Happy Mistakes and Glaciers

We made a happy mistake, as we were lost in vacation brain.  We thought we were leaving today then realized we booked another night here at Hungry Horse. We took the day to drive to the other side of the park and enter the eastern side of The Road to the Sun.  We rode until it was closed on the eastern side which is about 12 miles.  We found out it is closed due to the threat of avalanche and clearing snow.  The eastern side seems a bit more rugged. We saw the Jackson Glacier and a lot of beautiful  mountains that were closer to the road.  We also saw two black bears and got up close and personal with some snow. The trip around the southern part of the park to the east entrance was just over 80 miles thru windy roads.  It was a beautiful ride with few guide rails and well worth the trip.

Since we had some pix on our phones and some on the camera we didn't post everything yesterday. Here are some pictures of our trip today, some horseback riding ones, and lots of bear grass.

Above - the Jackson Glacier - the snowy one in the middle.

Some selfies

Part of Lake St. Mary

Snow that is melting into the stream on Siyeh Bend

Snowy peaks amid the burned trees from the fire 10 years ago.

Sipeh's Bend - snow melting into a waterfall by the road

Going to the Sun Mountain

The white flowery plant is the bear grass.  

It grows blooms every 5-7 years and is everywhere we go.

The Danekers go horseback riding:

Mitch on Mr. Paint, Dan on Teton, Caris on Waldo, Carolyn on Tank

Bear grass along the path with pretty purple flowers too.

Dan before the ride - looking a bit apprehensive.

Caris at MacDonald lodge playing Fur Elise.  

It was cool - several stopped what they were doing and listened.

Skipping rocks on Lake MacDonald

More Bear Grass

Skipping rocks

The 4 of us hiking near the falls.