The Wild West in Bannack State Park

This post is for Wednesday, July 25.

From Christian:

We see old buildings. We look for gold. My clothes get all west. We ride in car.

The kids in front of one of the abandoned buildings in the ghost town of Bannack

We played in the old jail!

Do we look mean hanging out at the outlaw's saloon?

We had fun playing on the old merry-go-round in front of the school.

We got to search for gold. I dumped my water all over my clothes and got soaked.

From Christian:

A Visit with Lewis and Clark

This post is for Tuesday, July 24.

Hi. It's Sarah Ann again.

Today we woke up and had to get busy. It was time to leave Glacier National Park. First, we were heading to the Lewis and Clark National Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana. We signed up for this juniot explorer program. Each age had a different packet. My cousin (who is one year younger than me) and I got a folder for us. It was really easy to fill them up. We did each page even though we didn't have to.

We went through a museum and watched a movie to learn about Lewis and Clark's trip to discover the west.  Before that, I didn't know ANYTHING about Lewis and Clark so the museum really did teach me a lot. They had to follow rivers west into areas that nobody knew about it. One time, there was a fork in thr river and they didn't know which way to go. The Native Americans had told them that the river would have a waterfall, so Lewis went ahead on one of the forks to look for that. I think it was the left fork that he took. He was proved right when he found the waterfall. Now you might wonder how they got over the waterfall in their boats. They had to get out of the water and built little carts with wheels to pull them over the hills. They had thought it would only take a day but it took a really long time. And it was really tiring. Two times a Native American woman saved them. One was Sacagawea. She helped talk to a tribe of Native Americans who weren't sure if they would help Lewis and Clark or not. They ended up giving them the horses they needed to continue their trip. The second Native American intervened when another tribe didn't like them so much. She said that she had met white people before and they were nice to her. We also listened to a talk about Native American games.

I'm dressing up like an explorer in the Lewis and Clark National Interpretive Center.

Then we had to drive some more. We drove to a little town called Melrose, Montana. There, we stayed in some cabins. We ate dinner really late and even took showers. The other place in Glacier National Park had run out of water so we could only take showers one day. My aunt even got in the stream by the cabins that had really cold glacier water and washed her hair there. After that, we went to bed because we had had a busy day.



Rachel and Taylor with my cousin at the cabins in Melrose. My cousin turned six months old!

The Big Debate: Grizzly or Black Bears in Waterton Lakes National Park

This entry is for Monday, July 23.

This is from Taylor.

Monday morning, we drove to Canada. We were going there to see more of Glacier National Park. Actually, it's Waterlake National Parks there. It's kind of a separate park, but they're also kind of together.

On the way there when we were right near the border, we saw a bear right by the car. The people there already watching it said it was grizzly but at first we thought it was a black bear. Later, we found out it was a grizzly. (Not everybody in my family agrees. Sarah Ann and Aunt Tarythe still think it was a black bear.) Then we crossed the border. They wanted to know where my dad was and if my mom had a note saying it was okay to take us across international borders - and that she wasn't kidnapping us. She didn't have a note but they let us go across anyway.

First, we went to Cameron Lake and rented rowboats. It was really fun. I was sort of bad at rowing at first. But then I got the hang of it. The lake was really pretty set right against a big, beautiful mountain. It was a little windy.

Then we went on a hike called Bears Hump hike. It's less than a mile each way but it was very steep and hard to get to the top. When we got to the top, it was very pretty and VERY windy. It blew so hard that it could blow a person off the mountain if he weren't careful. The way back down was simple.

We got back in the car and drove across the street to the Prince of Wales hotel - a famous hotel by the mountains and lake. We had high tea there like they do in England. The food was great. It was scones, tiny sandwiches, and little desserts.

The last thing we did was drive to Red Rock Canyon. On the way, we saw another bear. I think this bear was a grizzly bear also. Most people agreed but it was far away and hard to see. When we got to Red Rock Canyon, we went straight into the water. It was freezing but beautiful. It turned my feet red. My cousins' toe turned completely white from the cold water.

