Today was a slow start to the day; we didn’t even get up until 05:30. (In all fairness, we are in Mountain Time and for those on the east coast, it is still a lazy 07:30). The day started out fairly slow. Kathy worked for a bit while Dave strategized our next hike. We then had breakfast and were out the door by 10 am. We are currently staying on the east side of Glacier, which seems worlds away from the west side of Glacier that we had just left. Similarly, the lodging seems light years away from each other. We went from ski mountain chalet chic to banjo playing boondocks abode. Additionally, it seems less populated in the local area and so fortunately the trails are less populated. We started out for our hike early. We planned to start from the campground going to Two Medicine Lake. Unfortunately, the trail we had intended to hike was temporarily closed due to unusual bear activity (Which is exactly why we wanted to hike it. Dave is dead set on using up the bear spray that he paid thirty bucks for!) The hike instead went another (longer) way and ended up at Twin Falls, a spectacular set of twin falls that cascaded down the mountainside. Our 5.2 mile journey to get to the falls meant an early lunch and we settled in to eat our repast. We were soon joined by an American Dipper, a bird uncommon to be seen by most who hike the back country. The small grey bird bobs up and down on the rocks in the stream looking as if it is trying to get the gumption to dive in. The next thing we knew he dove in, so maybe we were right. Apparently the bird dives into the rivers catching bugs that abound in the shallow streams. The fun fellow entertained us for quite some time. Dave even put down his much anticipated lunch in order to photograph the lively antics of the bird playing and eating in the steam. The next part of the journey was the 5.2 miles to get back to our car, which was shortened to 5.0 miles when Kathy realized that they had taken a short detour on the way up to view another waterfalls that was just off the trail. The hike, while sounding daunting, was lovely and we enjoyed the cool mountain air and talking to people as we walked along the trail. Soon we were back to our temporary residence where Dave settled in for a nap and Kathy worked for a bit. Dinner brought the unhappy realization to Kathy that she had hiked several long distances in the last few days and she hobbled out of bed, creaked as she bent over to put on her tennis shoes, and walked like a penguin for the first little bit until her limbs got “limbered” up. This could turn out to be a Vitamin I (ibuprofen) night for her. It is now time to now settle in and watch some TV and figure out what we will be doing tomorrow.
Feel better soon, Kathy.