drinking coffee and puttering around.

So Jolee and Doug took advantage of the opportunity to take the inflatable kayak out for… “a 3-hour tour, …a 3-hour tour” (you youngsters will have to Google that one). Actually it was only about 40 minutes but we thoroughly enjoyed the peacefulness and the amazing view of the mountains from out on the lake.

We decided to visit the McDonald Lodge, originally built in the late 18th century and accessible (at that time) only by ferry.  The original lodge has more animal heads than people . . . but was very impressive. 

After a tasty lunch at Jammer Joe’s Pizza, we headed back to camp to prep for our trail ride. So there we were, standing in line while the wrangler reviewed the basics of horseback riding. He introduced the horses and discussed their idiosyncrasies and bathroom habits (they don’t need to stop to poop but they do stop to pee – a “Code Yellow” . . . and they pee a river!), then proceeded to tell us that whoever rode Marley needed to force him to keep walking when he pooped. And oh BTW, he likes to wander and he wants to eat all the time. Next he asked who was new to this.  Since Jolee hasn’t ridden a horse since she was little, she raised her hand.  So who do you think got Marley . . .? Lucky Jolee! But she managed just fine (I mean Jolee, not the horse). Doug rode Cochise, Christi had Lemonade, and Chris had Buster. Micah opted to stay home and chill until we returned.

After the ride, we enjoyed a “Cowboy Dinner” of grilled steaks, beans and corn-on-the-cob. 

And no Cowboy Dinner would be complete without the S’mores!  Chris is the master S’more maker, and introduced us to the Double S’more! Yum! 

After dessert, we headed back to our car, a bit saddle sore but ready to go to our VRBO cottage in the little town of Hungry Horse to celebrate Jolee’s and Christi’s birthdays (yes, MORE dessert!). It was a day to remember!

August 1st (Written by Jolee): We awoke before the dawn (but not before the rooster at the farm backing up to our cozy cottage sounded his regular morning greeting)! Our plan was to do an all day hike on the Highland Trail which traverses the highest elevations in the park. The trail heads out from the Visitors Center at Logan’s Pass – a location with limited parking that fills up very quickly, thus, the early departure time. After a quick breakfast we headed out to meet Christi and Chris at Apgar Village where they were catching sunrise pictures at Lake Macdonald.

The five of us piled into their Honda Pilot with the “Just Married” signs on the door (have we mentioned the inquisitive looks we got from passersby???😂) and began our journey on Going-to-the-Sun road. Chris will probably have more to share about this incredible highway in tomorrow’s post, so suffice it to say that the road is a monument in and of itself with remarkable construction techniques and incredible views. I think we were all thankful for the low rock wall separating us from the sheer drop offs as we climbed higher and higher. At certain points Doug refused to look out the window. As we drove, we prayed in faith for our parking spot at the top of the climb. Christi, who was driving, made a quick pit stop and was lovingly informed by her husband that she had just lost our parking space to the handful of cars that passed us on the trek up the mountain. 😉 Sure enough, when we arrived at the top, the lot was full with the travelers who had secured a spot just exiting their vehicles. Oh, NO!! 🤦‍♀️ However, all was not lost. I had spied a small, empty overflow lot at a curve in the road right below the Visitors Center. We beat it down there and secured our space (the one the Lord had waiting for us) with minutes to spare. With hiking packs, poles, plenty of water, bug spray, and bear spray, we excitedly began our 11 mile adventure on the Highland Trail.

And what an adventure it was!!!! The trail began with a narrow walk on a stone ledge high above the Highway to the Sun.

We crossed fields of beautifully colored alpine wildflowers, through thickets of evergreen and beargrass, with mountain squirrels scurrying across our path.

The views of majestic mountains, sparkling waterfalls, and alpine lakes were breathtakingly glorious. I could not stop oohing and ahhing as Micah will painfully attest.

We enjoyed our lunch (thank you Christi for packing it for us) on the rocks by Haystack Butte. As our journey continued, we were all eager to spot a mountain goat. Little did we know that God would place one right in our path. As we rounded a corner, there it was! Right smack in the middle of the trail munching it’s lunch. The goat was completely undeterred by the group of hikers that had begun to congregate.

