Montana

Our original plan was a camping trip.  But the only time we could go was late September.  At that time of year in Montana the weather can be anywhere from summer heat to dumping snow.  We ended up with nice Autumn weather, but that was still a little too cold at night for sleeping in a tent.  So I made some last minute sleeping arrangements that included a tiny house, KOA cabin, yurt, and fire lookout.  This made life a lot more comfortable.

 

Our first stop was Troy, MT.  There's a hike out that way I've wanted to do for some time.  We didn't end up doing it though.  We wanted to save our energy for Glacier and it felt like we hadn't left enough time for it.  But we did get to stay at a rad tiny house right on the river with really awesome hosts.

The Kootenai River in Troy.

Then it was on to Glacier National Park.  We chose to do the Grinell Glacier hike.  This is bear habitat and that made Chelsea nervous, but we were prepared with bear spray and read up on what to do in case of an encounter.  This is shot is from the beginning part of that hike.  We didn't end up going much beyond that point on the right.  Why?  Because of a big old grizzly bear!  He was there walking down the trail towards us.  Not mad, but completely unfazed by our presence and wanting to walk where we were.  So we abandoned that hike.

And we ended up here.  September is nice in Glacier.  So many less people!  The fires on the west side of the park had closed Going To The Sun Road which left Logan Pass almost empty.  This allowed us to do the hike to Hidden Lake.  It was a nice hike with great views as you can see from this photo and the few below.

Hidden Lake overlook.

Chelsea looking happy because there were zero bears on this hike. 

 Somewhere between East Glacier and St Mary.  I had never driven through this area.  It was really beautiful, especially with the fall colors starting to pop out.

There are so many stars visible in the Montana sky.  I wanted to get a Milky Way shot, but I guess that requires someone in the foreground with a head lamp pointed at the sky.  Haha.  This will do.

Our yurt on Flathead Lake.

Morning on the lake.

Wildhorse Island.

 We made a stop in Missoula to stay with the Bacons and see as many other friends while we were there.  And then it was on to this fire lookout close to the Idaho border.

 

The view was stunning from up there.  Unfortunately the lookout proved to be too much for Chelsea's fear of heights.  So we drove back to civilization and looked up hotels.  Our search landed us in Kellogg, ID at the lodgings for the ski resort.  Which turned out pretty cool because our room included passes to their indoor water park.  This was a fun way to end the trip.

Until next time, Montana!