Come to the West Side

July 9: Thursday morning we packed everything up and moved on over to the west side of the park. It was a very relaxing day, with a 2½ hour drive around the outside of the park, as you can't take large vehicles over Going-to-the-Sun Road. The kiddoes watched an afternoon movie. Liz and I needed some essential parts for our camper, so I drove to Kalispell with Mom and Dad who needed to do a bit of RV window shopping. It was a very exciting camper repair for us, as our “dead man switch” failed. If you aren't familiar with this piece of equipment, it is a device that activates the camper brakes should the trailer somehow come detached from the truck while driving.

But our switch didn't just break, it became overheated to the point where I burned myself when I touched it, and the plastic it is encased in was melting. Did I mention that it resides just under the propane tanks? Yikes. But we still have a camper, and it was an easy repair, since we again have Dad and his knowledge of wiring and electrical systems. Today he'll help with some plumbing.

Our whole family is full of useful, handy, manly men. In the event of civil insurrection and/or a post-apocalyptic Mad Max-like world, we are in great shape. We have Dad, with knowledge of electrical and other systems, not to mention he's an MD; Joe is a surgeon for those really tough cases; Pete is an engineer who can design and craft for us any number of projects to aid in our survival; Marc is the hunter who provides the food; Isaiah is the master all-natural chef who can take whatever we scrounge and turn it into fine cuisine; Uncle Paul can teach us to live off the land; and I teach band, and make witty comments on the post-apocalyptic blog.

But back to Glacier. Yesterday, Friday (July 10), we all went on a 6-mile hike that was supposed to be one thing, turned out to be another, started horrible, moved to tolerable, was actually good by the end of it. Our hiking book described this hike (Sacred Dance Falls) but forgot to mention that nearly the entire thing is the horse trail used by the livery stable. Now, I love horses. Spent the better part of my college years and 20's surrounded by them. Came out here to Montana to a friend's ranch nearly every year for a decade. But horse trails and people trails don't mix. Horses destroy trails, and on a trail with as much traffic as this, the entire trail is covered in their expulsions. (*Interesting side note: There was a time, a few years ago, when we came across horse apples on the trail. Mom and Dad insisted that they weren't referred to as horse apples, but horse balls. I worked hard to convince them that those were something else entirely.) We kept saying, “Just another short bit and the trail will split and we'll be on the people trail.” We finally came to the split and the sign for it, but horses (and their riders) can't read. And so we continued on more horse trail. We eventually left the horses behind, and made our way along McDonald Creek, which is a frighteningly impressive whitewater river cascading through a small canyon. We finally arrived at a beautiful, powerful waterfall, and sat down for lunch. It's one of those spots that is so beautiful you would love to just sit there and relax, but can't because you just have to keep an eye on the kids.

After lunch, Liz, Kieran and Izzie walked downhill back to the car, while Gabe, Mom, Dad, and I continued uphill to Sacred Dance Cascade and a loop around John's Lake. We got back to the campground and made dinner of chicken grilled on a wood fire. After dinner, we all went fishing at the campground's trout pond. No bites. 

Today we are heading to Lake McDonald; the Gowmans are going kayaking and Mom and Dad are going to find a hike.