Continuing my series on memorable hikes…
Our boys were ages 7 and 5 at the time we took two weeks and drove to and from Glacier National Park in our mini-van, and camped for six nights in the park. Our guys were troopers – we took several hikes during our stay and overall we all hiked a total of 23 miles. We made the boys certificates at the end of the week (I can still picture us around the picnic table creating them) certifying their accomplishment and they were pleased.
The most memorable part of the hikes was the boys carrying the hiking sticks we bought them early on. The wooden sticks had the name Glacier National Park burned into them and they had a leather loop handle with bells on them. The bells served a purpose. The bells made noise to scare off grizzly bears – to let the bears know we were on the trail. The park is home to many Grizzly bears – in this beautiful place they tolerate humans – sometimes. The first day we arrived we overheard the ranger telling of a grizzly bear mauling some hikers on a back-country trail as they neared the mama’s cubs. One needs to take the bears seriously! Fortunately we did not run into any grizzly bears on the trails.
The miles we accumulated that week were from hiking to or around Hidden Lake, Avalanche Lake, St. Mary’s Lake, Twin Falls via Trick falls and a boat ride, Ptagrin Falls, Swift Current Lake, and Grinnell Lake
Glacier is a beautiful place. It’s one of my favorite national parks and I have wonderful memories of it.
Oh boy!!! Cute
Yep…the two “bros”!
This photo is ADORABLE! What a wonderful memory!! I’m loving this series you’re writing on “Memorable Hikes”!! Great work!
It’s been special that the brothers were good friends (most of the time!).
Thanks for the feedback. I’m enjoying writing about the hikes.
I’m impressed that boys so young could hike that far. Kudos to them. And to you and Gary for bringing your boys up with a deep appreciation for the outdoors.
I’ve never traveled farther west than one mile into Wyoming. Because I grew up on a dairy farm, we seldom were able to take vacations. My two childhood vacations were to the Black Hills and to Duluth. My younger siblings got to vacation out West with our parents. But we older kids had to stay home to milk the cows and tend the farm.
Gary grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania and had the same experience of having to stay at home to milk the cows.
For me, my dad was a carpenter, and we did take family vacations of which I have fond memories.
I knew I liked to travel and Gary wanted to travel, so we decided to take family vacations too. I’m glad we did.