When we got home, we looked at the pictures of the bears. We still couldn't all agree. We'll post a photo below and you can vote on which type of bear you think it is.

Here's the first bear we saw. It was right next to our car.

Here I am rowing on Cameron Lake.

The view from the top of Bears Hump hike.

We're all about to get blown away by the wind next to the Prince of Wales hotel.

My toes got really cold wading at Red Rock Canyon.

Snow in the Summer on Going to the Sun Road????

This morning we got to sleep in. After that, we drove Going to the Sun Road. It took me a while to figure out that it wasn’t that we were going to Sun Road but that the road was actually named “Going to the Sun Road.” This was the scenic road that goes through the middle of Glacier National Park. Lots of people say it is one of the most beautiful drives in America and I can see why. Giant, steep mountains with snow-covered tops (and middles) stretched to the sky. Evergreen trees made their journey toward the middle but couldn’t make it all the way to the top – because the mountains were so tall that they reached way past the timber line. Rivers and lakes rested in the valleys of the mountains. Waterfalls cascaded down to meet the road.

The first thing we did was drive to the Logan Pass Visitor’s Center. Logan Pass is the highest point of Going to the Sun Road. There, we did the Hidden Lake Overlook Hike. It was 1.5 miles each way. It’s considered the best short hike in Glacier National Park. My whole family (except Christian), my cousins and their whole family, and my grandparents did the hike. When we asked about the hike at the visitor’s center, the ranger said we’d have to hike through a few snow patches. Well….it turns out that those snow patches weren’t really patches. They were more like snowfields. (Is that a word?) Before we even began a hike we saw a mountain goat with her baby. The baby was sooooo adorable. "Wow!" I thought. I couldn't believe we had already seen a mountain goat. The hike started on a boardwalk. It seemed like a normal hike. My mom even commented that she could have almost brought the stroller on it. Then we reached the first "snow patch." That's where the word snowfield comes in. There was a LOT of snow and it was steep going up. We kept loosing our footing, slipping and sliding. Eventually we reached a spot where there was about three feet of boardwalk before we reached the next "snow patch."  Eventually we reached this bend. On one side, it was almost a straight drop off with no railing. On the other side, it was straight up. And we were hiking on slippery snow. My cousin decided it might be easier to climb up the ridge and then get down from there instead of hiking around the bend. I decided to follow him. We got up there only to see that both sides were now way too steep to climb down. So, we had to continue walking along it until we reached a part where we could climb down. It was a bit scary and my mom wasn't too happy about our choice.

Throughout the hike, we saw several more mountain goats. Everyone else saw some bighorn sheep in the distance but I was ahead of the group at that point and didn't see them. Eventually we reached the overlook. It was beautiful. There was a lake and a valley with sheer, steep snow-covered mountains on all sides of it. There was a ountain goat there so close that we could have reached out and touched. I think the hike at Logan Pass was one of my favorite hikes ever (and I've been on a lot of hikes).

After the hike, we continued the drive. We didn't make it all the way to the end because we were running out of time. We turned around and headed back to camp. At camp, we roasted hot dogs for dinner over a fire. It was pretty cool. Then we held our own little church service (we were too far away to drive to an actual church meeting) before roasting marshmallows. I like roasting marshmallows almost more than I like eating them.

Overall, I went to bed feeling very content with the day.

Here's me with my Aunt Laura at Logan Pass

Here's some of the snow on the path on the Hidden Lake Overlook hike

The baby mountain goat. Isn't he cute?

Here we are at the overlook at the end of the hike

We stopped and put our feet in some freezing water on the Going to the Sun road

Glacier National Park

This post is for Saturday, July 21.

It’s Sarah Ann.

Yesterday we drove nine hours to get to Glacier National Park. We are going to stay here for four nights. Our campground is really cute. We are sleeping in our pop, but all my relatives are sleeping in cabins. The relatives that I’m talking about are all my mom’s family – my grandma and grandpa, my aunt and uncle from New York City and their three kids, my aunt and uncle from Washington DC and their baby, and my aunt and uncle from Austin, Texas. My two step cousins and my dad were the only ones not there. I’m posting this late because there wasn’t any internet or cell phone service anywhere near where we stayed. My mom couldn’t use her phone within almost two hours of the park.

