Montana....Bear Country!

May 21, 2013

          It will be hard to write about Montana in one post, but that is the goal.  We arrived in Missoula late in the evening.  Kalee, Justin’s sister, and her fiancé live near the university and their home would be our base during our stay in Montana.  Justin was anxious to run the nearby trails and we were anxious to try the local donut shop.  We stayed in Helena to recon Justin’s upcoming race and to attend the Banff Film Festival.  While the movies weren't that amusing, we did have fun trying out a local pizza place and spending time with Kalee and Kevin. 

The kids at Big Dipper in Missoula.  Malachi: "let's not make anyone mad because they always pick on the kid w/the cone".

          It was after we got to Hungry Horse that we truly began appreciating what Montana had to offer.  We are not campground campers and instead enjoy the solidarity of dispersement camping so we chose an established site overlooking Hungry Horse Reservoir.  Our views were outstanding and the national forest road was great for us to run some hill repeats which we enjoy doing as a family.

The kids standing on one of the many stumps near the reservoir.  It was like we were in  the movie "The Lorax".

Freshly melted glacier water...delicious!

Hungry Horse Reservoir

Our trophy fish!  

Kylah purchased this cage so that she could get a closer look butterflies but had used it to capture many different creatures.  This time she caught a crawdad.  

Our drinking water fill station: a spring on the side of the highway.

Cherry blossoms in full effect on our way to Glacier.

Our Montana family picture.

  

          The kids really wanted to fish so we drove into town and bought them a small fishing pole, a few fishing supplies, and a container of worms.  The kids fished in the reservoir as well as a small lake close to town.  It took a few tries to finally catch a fish, but it when we finally caught one it was so worth the wait!

          The campsite at Hungry Horse was only about twenty miles from Glacier National Park.  This was, by far, our most favorite park so far this trip.  The vistas were amazing and the trails were covered in patches of snow.  We hiked up to Avalanche Lake and followed the lake around to the back side where the snow was perfect to trample over.  When we returned, the next week, the snow on the trails was gone.  Bushes and spring flowers took the place of the deep snow pack that we had crossed at the back of the lake.   

Our first trip in the snow!

          We returned to Helena so that the four of us could race.  Justin ran the 33k and the rest of us ran the 13k.  Justin finished just before we ran to the starting line and was cheering us on as we ran into the finish line.  The race finished in the park directly behind the library.  A library that we were quite familiar with since I spent a lot of time there teaching the kids and applying for jobs. 

Helena campground

Every one won their age groups.  Daddy took second overall.

Mother's Day picnic at the park.

My mother's day present.

Justin running the road at Hungry Horse.

          After the race, we returned to Hungry Horse Reservoir so as to get some more time at Glacier.  Kalee and Kevin met us at our campsite for one night and Kylah showed off her fire making skills and started a nice fire for us to enjoy!   The next day we headed to Glacier where we encountered a rather perturbed bear who gave us a clear warning that we were intruding on his breakfast.  Scary, seriously scary.  In the meantime, Justin had his own run in with two completely different bears.  They paid zero attention to the fact that he was there and he was able to continue on the trail easily.  It sure was exciting to see a bear in the wild and I am sure the kids will always remember the exhilarating experience. 

Our time in Montana was great.  We were very sad to leave. There was still so much snow that we didn’t get to see many trails so I am looking forward to a return trip to Montana.  I am sure we will head back as soon as we get the chance!