Day 12

A long day it was.

We decided to try and make Ranger led hike at 0930.  It started at the visitor center near our campsite and was led by a youngish Ranger named Steve from Wisconsin.  We mostly discussed changes in the forest and various types of tree stands. We did get to see a large beaver swimming right past us as we discussed beaver lodges. I ended up carrying Harris for most of it.

We then got back in our cars and made the 1.5 hour drive over the pass to the East side of the park.  The hike we decided on was called Grinnell lake. It is about 3.5 miles each way and mostly flat, terminating in a wonderful lake with great views.  This is heavily traveled area for grizzly bears.  The children did ok.  I suspect the first hike tired them.  They did enjoy the suspension bridge that they got to cross over a rapidly flowing river.  We spent about 30 minutes at the lake.  They enjoyed drinking the lake water from this filtration straw that I bought.  We noticed that there was a group of people that had made their way to the lake from a tour boat.  I could see the kids were tired, so I decided to ask if we could have a one way ticket. This was no problem.  The problem was, I had parked the car at the trailhead, not the boat dock.  This meant I had to do the return hike by myself.  Not the best idea in grizzly country.  No worries,  I booked it back to the trail head, singing along the way, hoping to give warning to any bears that might be lurking along a blind switchback.  I only encountered one moose, who wasn't pleased with my presence, so I continued on my way.

I ended up beating the others back to the boat dock.  We piled into the car and made the drive back over the pass, stopping of rice cream along the way.  We made a stop at Logan pass again as the kids wanted to play in the snow.  We hiked halfway up and absorbed the view, while the children ran and rolled down the steep snowy hill.  To our delight the parking lot area was filled with Bighorn sheep as we got back down.  The kids were thrilled to see so many of them up close.  By the time we got back to the trailer it was 1030 PM, still daylight.

Tomorrow we steer the Endeavor back South