Montana Hiking

Thursday, July 20th - Tuesday, July 25th, 2017

Minneapolis, MN, Salt Lake City, UT & Flathead Valley, MT

Hello, everyone! As you make have guessed from the title and/or listed location, we are in Montana. For this trip, I decided to do something a little different. Instead of doing a day-long vlog for each day of the trip, I've been doing a series of mini-vlogs for a few of the bigger attractions. I like doing the longer vlogs better I think, but we're here visiting a lot of family, which is less exciting for everyone else to watch, and this is my second time vlogging here. (See my January 2017 posts for some winter time Montana fun.) So I'm trying something new!

We also have a bunch of family here with us. So if you might hear some new names- Jer, Renée, Jack, and Joe are my uncle, aunt, and cousins. Tisha and Jerry are my great aunt and uncle. Aaron, Sara, and Amelia are cousins. Theresa and Joel are Renée's sister and brother-in-law. Ryan, Jody, and Griffin are more cousins... Basically, having all these guys here makes being in Montana 20x better. (Which is pretty hard to do since Montana is already ready great!)

You may have noticed, I keep saying "Montana" like it's not a huge state spanning 147,040 mi^2. We are hanging around Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, and Glacier Park. Okay, now on to the good stuff. The hiking. (so far.)

With the mountains, there are loads of places to hike, and we've taken advantage. Here's where we've hiked so far.

Whitefish Mountain: The Danny On Trail (July 22nd)

Whitefish Mountain is a ski resort in the wintertime, but by summer, it is a magnet for hikers, bikers, zip liners, alpine sliders, and chair lift riders. There's a lot to do here. Although we've done the alpine slides, the mountain bike trail, and the zip line, those are tales for another time. This time, we rode chair 1 to the summit and decided to hike down via the Danny On Trail. It's about 3.8mi back down to the base lodge. This is one of our favorite hikes for a few reasons. First, you can climb up or down, or both. So it's a little flexible to your ability in that way. Second, there's a place to grab a drink at the top, or there's a place to grab a drink at the bottom, so really either up or down there's a place to celebrate your victorious hiking effort. Third, there's a lot of people. (This could be a con if you like secluded hikes, but I'm pro not-being-eaten-by-a-bear, so I like hiking with other people.) Fourth, great views. Hard to beat. Fifth, if you go in late July, like us you might be lucky enough to find... HUCKLEBERRIES! Be warned though, it's a calf killer. And whatever you do, don't decide to walk down the ski slopes. You think you're sore after a day of skiing. Try walking down those runs. WAY less fun. Danny On trail = fun. Summer ski slopes = not fun. 

Glacier Park: Red Rock Falls Hike, Swiftcurrent Trail

This trail is out of Swiftcurrent, near Many Glacier. It can go all the way to Granite Park Chalet, or split off to Iceberg Lake and Ptarmigan Tunnel. We took it to Red Rock Falls, and the hike was a little under four miles round trip. The pros of this hike? Good animal spotting opportunities. (We saw two moose!) A few little streams to ford if you're into that. (I am.) And the red rock falls themselves. They are well worth the two miles. You can scramble and climb around a waterfall. I mean, what's more fun than that? 

That's all I've got for now, because we're heading into Glacier Park and their reception and wifi ditch is not the best... (That's probably okay though.) I'll be back soon with a few more hikes, and some restaurants, and who knows what else?!

Peace,

Cristiana