First trip to GNP this summer ...

Yesterday we drove up to Glacier National Park. We only live about 45 minutes from the West Entrance, so we try to go there as much as possible. Our plan was to ride bikes around the Apgar/Lake McDonald area. They have a really nice bike path that winds through the forest. It's easy and very pretty. The boys just got new bikes, so they were excited to to try them out. I took the picture above of Nathan riding in front of us. We had just passed what we were pretty sure was a bear in the woods. We couldn't see him, but we heard him. We also knew there was one in the area, so we were on guard. It definitely sounded like a bear to me.

This is a picture of the guys in front of the North Fork Flathead River. We rode into the little town of West Glacier to see if someone at the gas station could tighten my handlebars. Luckily, Rick found someone who could, so that was awesome. You almost always see big groups of rafters on this part of the river. They had just put out after we went down to the water. The river is going really well right now. 

The Going-To-The-Sun-Road just opened last Friday. This is the only road that goes all the way through GNP. Because they don't get it plowed so late, the season can be pretty short, especially if you want to drive up to the summit to Logan's Pass. The Sun Road can get up to 80 feet of snow, so it takes awhile for them to get it plowed each year. They were just about done the other day and then a freak snowstorm came along and delayed it for a few more days. 

It's a pretty drive—albeit a terrifying one if you don't like heights—but it's worth going up. Right now there isn't much to do at the summit other than look around near the visitor center. The trails are still covered with quite a bit of snow and ice. Lots of skiers and snowboarders are up there right now. We'll go back up soon to hit up some of the trails.

Weeping Wall is going pretty good at the moment. I took this one right before Rick drove the van into all of the waterfalls. Everyone does that. We joke and call it the local carwash.

We also stopped at the Trail of the Cedars. That's a short stroll through a dense cedar forest. It's wheelchair accessible, and it's an easy walk, so it's one of the more popular stops. It was in the 80s yesterday, so walking in the shaded forest felt good. We stopped at Avalanche Gorge (pictured below), as we always do. Maybe we can hit up the hike to Avalanche Lake next time.

And of course, no trip through the cedars would be complete without the boys stopping at what they call The Nose Pickin' Tree. I've posted pictures of this before. Maybe I'll dig them all out and see how much they've grown since they first visited it.