How does one pass a mountain goat with horns on a steep rocky trail? Did I mention the horns?? Of course, my husband decided to approach and travel uphill around the goat. At the same time another young hiker then decided to go downhill at which time Christi astutely remarked that it probably wasn’t a good idea to surround the animal. 😳 Thank you, Christi!! Several hikers got around on the uphill side following Doug and then the goat started to move  backwards along the path – directly toward me. (I was sure glad Micah was by my side as Doug would have been of no help at this time). Did I mention those horns?? Fortunately the goat was mild mannered, and passed by as we moved quickly out of its way. 

Hiking onward, Christi, Chris, and Micah took a challenging connecting trail up to Grinnell Overlook while Doug and I pressed on to a high mountain chalet to rest and refuel.

For the kids, this would prove to be a highlight as they were able to view Grinnell Glacier and a gorgeous Glacier lake on the other side of the lookout. 

The remaining 4 miles of our hike was the opposite of pleasant. A grueling, downhill climb through burned out terrain in 90 degree scorching heat caused several hikers to need assistance as they were in danger of heat stroke. With jelly legs, blistered feet, heat exhaustion, and little strength left, perseverance took on new meaning for me. I was never so pleased to see the shade, the highway, the bathroom, or the air conditioned shuttle bus that took us back to our car at the top of the mountain. Everyone was too tired to make dinner so we hungrily made our way to the Cafe by Lake MacDonald. It was a lovely and delicious meal despite Micah spilling his water (twice) and Doug wringing out the clean up towel on unwary pedestrians passing below under the flowerboxes by our table. 😩

The adventure, sights, and experiences of this memorable day will linger in all of our minds for years to come. Hopefully our sore muscles and battered feet will heal a whole lot sooner. 😉

August 2nd (Written by Chris): For our last day in Glacier, we decided it would be best to rest our sore feet and legs by driving the Going-to-the-Sun-Road. The Liebermans met us at our campsite after breakfast and a bit slower morning. After driving through the campground and getting some funny looks (Micah and I were in the front seats of the “Just Married” Guvnabile), we decided it would be best to drive all the way to the end of the road first (to St. Mary’s Lake) and then work our way back, stopping at points along the way. Of course, even though we had all agreed on this plan, for some reason Christi still tried to convince us to stop at every cool thing she saw. Sometimes she can have a very stubbornly selective memory, but my husband for the day was sure to put her in her place pretty quickly, and we made it to the St. Mary’s visitor’s center while admiring all of the cool views along the way and listening to George’s commentary (our audio tour guide that we’d highly recommend – actually called GyPSy Guides).

After spending some time at the visitor’s center and watching the Glacier Park discovery video, we started back again in the other direction. First pit stop was to get an obligatory picture at the Goose Island Overlook, which is a little island in the middle of St Mary’s, famous for being in one of the opening scenes of The Shining.

We continued on from there to do what was supposed to be a short hike to Sun Point (which overlooks St Mary’s) followed by a few waterfalls. Sun Point was in fact close, but it was starting to get hot and we were hungry by this point.

As we continued on to Baring Falls, we started to feel a repeat of the prior day’s final 4 miles as we realized the entire trail to the falls was a burned out area with absolutely no shade.

Luckily, Baring Falls is located in a bit of a nook that provided cover and we were able to sit and enjoy our lunches by the waterfall.

Baring is a nice waterfall but nothing to write home about (unless you’re writing home via a blog). George had also explained this but since it was kind of close to the next 2 falls we wanted to see, we figured we’d hit it along the way. After Baring, we continued on for another mile or so to St. Mary’s falls working up a sweat (and Micah worked on his hard-earned sunburn from the Highline trail). St. Mary’s falls were much more impressive than Baring Falls, with cliffs surrounding a deep pool at the bottom of the falls where you could jump into the clear water.

Micah and I wasted no time testing the waters jumping from probably around 20 ft. into the freezing cold water. Before setting out for the day, I had planned on potentially swimming, so I had a quick dry pair of shorts on (with a change of clothes at the car). Micah had not planned on swimming so, like a champ, he took the dip in his boxer briefs.

