Yeeehawww!

Today (June 27) started with our big activity for Glacier: horseback riding through the back country. We got to the corral around 8:00am and got underway around 8:30. My horse's name was Scar and Kate's was Snip. This was my first time on a horse, but I never really felt scared. I figured the horse didn't want to fall off the side of a cliff just as much as I didn't want to. You're not supposed to let the horses eat along the trail, because there are several plants that are poisonous to horses along the trail. My horse, Scar, wanted to eat about every 5th step, so I was constantly kicking and pulling him away from whatever delicacies lay on the trail. We rode for about 2 hours then took a break, which was good for my greenhorn legs, then rode back to the corral. The horses were Western neck reigned for you experienced horse folk, but you didn't really have to steer them. They had done the trail so many times that they just followed the leader automatically. Kind of like a horse cruise control. The trail was pretty rocky and steep in places and it did make me feel a little like The Man from Snowy River a couple of times. I had a lot of fun and wouldn't mind riding some more later on. Saddle up Rusty!


After horseback riding, we went back, walking very gingerly, to eat lunch and grab a quick nap. We then met a ranger for a nature walk around the area to Fishercap Lake. The ranger had been workign in the park for 15 summers and spent his winters in Indianapolis as a college biology professor. Needless to say he was very knowledgeable. I never know wildflowers could be that interesting. He knew every plant, flower and animal in the forest and could tell you everything about them. It was a good walk and we learned a lot. Some of the wildflowers we saw are below. I'm not going to label them, but Kate has them all in her visual journal. her journal is quite amazing by the way, so you should ask her to take a look at it if you get the chance. She's very talented, but we all know that already.



The ranger said that Fishercap Lake is a good place to see moose, which is one of the animals we really want to see more of, so we decided to come back later on. We walked back to the camp store for a little huckleberry ice cream, which is the local flavor of Montana. We also found some downed trees along the way that beavers had been working on so I decided to have a snack myself.


After our snack, we went back down to the lake to see if we could find some moose, but were unsuccessful. We weren't about to give up though. We went back to camp and ate supper, then headed back down to the lake moose hunting. We waited patiently for about an hour when we saw a mother moose and her twin calves come out of the woods to feed on the willows. The pics were too small to post, but they were worth the wait!


Tomorrow we are going into Canada, which will be my first international trip, so I'm pretty excited. We have our passports at the ready, and I'll let you know how the magical land of Canada is tomorrow!

~Andy