And Another Picture Heavy Post

Heaven's Peak (from our campsite)

The boys in a hollow tree

Forbidding mountain

Another view of Heaven's Peak

Three Rogues

Butter won't melt

He made it up there on his own

A view from the middle

Lakes

because, frankly, the Rockies are full of them. They are absolutely, positively beautiful, too.  (See last year's Rocky Mountain National Park for the 2009 pictures.

St. John Lake

Avalanche Lake, from the foot

Avalanche Lake, from the head

Hidden Lake, from the overlook (and Bearhat Mountain)

Another view of Hidden Lake from the overlook

Hidden Lake, from the descent

Hidden Lake from the descent, again.

The sparkling waters of Hidden Lake, from the shore

Bearhat and Hidden Lake, from the shore

The other mountains (can't remember the name)

Wiz, contemplating Hidden Lake.

One of the things we seem to do is we choose hikes that go see water.  This is true even here where water is not a common thing.  We had a wonderful time.

Lake McDonald, where we canoed and swam.  

Falling Water

Sacred Dancing Cascade

Avalanche Creek

Glacier-fed waterfall into Avalanche Lake

St. Mary Falls

St. Mary Falls, again

Upper St. Mary Falls

Virginia Falls

We also saw

while walking through the woods, a deer, who found the trail the easiest way to get where it was going.

There were a lot of marmots.  This one apparently was utterly exhausted, and found a nice warm boulder a good place to snooze.

This one posed.  Apparently the camera loves him, and he knew it.

We also saw, for the first time ever, big horn sheep.  They were not as close to us, but we did get pretty decent views.  The mountain goats were pretty fearless, but the sheep were more wary.  

 We did not see bears (which we never do--even when they are supposedly around where we are) but we did see long-tailed weasels, which are harder to find.  The weasels were juveniles, and were having fun playing near where we were.  The ground squirrels were not as amused as we were.

Wild Animals

Last week, we were camping in Glacier National Park.  None of us have ever been there (in fact, the males in this household had never been to Montana at all), so it was a new experience for all of us.  It was a great place to see wildlife.  Some of the wildlife was less wild than others.  There were mountain goats close to (if not on) the trails.  I'll have to make two posts of just wildlife pictures.

 Mom and babies in the meadow above Logan Pass Information Center.

 Different mom and  baby at the overlook.

 Mom leading the baby out.  The babies were funny.  If mom was too far away, they bleated continuously.  You knew they were definitely goats!

This baby was beginning to grow its horns.  Some of the babies were farther along than this.

 Then there were the chipmunks.  They were supposed to be wild.  When we went to Avalanche Lake, we had an uninvited guest to our snack time.  This chipmunk probably was only a few feet away from us.  He'd come very close to us, and scurry around trying to steal crackers.

 This chipmunk was even bolder.  He went under our legs while we were sitting on the shore of Hidden Lake.  He investigated the inside of my bag, then went over, put both paws on Game Boy's leg, and begged.  I'm guessing that people are feeding the chipmunks.

When he realized that we weren't sharing, he ambled over to a log and put his back to us.  Guess he showed us!

Tomorrow I'll talk about the other animals at the park.

Thirteen

Last week, Game Boy hit an important milestone.  He turned 13.  It's hard to believe that once upon a time, he was a tiny baby who decided to come into the world four weeks early.  A baby who did not believe in sleeping longer than one and a half hours at a time.

One who hated wearing hats and learned to remove them with haste.

One who learned to talk early, and now uses those mighty lungs to play trumpet.

Eventually, he started walking at eleven months.  Now he's a tennis player and runner.  

 He's come a long way since he was that tiny, not-quite-ready baby from 1997.  Happy Birthday, Game Boy.  It's hard to believe that you are already 13.  You aren't a little boy any more, and we're starting to see the glimmers of the man you'll become.

A Little Adventure

We live in an area that is absolutely stunning.   (If you don't like sage brush, you may not like it here.  Luckily, we do like the desert.)

We haven't been geocaching for awhile, so we went for the first time in a long time.  First we went to Sandpoint.  While we were waiting to get a fix, the boys sat on boulders.

 This is looking back toward Washington (we were in Oregon).  The geology that defines southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon is obviously on display here.
 

Then we drove back to Washington, and stopped to look for one here.  It's another place that I'm glad I went, but I don't think I can do it again.  I am afraid of heights, and climbing up the trail was hard enough for me.   

Two of the sisters.  I wonder if the one that was turned into a cave is lonelier than these two.

A view from the top of the trail.

Another view.

 It was good to get out and explore.  We've driven by the sisters a few times, but never stopped.  They are huge!  I'm glad that we went.  Next time, we may go to Hat Rock.  There's so much to see here.