We ended up camping for three nights at St. Mary in Glacier Park. One morning my hubby was kind enough to stay with Daniel at the campsite so I could have my first summit climb in Glacier. Bonnie and Frank took Daisy and I up Mt. Oberlin. It's not a long climb but it is incredibly steep. Daisy had already done this climb when she was 8. She "climbed" down the whole thing on her rear. This time she stayed on two feet all the way up and all the way down. :)
When we got to the top this little lady greeted us. She walked over to that rock turned around and looked at me as if to say, "Okay, go ahead and take your picture.". The view from the top was breathtaking and it's hard to describe the thrill of finally being on top of a mountain in Glacier, even if it was a small one. The summit is not very big and its a LONG way down on all sides.
Looking down. The line going across the green a the top of the picture is Going-to-the-Sun Road. The height would make anyone a little dizzy.
We climbed down a different way and we came to a spot with all kinds of little pools and streams. It was something out of Eden. I could have spent all day lingering here. (With bear spray, of course.) :)
The next day Daisy graciously stayed at the campsite with the dog and Rue, Daniel, Bonnie, Frank, Melanie and Patrick all hiked up to Lunch Creek Basin.
There are some spots where you have to scramble up and Daniel tackled them like a pro. At the "toughest" parts we had his little Bob harness on him and Rue kept him very close. I am glad to be getting him used to this kind of stuff. I want it to be second nature for him as he gets older.
Lunch Creek Basin. The last time Daniel was here he was 5 weeks old. I carried him up in the Snuggli. This time he carried himself up. I changed his diaper in that meadow. Gone are the days of me carrying him in the backpack on hikes. He's just too big now. I have to say even though I enjoyed those days it is nice to have all the weight on my back. I am really happy I put all the effort in to bring him on hikes with us starting when he was 5 weeks. Those are priceless memories that I wouldn't trade for anything.
It was quite windy in the basin. It felt like all the wind in the park was being funneled through there. Rue found a nice little shelter for Daniel.
Daniel in his little harness.:)
Going down was harder than going up for Daniel. Rue was so sweet and stopped to give him a little pep talk. Can you see Bob saying hi to the camera? :)
The day we headed back to Kalispell we drove into Many Glacier and did some touristy stuff. The is the view from the Many Glacier Hotel.
Big sky! Uncle Frank took us the scenic way home. This is looking west toward Glacier. I love Montana!
Whew! Done, finally! And this is only a fraction of all the pictures I took on our trip! I took almost 500 in all!
We have had a blast this summer and it's not over yet. Tomorrow we are heading up to do a hike near Mt. Rainier, the Naches Peak loop. It's the fated hike where I sprained my ankle and was in a walking boot for 2 months last year at this time. I don't plan on spraining my ankle this year!
I am going on walks with Daniel outside at least once a week. Even if it is threatening rain I dress us appropriately. Being out in the woods or some other pretty place is so refreshing for the soul. Plus it tuckers Daniel out enough that he will actually sit still for more than 30 seconds. :) I also want to keep him used to getting outside and walking since spring and summer mean lots of hiking and camping for us. Our little walks are so fun and I treasure this time with him. Our walk last week was in McCormick Woods. They have lots of lovely nature trails and I found a nice loop that took us about an hour to walk. 
