Late June 2019

My goal is to never get more than one month behind on the blog. Oops. Here's the second half of June.

We headed up to Bozeman MT to hang with Clifton's cousin and all around awesome person Christian. Guys, Montana. It's like Colorado but without all the people.

  

There are hikes to be had, streams to be crossed. I may or may not have looked for property while we were there. Until Clifton told me he thought winter was probably longer and colder than Colorado. And he reminded me that I hate winter. Like, most everything about it.

But chickens. So much room for chickens. We stayed at an Air B&B on an amazing working farm. I mean, we didn't work. Just got all the good stuff.

Fathers Day at some hot springs. 

Cool evenings and s'mores. Reasons I love summer.

We heard there was a really interesting grizzly rescue near Bozeman where we could learn all about grizzlies. Like apparently grizzly bears are the same as brown bears? Is this common knowledge?

And if you see a grizzly, lay down on your stomach and cover your face. He will likely bite the most prominent part of your body, which is your butt. And if he does, do not scream. If you do, he will go for the screaming part of your body, your face. So, no big deal, whatever you do, just don't scream. 

We took the scenic route to Glacier NP which led us to a picnic on the capitol lawn in Helena.

...where we got some sillies out.

...before going inside and checking out the capitol building.

We had an amazing several days hiking in GNP. You should all do this. Need a fourth grader to get in free? We'll loan you ours.

Because you'll get to see sights like this at the end of Apgar Overlook. Here is the Railsback girls' review in case you ever want to go:
"Apgar overlook (3.5 stars); 7.2 miles round trip

Pros: views at the top and on the way down, get some forest/aspen, cool observation tower at top

Cons: exposed/hot, mosquitoes on the flat part at the start, steady incline"

We should never ask them to review a hike on the way up. It's an automatic loss-of-star.

Always more smiles on the way down, while belting out "99 bottles of beer on the wall" to keep the bears away.

We spent a lunch enjoying the water and skipping stones at Lake McDonald.

Pictures just aren't going to do any of this scenery justice.

That afternoon we hiked to Avalanche Lake. Railsback girls' review:

"Avalanche lake (4 stars), 4 miles round trip

Pros: easy, pretty the entire hike, awesome lake at the end where you can swim

Cons: popular so lots of traffic"

We didn't swim because it was mostly melted snow in June, but you could swim. If you're crazy.

It makes sense that it's so popular because the entire hike is filled with views like this.

Views on Trail of the Cedars, which is more of a walk than a hike.

Some more pretty waterfalls somewhere. This is probably why I shouldn't wait two months to blog. I can't remember. I mostly remember the looks of horror on grandmas' faces that I let my kids sit on this edge.

Early in the Grinnell Glacier hike. Everyone else is all walking around GNP with their swanky brand new REI gear that they just got for their national park trip. Not us with our kids' backpacks. Clifton's wearing that paisley Jansport like a man. 

Here we are a couple miles in after being pelted with hail. But only for a few minutes. It's pretty much standard Railsback hike conditions. I think we got hailed on three times in this week alone.

But oh so worth it.

Montana, you are a thing of beauty.

So then we come to this sign. I mean, they're probably just covering themselves when they suggest "sturdy boots, map, compass and route finding skills" right?? We pushed through for a bit longer before we got to where we would have to cross thin ice over deep rapids to go on. I was trying to figure out how to most evenly distribute my weight over the ice (clearly sliding on my belly, right?) to minimize the impact of my weight causing the ice to crack and me being swept away when I realized that it probably wasn't worth it.  At least not without first sending a test kid across.

See that big horned sheep? What do you mean? It's right there. See it? standing sideways on that rock? Man, you're just like my kids.

The hike back down, just as gorgeous and the sun is coming out again. The review:

"Grinnell Glacier (4.5 stars), 7 miles round trip (would be longer except for that little closed path)

Pros: *amazing* views, lots of flowers, very open vistas, saw snake, saw mountain goats, very cool rock formations. This was our unanimous favorite hike of the week

Cons: steep incline so some work, hail storm, couldn't get to the overlook (boo)"

Swiftcurrent Lake. Railsback girls' review:
"Swift current loop (3 stars), 2 mile loop

Pros: easy, flat, view of lake, forest/covered, saw a moose

Cons: not remarkable, nothing really exceptional. 

Could kill time here but wouldn't go looking to spend time here."

This was the hike to Snyder Lake.

"Snyder lake (3.5 stars), 8.6 miles round trip

Pros: through forest, lots of cool flowers, saw 2 deer, less people, very pretty lake at the end

Cons: had to climb over 17 downed trees on the trail because a storm came through, wet at spots (early in the season), all the elevation climb is early in the hike making for rough start, felt long at the end (how are we not at the lake yet???)"

This is the hike where Sarah declared at the end, "We walked all this way just to see more water??"

On the last day we took on a 13 mile hike. 

"Twin Falls Trail  (3.5 stars), 7.2 miles round trip

Pros: fairly easy hike/flat, not a lot of traffic, fairly shaded, waterfalls were pretty

Cons: some mosquitoes, not especially unique except for the falls."

We also hit No Name Lake. You're getting the idea here. You hike fairly steep ascents to get to really pretty lakes.
"No Name Lake (4 stars) 

9.8 miles round trip (or just an extra 1.3 miles more when you've made it to twin falls)

Pros: nice hike, great views, very pretty lake payoff.

Cons: fairly steep from Twin Falls to the lake"

At every lake the girls thought they wanted to swim, and ended up getting their feet wet.

Meanwhile Clifton and I were all out winter gear with hats and gloves.

Hiking down from No Name Lake. I know a lot these feel like just more mountain pictures, but every time you turn around it's another gorgeous view. I really did try to limit it. And I'm not even boring you with wildlife photos.

The girls pretty reluctantly did one more 2 mile offshoot to Upper Two Medicine Lake. They were so relieved when we made it. Until Clifton pointed out that this seemed awfully small for Two Medicine Lake and that we probably weren't quite there yet. So Naomi and Annika sat down and refused to go farther...

... while Sarah and I jogged the extra quarter mile to make it to the *real* Upper Two Medicine Lake.

"Upper Two Medicine Lake (4 stars), 9.4 miles round trip (or just an extra 1.2 miles from Twin Falls)

Pros: nice hike, great views, pretty lake payoff

Cons: not that different than No Name Lake which we liked better.

When all was said and done we hiked 44 miles in four days. It wasn't  all smiles and beers on the wall. There was some whining and pretty much continuous snacking. And maybe some conversation between adults about how much *more* amazing things would be without kids. But we did it. 

And after four days of keeping our eyes out for bears, we saw this guy from the safety of our car as we drove away from our last hike.

On our last day Clifton and Christian ran the Glacier Half Marathon.

...which was pretty much six miles straight up and then six miles straight down. With a little mile of flat somewhere in there.

He got this sweet medal which will totally be a belt buckle by the time I'm done with it.

This summer also brought Naomi's first time going to sleep away camp with her youth group. 

She loves everything that is cheesy about middle school youth group including theme nights. She and Amelia make some pretty sweet nerds.

Luna just looking cute and pathetic in her cone of shame.