Author: gregandlindasabbatical

Probably the most spectacular views we had on any hike in Yellowstone were on this hike to Sublime Point.  This trail is not for the faint of heart or those afraid of heights!  The trail runs along the edge of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and has sheer cliffs down into the canyon for the majority of the hike but the reward is the view is spectacular!  We even experienced a hail storm while hiking this trail for a little added excitement!  We also hiked the two trails that go down 380 feet and 600 feet to view the gorgeous Yellowstone falls!

Here are photos of Greg and Linda on the edge of the trail, as you can see Linda took the safer rock while Greg chose the riskier edge!

 

We headed out to the midway geyser basin before the sun came up and the thermostat reading of 37 degrees! With the cool temps, the steam was definitely rising as the sun came up and Cheyenne was the only car in the parking lot.

From the midway basin we hiked over to Fairy Falls and then ventured onto Imperial Geyser.

From there we decided to hike to the top of the mountain to get just a little better view and we were definitely rewarded for our effort. Our day ended with over 13 miles of hiking from mud pots to mountain tops!

 

 

Today’s adventure was a five mile canoe trip down the Henry Lake fork of the Snake River. For us it is known as MOOSE creek. We were fortunate enough to see not one but four moose including this beautiful bull moose that wanted to get into our canoe.

 

Although the skies are still a bit hazy from the smoke of the Montana fires, the waters were crystal clear and full of trout! It was an exceptional day on the water!

 

Our first day in West Yellowstone was hot, hot, hot as we explored all the geo thermal formations.  We woke to a cool 43 degrees but the geo thermal formations were boiling hot!  The photos really do not do them justice, it is something you have to see firsthand!  We visited the painted pots, artists pots, Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs and of course the most famous geo thermal formation Old Faithful!

 

 

We hiked the Great western Trail and checked out the Mesa Falls on the most western edge of Yellowstone Park!

 

And of course no stop in Yellowstone is complete without seeing a few elk!

We are staying a few days at a beautiful campground just outside of the west entrance to Yellowstone and will be moving to the campground in the center of the park on Friday so more Yellowstone blogs to come!

 

We have spent the past week exploring southwestern Montana and avoiding the wildfires that are raging all over the western part of the state! Southwest Montana has many old mine towns, ghost towns, and gem mines and we managed to see a lot of them!
Our first stop was Garnet Ghost Town which is about 10 miles down a dirt road. It was a mining town back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. At one time there were over a 1,000 people in the town where gold was found. As quickly as the townspeople had arrived, they disappeared when the gold became difficult to mine. The town was abandoned and much of it still looks just as they left it back in 1917. The cool thing about these ghost towns is that although the state now owns the property and allows visitors, there has been no restoration done, meaning everything looks just as it was left (with the exception of new roofs on some buildings to preserve the inside of the buildings)

After mining for gold in Garnet and finding a very small amount, we had the itch to do more mining so we went to Phillipsburg Montana to mine for sapphires. We did manage to find a few that were worthy to be cut and enjoyed an afternoon touring this historic  town.  We also mined a few garnets while in Nevada City!

 

In Butte Montana we visited the Mining museum where you can take a tour that takes you 100 feet down into the old “Orphan Girl” Mine. This was a very interesting and educational tour and gives you a newfound appreciation for all the miners past and present.

We travelled to Lewis and Clark Caverns to see the caves that were not discovered by Lewis and Clark, just named after them as it is a short distance from the Missouri headwaters where they did explore.  We hiked about a mile to the entrance to the caves and then travelled down 628 stairs often on our hands and knees or even having to slide on our butts to get to the next opening!  It was a bit claustrophobic at times and it was cold and damp,  but the sights were amazing.  Some of the more colorful formations were from the areas were there is more humidity so they have different lighting to preserve the formations.  Also in some areas you were not allowed to use the flash on our camera as it was disruptive to the bats that live there! The location of the park is a bit out of the way, but it was definitely worth the stop if you are ever in southwestern Montana!

We have spent the past few days in northern Montana exploring Glacier National Park!  Our first day we got up early to take the 50 mile “Going to the sun” Road scenic drive.  It was an absolutely breathtaking drive albeit a bit nerve wracking for the passenger!

Along the way we stopped to check into a boat tour on one of the lakes only to find out that you need to book in advance which we had not done.  But as luck would have it Greg was wearing his Gator t-shirt and struck up a conversation with a fellow Floridian who happened to have two extra tickets for the boat ride. Did I mention our new friend was an FSU fan who felt bad that they had been winning so much lately so figured the least he could do is offer us his extra tickets!  Had a great time with our new friends on the boat ride and the guided hike to the St. Mary’s waterfalls.  On the way to the falls, we spotted three moose feeding in the marsh area of the lake.

We also stopped at Logan’s Pass and took the hike to the hidden lake and along the way found lots of mountain goats and this cute little ground squirrel!

We enjoyed a great picnic along the going to the sun road – you can’t beat the view!

