Glacier Weekend: Two Medicine

We had planned to take a quick trip up to Glacier last weekend and hike the Highline trail up to the Granite Park Chalet and then continue up to the fire tower on Swiftcurrent Mountain. Well, that hike will have to wait for another day, since the Highline trail is closed for another few weeks until a few snow hazards are gone. We still decided to head north, although our hiking plan of course changed. Grizz decided to take last Friday afternoon off of work so we could get an early start toward Glacier NP. We knew campsites at Two Medicine go quickly, but that is where we wanted to stay!

We were one of the last people to find a spot! I'm so glad that Grizz took off work when he did!

Once we claimed our spot, we headed over to the gift/snack store to explore (we've never been to Two Medicine before!). We knew bad weather was heading our way (the weather service said high winds and hail!), so this sight was not a surprise. It sure was fun to watch the storm roll in!

There was lots of lightening, thunder and rain, but thankfully no hail!

 Once it cleared up - maybe fifteen to thirty minutes later, we headed back outside to explore some more. Isn't that a pretty rainbow?!

We both stuck our feet in the lake. It was chilly, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

I loved this cloud/fog formation after the storm. Isn't it gorgeous?!

After walking around a bit, we headed back to the vehicle. Even before we knew there was a risk for hail, we decided to just sleep in the back of our Xterra. We wanted a quick get-away in the morning, and nothing is quicker than waking up, climbing into the front seat and heading out (we left the campground at around 5:30 am!).

PS: Don't you like our sheet selection? Grizz took it off my uncut pile in the sewing room, haha! I guess having a vintage sheet stash is helpful during camping season!

Glacier Weekend

Camping at Two Medicine

Two Bear Sightings

Grinnell Glacier Trail

Trail Closed

Many Glacier Hotel

Insta-Catch-Up

I was able to teach my Montana friends about pizza sandwiches while camping a few weeks ago. This is something I learned from my college roommates - you can buy the sandwich/pie makers in the camping section, then just butter the bread, spread on pizza sauce and add cheese and pepperonis! You can also make regular grilled cheese or even pies for desert (butter the bread but use canned pie filling instead of pizza stuff!). Not even Grizz had done this before, so I really enjoyed it when everyone loved them!

 Can you see that black strip on the hillside? This is a few blocks away from our apartment building - on July 4th, a grass fire happened over here on the edge of town. It started from fireworks, but thankfully no homes were damaged!

 Last weekend, we headed up to Glacier (more posts about our trip later)... we were nervous about getting a camping spot, so it was very difficult to be patient while waiting for a pilot car!

 We actually had to wait twice for pilot cars to take us through construction areas. The second time was because the new bridge is almost done! I love this picture where you can see the mountains in the background - we're almost there!

 The next morning, we got an early start while hiking to Grinnell Glacier. This is Grinnell Lake - isn't it just beautiful?!

We actually couldn't get all the way to the glacier (we could see some of it though), as there were snow fields still blocking the trail. Grizz would have just walked over them if he had his ice ax along, but instead we were content just to sit above Grinnell Lake and make lunch (at 10 o'clock... we woke up at 5 and were hiking by 7, so we were hungry!)

Highwoods Hike

Several weeks ago, we decided to go camping in the Highwoods (small, local mountain range). After a relaxful night of sitting by the campfire, reading and sewing a quilt binding, we set out to get to the top of the highest mountain in the range - Baldy.

At this point, I started singing a little "Sound of Music"

There's my mountain man! 

Due to a lot of random privately owned sections of land in the middle of a national forest, there was no direct route to get to the top, so we just used Grizz's phone to find ownership lines and the faint trail.

However, we were right where the trail was supposed to be, but instead of a nice trail, all we had was more bushwacking. Sad.

We turned around, but even though we didn't make it to the top, we enjoyed the scenery!

We even found this "weed" that we used quite a bit in our wedding flowers - yay for cheap ditch greenery :)

We enjoyed the hike and we enjoyed the gravel roads leading us home.

We also enjoyed the reflection made by one of the main bridges in town!

Insta-Catch-Up

Summer is always full of fun activities... Here are a few things we've enjoyed so far!

 Fishing.

 Cloud shapes... this one looked like a Viking Gondola... well, it was better in real life ;)

 Bible Reading. Verse 14 made us giggle... "Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out." So true! Haha!

 Teaching friends to rock climb.

 Local baseball games.

 Eating watermelon - my favorite!

 Binding a quilt while camping :)

 Grizz was pretty amazing - he started a fire with just a knife and a flint.

 Trying to go for a hike. We had to cross like ten streams just like this one!

 Birthday cake for Grizz; made by Neighbor.

 Birthday cake from the restaurant... there was enough for all of us! Definitely one of the best places we've ever gone for a birthday!!

 Fourth of July parade... so thankful for this country.

 Waiting for the fireworks show...

Fireworks!

Hope you enjoyed the brief snapshot into our summer life :)