I proceeded to jump a few more times from some lower rocks as Christi took photos of my feet entering the water and pestered me to go again because I’d messed up the photo by jumping in the wrong spot. She clearly didn’t have much regard for how cold that water was. Kidding aside, it was a very cool spot and a great opportunity for newlyweds to get a cool unison cliff jump video.

At this point, everyone was ready to head back to the road where we had planned to catch the shuttle back to Sun Point to grab our car. That is, everyone but Christi, who just absolutely had to see Virginia falls, which were another .6 miles or so up the trail. Naturally, being the chivalrous husband that I am, I offered to take her bag and let her run off into the Glacier wilderness by herself. She did manage to make it to the falls in good time and met us at the shuttle stop as we drove back up the road from Sun Point. So it all worked out well and Christi got the Instagram selfie she had been frothing for (and I was slightly jealous I hadn’t joined her).

We continued on our drive and made a pit stop at Logan’s Pass to take a quick hike out to see the wildflower meadows at the beginning of the Hidden Lake trail. Originally, we had planned to hike all the way out to the overlook, but decided at this point we’d had enough hiking and really wanted to get back to camp and relax for our last evening in Glacier. 

As we left Logan’s Pass we did get to see a goat and her kid cross the road in front of us, which was neat.

Despite our longing for a cold beer (or white claw or glass of wine) on the shores of Lake McDonald, we decided to make quick stops at Sacred Dancing Cascades and McDonald Falls. 

At Sacred Falls, however, George had told us that it would only be a few hundred yards to hike down to McDonald falls, so, after a few quick photos, Christi suggested I walk down to McDonald Falls and they’d meet me there with the car. After an insufficient glance at the map, I agreed that plan sounded enjoyable and set off across the bridge and down the trail that followed along the other side of the raging river. After jogging downhill for a minute or two and reaching McDonald Falls, however, I quickly realized the huge mistake I’d made as I looked across the river to the parking area 100 ft. up the cliff on the other side of the falls to see Christi and Jolee waving at me with inquisitive gestures. Can you spot them?

As we yelled across the raging falls, we could only catch a few of each other’s words as we tried to figure out how in the world I’d get back across the river. After looking at the map, I saw that there was a lodge icon on the map not too far down from where I was, at the head of McDonald lake, and in my adrenaline-rushed mind assumed it was McDonald Lodge (in case we haven’t touched on it before, I have a penchant for being terrible with maps and directions in general). So, I yelled across to let them know I’d just run down and meet them at McDonald Lodge, which Christi was able to discern. So, with our new plan, I continued on down the trail – essentially sprinting as I felt terrible for being responsible for delaying our relaxing lakeside plans. It was at this point that I took a better look at my map and realized I’d made another grave blunder and that the “Lodge” I had looked at was actually a ranger station, which happened to be down a gated-off road. To my horror, I now saw that the real McDonald Lodge was probably another 3 miles or so down the road.  With no service to call the crew in the car, I did the only thing I could and made my way to the main road (there was a bridge on the gated road leading to the ranger station) and kept on jogging down Going-to-the-Sun Road, hoping the others would realize my error and drive back up the road to get me so I wouldn’t have to run the full 3+ miles in my hiking boots. Luckily, they only spent a few minutes at McDonald Lodge before realizing the absurdity of waiting there and caught up with me on the road before I had made it too far. Finally reunited and dripping in sweat, swimming in Lake McDonald never sounded better. We figured out later that my few hundred yard hike to McDonald Falls wound up being closer to a mile and half frantic jog in my hiking boots. We did finally make it back to camp at a decent hour and used the late afternoon hours to enjoy some refreshments, brie cheese, swimming, and kayaking lakeside.

For dinner, we bbq’d chicken in tin foil over the coals of our fire after McGuivering a grate to set them on (of course the one time we want to cook over the fire, the fire pit doesn’t have a built-in grate like every other campground has had). It did still turn out well and we enjoyed a feast and a campfire as our wonderful time in Glacier came to a close.

Since it was still really hot and the mosquitoes were setting in, we decided to skip the s’mores and head to Apgar Village for some hard-earned ice cream.