Another great hike was the Highline Trail at Logan’s Pass which runs along the Continental Divide.  This is not a hike for those with a fear of heights as you walk along a very narrow path with a sheer cliff down to the going to the sun road.  They even have a cable for you to hold onto along some portions of the trail. And if you get lucky like we did, the mountain goats are using the path at the same time so you need to step aside and let them pass!

Glacier National Park has just recently been named an international dark sky park and this summer they are hosting three star gazing parties and one just happened to be while we were here.  We were fortunate enough to secure a ticket to the party and what a cool experience it was.  There were lots of astrologers on hand to answer questions and point out stars, constellations, etc. and they had all kinds of fancy telescopes for us to use.  We even saw the international space station twice as it circled the earth during our party.  It was a very unique and educational experience and we were so glad we were able to attend this very rare event.

Our last day in the area we went out to the Hungry Horse Dam and preservation area for a beautiful picnic lunch on the lake created by the dam and enjoyed a dip in the cool crystal clear waters of the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.

After almost three weeks in Canada, we crossed over to the western side of the Canadian Rockies for a brief visit to Radium Hot Springs before heading south and back to the USA. The very warm hot springs pools (104 degrees) were quite refreshing for our hiking legs. While in Radium Hot Springs we could not miss the bighorn sheep that roam freely all around town!

While in Radium, we took a trip out to the Columbia wetlands to see Canada’s version of the Everglades. Looked much like a Florida marsh but with mountains all around and no alligators!

No alligators either, just this golden eagle that was flying around.

We had a picnic at the crystal clear Olive lake before heading south and across the border back to the good ole USA.

We spent our first night back in the USA in Whitefish Montana and had a lovely campsite overlooking Whitefish lake were we enjoyed a kayak trip around the lake and a refreshing dip in the water as the temperatures in Montana reached 90 degrees during the day.

We thoroughly enjoyed hiking around Jasper. After the somewhat strenuous Edith Cavell hike, we took in a few easier hikes to the nearby lakes all of which are beautiful and crystal clear. We also took a drive up to Miette Hot Springs to soak our achy muscles and joints and oh what a relief that was.

 

Before leaving town, we did stop by to check on the mama grizzly and her cubs at the river and they were still feeding on their elk from a few days earlier. We said it was a national geographic moment and it really was – the photographer from the magazine was perched up on the hill overlooking the river snapping away with his fancy camera and all the town was abuzz that photos of the grizzly would be in the magazine sometime soon! It really was a once in a lifetime event to see and we are so glad we were able to witness it.

These are the berry bushes that are in full bloom for the bears and the bears are out in full force feeding as we found out. No photos but we did come face to face with a young grizzly on our bikes and lets just say we hope that doesn’t happen again!

We left Jasper via the Icefields parkway heading south down to Kootney National Park and Radium Hot Springs and made a few more stops along the way.

We checked out Sunwapata Falls

The Athabasca Glacier

Marble Canyon

And the Painted Pots – the place where the Indians used to go to get their face paint!

 

The most spectacular hike in the Jasper area is the Edith Cavell hike.  It is limited to 180 permits per day and we were fortunate to get a permit for Friday!  It was definitely worth it!  The hike itself is about four miles with about 1500 feet of elevation gain so it is a bit strenuous.  The nice thing is there are very few people on the trail due to the permit restriction so it is eerily quiet.  In fact you occasionally hear what sounds like gunshots but it is actually the ice of the glacier cracking.

The hike takes you to the Angel Glacier and the glacial pond below.  It is truly spectacular.

 

We made it to the top of the ridge and although it was very, very cold as we were up above the glacier, we enjoyed a little lunch and the view.

 

 

The hike was also a popular spot for the marmots to play!

And after the hike we soaked our toes in the very, very cold glacier stream!

If you are in the Jasper area, definitely recommend taking a day to make this hike happen.  It was amazing!

From Banff we headed north to Jasper along the Icefields Parkway. It took all day as we made several stops along the way.  The best hike we have done so far was the somewhat difficult Parker Ridge hike. It is a must stop on your way to Jasper. It is pretty much straight up, but the view of the Athabasca Glacier from the ridge is well worth the hike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was also plenty of snow for us Florida kids to play in.

Farther down the parkway, we made a stop at the Athabasca Falls which was also breathtaking.

 

Upon arriving in Jasper, we got word from the locals that there was a mama grizzly bear and her two cubs hanging out on an island in the middle of the river eating an elk. This was one of those national geographic moments not to be missed.

Our first stop in Jasper was a hike through the Maligne Canyon and around Maligne Lake.   The canyon was the best we have seen so far and we took a ton of photos – not sure that photos can do it justice! The canyon is several miles long and each turn seemed to be a better view! It is a must see in Jasper!

The rain was starting to come in as we hiked Maligne Lake but rain is a good thing as it helped to clear out the smoke from the fires.

And of course you can’t be in Jasper and not see some elk, they are everywhere!