Lake McDonald

On our second day in Glacier, we decided to take it really easy. We'd already had a week of camping and hiking in Yellowstone, a pretty big hike the day before, and our REALLY big ambitious hike (14 miles with 4500 feet of elevation gain!) was coming up the next day. So we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and then walked from our campground on the lake around the north side of the lake to see if we could find Rocky Point. 



It was beautiful--very serene and with crystal-clear blue water. The kids peeled off their shoes and started wading; I found a sun-warmed rock shelf and pulled out my book, and Neil had the best skipping rocks day of his life. 

Eventually we wandered around to a high promontory overlooking both the north and south shores of the lake and held a little family church service (it was Sunday) and talked about our gratitude for the world and its beauty. 

And then we headed back to camp and ate lunch, then decided to go do some more mild exploring. I was teaching two classes, so I needed to check in with my inbox and respond to some student drafts, so we headed towards the ranger station for WiFi and Neil took the kids through the Junior Ranger packets (Matthew still wears his badge any day he can find it). 

Then we did some hiking...

At some point Matty fell asleep and it was so so cute until he woke up and he was SUPERCHARGED and I legit was running flat out trying to keep up with him. We had started spotting hogweed along the trail and we were all pretty terrified that Matty was going to get ahead of us and bury himself in the closest patch (and there were many many many patches for him to dive into). 

So we trapped him on a rock for awhile...

And in a shelter...

And then we decided to just stuff everyone full of huckleberry ice cream. 

Which was a good call.

Some more random pics from that day--this gorgeous little cascade (which ran alongside the trail Matthew decided to sprint down, also fun for worrying). 

The view of Lake McDonald from our campground NOT BAD NOT BAD AT ALL

Morning bacon, a family standby (and basically an institution since Luke invented the "Lukey want some bacon" dance during a trip to Rocky Mountain NP). 

Hot chocolate hot chocolate hot chocolate forever and always and it's best in the blue speckly enamelware cups!

A truly ENORMOUS pinecone Luke found on his way to get water.

More lake from the campground...

We loved all the ferns! So lush and beautiful and so unlike the western camping we're used to in the Colorado and Utah deserts. 

Gorgeous blue rivers everywhere

And cute little bat-winged Nathans summiting every rock they see.