Avalanche Creek and Lake

It was a slow morning. We didn't catch the bus until almost 9 AM so we didn't get to our hiking destination until almost 10 AM.

Avalanche Creek was the closest point to us as well as a round trip hike of about 5 miles. We are woking up to a longer one.

The beginning of this trail runs through a hemlock/cedar forest. The creek is from snowmelt high up in the mountains, so right now it is running very fast and very high. The water has cut a deep gorge through the rock making a fast running water fall. The surrounding forest is dense with cedar and hemlock trees so despite the the number of people on the trail, it is still very quiet and peaceful. I love the smell of the cedar and the music of the song birds.

Avalanche Lake is the color of aqua marine, deep and cold. We hiked to the far end of the lake where the numerous waterfalls off of the mountains run together to fill the lake. Again, John wished he had brought his fly rod. Several men were seen fishing but we didn't see them catch anything. Fishing in this national park is free, one does not need to buy a fishing license. There was a path extending past the end of the trail so we explored it, finding a nice quiet, cool place for lunch. The hike down went faster than the one us but we were still pretty tired at the end so we did not extend the hike another 6 miles like we thought we might.

After naps, we rode our bikes on the bike trail to the town of West Glacier. I was having trouble with shifting so we stopped in the middle of the forest, on the trail to fix it and that's when we saw our first bear! He was about 20 feet in front of us. He wasn't very big but he had stopped to look at us and I quietly told John to get the camera! But John had to cough and that scared him off! So no picture, you'll have to take our word that we saw one.