It's *only* been a month since we went on vacation and I'm just now finally getting up our vacation shots! Oops!
Each year D and I choose at least 1 National Park to vacation in. This year we decided to spend our last (big) vacation in Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park. We chose Yellowstone for all of it's amazing natural wonders and Glacier for it's beautiful mountains/glaciers and the hiking.
We flew into Salt Lake City, UT (WAAAYYY cheaper than flying directly into Montana) and drove up to Yellowstone (West Entrance is located at the very top of Wyoming). We spent our first few days of vacation day hiking and site seeing. Yellowstone is beautiful beyond words...
Inspiration Point
Crazy Bison everywhere!
Artist's Point - Lower Falls
Day hike to Sublime Point (Lower Falls)
Old Faithful
Grizzly Bear
Mount Washburn
45th Parallel
There is so much than this! Every day was packed full of geysers, hot springs, mountain hiking, waterfalls, canyons, lakes, SNOW (first time seeing it for me!), etc. We were only there for 4 days - not nearly long enough to see everything.
Next we drove up to Glacier National Park which is at the top of Montana. The 1st night we stayed outside of the park and drove in early the next morning heading over to our trailhead. We drove along the
Going-to-the-Sun Road which is both breath taking and terrifying at the same time - especially for someone who is used to only driving (or riding) on FLAT land.
Sites Along Going-to-the-Sun Road
Glaciers in the mist ;)
Heaven's Peak
Big Horn Sheep
More SNOW at Logan's Pass
Jackson Glacier (A site that might not be seen in years to come)
We were excited and nervous when we reached the trailhead. This is the longest hike we've done to date (10 miles) and the first where we were completely dependent on everything that we carried on our backs (come on, we camp RV style now!). I wish I would've taken pictures of our packs and their contents - D put A LOT of effort into planning this hike (about 6 months worth) and I have to commend him - it was AMAZING!!! Everything went off without a hitch.
Atlantic Creek Trailhead (that's D loaded down with his pack - probably about 50lbs - mine was only about 30-35lbs)
Awesome view of Glacier National Park
Further along the trail you can see the river
The entire trail was lined with flowers and large beautiful meadows
I didn't take many photos going in or out of the camp - the camera ended up being strapped onto my bag because it was too heavy to carry around my neck and I needed both hands for my hiking sticks. I should have stopped more often, but really once you get in a groove - you just want to keep moving and get there ASAP.
Home Sweet Home
Hanging our food - aka bear proofing
Food prep area - no food or scented items can be at your campsite - the last thing you want is a wake-up call from a grizzly!
Our food - lovingly prepared (dried and vacuum sealed) by D. It was actually quite tasty for rehydrated camp food!
Our water source (we only carried what we would need during our hike - we brought a filtration system for water we would need during our stay). We set up camp very close to this river who's rushing waters sang me to sleep at night.
*sparing you from the photo of the community outhouse aka "Pit Toilet" which you are required to use when camping there (one word of advice for any women hikers:
FRESHETTE - there was no way I was sitting down in that thing!)*
Wildlife - thankfully this rabbit (and some eleventy million mosquitos/flies) was the only wildlife we encountered during our hike. Campers a couple miles up the trail had a lovely encounter with a cub and mama grizzly - thankful that they didn't make their way near us.
While it was an amazing hike we were grateful to spend the remainder of our trip in Glacier at Many Glacier Hotel. Nothing quite like a hot shower after days of hiking!!
Many Glacier Hotel - Originally Built in 1915!
Swiftcurrent Lake
We carried a
SPOT Satellite Tracker with us during our entire trip - I'm thankful we did since we didn't have cell service AT ALL. The SPOT transmitted our locations for our families to view and would act as an emergency contact system if we got into trouble. I thought the tracks of our vacation from the SPOT were still online, but I guess not. Eventually we'll get our GPS track uploaded and correspond our pictures and videos.
Overall it was a very rewarding and enjoyable vacation. I can't wait until next year when we hopefully do Alaska!
