good-times-rollin

Monday, August 5, 2013

On the Trail Again!

St. Mary, MT
Glacier NP

August 4, 2013

It sure feels good to lace up the old, well...not that old, hiking boots again!

With over 700 miles of trails in Glacier, it was hard to pick our first destination.

Red Rock Falls in Many Glacier turned out to be a great choice for our first hike...a 3.6 round trip to the falls and back.

It's a 12 mile ride on a very scenic road from the entrance to Many Glacier to the Swiftcurrent Trailhead. A good bit of the ride we followed the Sherburne Lake.

We did see a family of bighorn sheep. I only got a quick photo of the lamb.

Except for a few short, small grades, the hike is basically flat and easy to Red Rock Lake. The forest is green and lush... I was surprised at the amount of grasses growing there...not just along the trail, but as far as I could see.

This not so little Columbian Ground Squirrel was the only wildlife we encountered on the trail. These squirrels are easily identified by their large size and distinctive coloration.

Huckleberries were just beginning to ripen. In fact we passed several children with red fingers and mouths and buckets that were mostly empty!

Even with all the berries, we didn't see a bear!

We did see some very pretty rock formations...lots of red rock...not red like Nevada and Utah, but a much deeper shade of red.

In some places the trees opened up to beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.

Look up, look down...it's hard to take it all in.

From Red Rock Lake, you get an awesome view of the Continental Divide...Mt. Wilbur, Grinnell Point, and Mt. Grinnell.

Red Rock Lake can be enjoyed by fly fishermen and spin fishermen. Brook trout is a common catch here and since they are not rare, your catch can also be dinner.

After several "Oh my!"s , we continued on. As we made our way around to the far western shore we passed more interesting red rock formations...must have been the inspiration for the naming of the lake and falls.

We reached an unmarked fork in the trail...we went right. This led us to the upper falls.

I love the sound the falls make and the sun glistening on the water was oh so pretty! The water is crystal clear...

...and offers a different view of the red rocks!

We headed back to the fork to take the left turn and low and behold passed a real cowboy!

The left turn took us to the lower falls...

This was the perfect spot for water and a snack!

The clear water rushing over the red rock is quite mesmerizing. Beautiful to see and hear!

Red Rock Falls is actually a series of cascades. It is not the tallest of the more than 200 falls in the park, but will be memorable for us as the first one we ever hiked to.

It was a great Monday...especially after 2 days of steady rain.

Sure hope you are enjoying your week...we did another hike today. More on that later!

We did cross over 2 creeks on the trail...

Until next time...

Friday, August 2, 2013

It's Raining! It's Pouring! The "Tan Clan" is Snoring!

St. Mary, MT
August 1, 2013

When we were in Polson, every morning we passed by the neighbors on the way to the bark park. She was always very friendly to the pups and greeted them as the "tan clan".