Montana—the Big Sky State

Montana, the Big Sky State, took us to a tiny home that we like to call our “cabin in the woods.” Three of us squeezed into this tiny home in rural Montana. It had a loft and a futon. We were surrounded by farmlands and pastures. Mountains and forests, lakes and rivers of state and local parks dotted the landscape. And Glacier National Park crowned the horizon.

My adult twins and I were looking for hiking trails. However, there are rules we needed to know in this area. Montana is bear country. We are in their territory. We needed to be alert and look around us. Stay on the marked trails, and make lots of noise so as not to surprise a bear on our hike. Larger hiking groups are safer than smaller groups.

Once we got to Glacier National Park, we learned about the “timed entry vehicle reservation pass” to drive through the park from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the only road: Going-to-the-Sun Road. It was 8 a.m. We should have signed up and paid for the pass the night before. There’s a cap on the passes, and they book fast. It’s a minimal fee, which just started this year.

Undeterred, we planned to sign up for the pass that evening for the next day. Licking creamy sweet huckleberry ice cream by Lake McDonald, we decided what to do next.

Hey! Milk is a breakfast food, you know. So is fruit. Ours just happened to be frozen together. Huckleberries grow wild in Montana.

The ranger told us about a trail at the Polebridge Ranger Station by Bowman Creek along the west side of Glacier. The mighty Rockies were peeking out of the clouds by the time we got to Covey Meadow Trail. Up along the foothills we climbed. Pine filling our senses. Look offs where the side of the ridge had washed away gave view to snow-capped Rockies in the distance.   

Covey was only the beginning of our hiking experience in Montana. Kintla and Bowman Lakes afforded breathtaking shorter hikes to crystal clear lakes lined with red, blue, green, and orange stones. Pebbles from the Rockies. Shards of time gone by.

The week before we came to Montana, the Rockies had had a blizzard up by Logan Pass at Glacier. Yes! Even in June, they have surprise blizzards up in the Rockies. The roadway was completely snowed under. But lucky us, the pass had just reopened.

With our newly purchased vehicle pass in hand, we headed to Avalanche Creek—with all the crowds. Parking is precious. Now I know why they monitor the intake of the roadway.

We followed the crooked Avalanche Creek, as it tumbled over fallen trees and boulders, making its way to Lake McDonald. Avalanche Lake is tucked in tightly by sheer rocky cliffs at the end of this trail. Waterfalls stretch from cliff peaks, showering down to fill smaller creeks that feed the lake.

Now all this driving to and from the park and trailheads and waterfalls allowed us to fill our memories with music from the 70’s, 80’s, and the 90’s. One of the twins had Sirius XM and tuned the car radio into it. We sang at the top of our voice as we lumbered along many a crushed-stone roadway.

Raw and jagged. Steep and majestic. Glacier National Park trails bring a peace found in nature that fills a soul. It takes us outside ourselves to actually see what is around us. To breathe it all in. To capture it in memory, if we can. To pass it along to others.  

Passing the love of nature onto the next generation has always been important to me. And now, some of my children are passing it along to their young children. They enjoy quiet walks in forests, and at nature preserves, following trails along the foothills of a mountain. Although they don’t camp yet, their children are still very young, they instill a love of nature that will grow.

The point of vacations is to make memories to cherish for a lifetime. Our Montana trip adds to our volumes.