Glacier National Park is really, really beautiful. It’s in Montana and part of it is even in Canada. Some people who have traveled around the world say Glacier National Park is the most beautiful place they have seen. I think it might be the most beautiful place I’ve seen.

On Saturday, we started out by going to the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. The wind was REALLY strong. We were all freezing even though we had pants and sweaters and everything. The first thing we did was take a boat ride that left from the Many Glacier hotel across Swiftcurrent and Josephine Lakes. The stairs to the boat were really steep. They told us about the glaciers and what they were called. You know if a lake has glacier water because it turns the water turquoise. There used to be 150 glaciers in the park but now there are only 24. To be an active glacier, a glacier has to be at least 25 acres, be moving, and be a certain thickness – I can’t remember exactly how thick. There are only three active glacier in the park. She told us how there had been a fire once a long time ago at the Many Glacier hotel. It was a very interesting story.

At the end of the boat rides, we went on a hike. We learned a lot on the hike too. We hiked two miles roundtrip through the woods, across streams, and on boardwalks to Grinnell Lake. It was gorgeous.

When the boat rides were over, we went on another hike called Red Canyon Falls. It was almost four miles roundtrip. I wasn’t in the advanced party. My mom convinced me to stay and wait by the lake while some people went ahead to the falls. We saw a moose swimming in the lake. Luckily, it stayed on its side of the lake. We saw it eat underwater.

Then we went to eat dinner at the Many Glacier hotel. It was yummy. I had an awesome day.

Everyone in front of Many Glacier hotel

Here's me on the hike to Grinnell Lake

Grinnell Lake

Do you see the moose swimming? We saw it on our hike to Red Canyon Falls

And there's the falls - from across the lake

Driving Across Montana

This entry is for Friday, July 20. (We are a few days behind because we had no internet for five days.)

From Christian:

We drive in car. We go up the mountains. We go down the mountains.

Bad Weather in the Badlands (Theodore Roosevelt National Park)

From Taylor:

You would think that when I say bad weather I would mean pouring rain. But actually when I say we had bad weather in the badlands I mean that it was roasting hot - as in 107 degrees.

But let me start at the beginning. We woke up and left for our horse ride at 8:30 a.m. inside Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We did it so early because we knew it was going to be soooo hot (I was happy we moved it). It was me, my two sisters, my mom, and my grandpa riding horses. They almost didn't let Sarah Ann go because she was too short, but then they shortened up the stirrups so she could fit. At first, I was nervous and didn't know if I wanted to do it. But after the practice ride when we rode around in a circle, I felt confident and knew it would be fun. My horse was named Peppy. He wasn't too Peppy though. In fact, he was sort of slow. I tried to kick him to go faster, but he wouldn't. I liked going uphill because sometimes Peppy would run and I would have to slow him down.

After the hour and a half horse ride, we drove the south loop of the National Park. We saw tons of animals like bisons and prairie dogs. We saw tons of prairie dogs - so many that eventually I got tired of prairie dogs. We could hear them talking to each other. Then we saw tons and tons of bison and they were really close to the rode. They were close enough to our car that we could probably touch them. They didn't seem at all afraid of humans.

We got out of the car at an overlook and did a short hike to a neat view. It was so hot. When we got back to the car, my face was drenched in sweat. My mom had to basically drag Sarah Ann. I thought I would faint on the way up to the overlook. Then on the way down, I felt a little better.

When we were driving back, my grandpa said the rocks looked like ice cream cones. My mom said, "Who wants to go lick one of those ice cream cones?" Christian yelled, "I do!" When we told him he couldn't because it wasn't real ice cream, he cried the rest of the way through the loop.

Here's me riding a horse

one of hundreds of buffalo we saw

Rachel and Sarah Ann on their horses

We'll add more photos later. Our internet connection is really slow here and isn't cooperating very well.