My day started wonderfully to say the least (and that isn’t sarcasm). My alarm went off at 5am so I could get up and shoot the sunrise and I heard things falling on the rain fly. Sarah says, “I think it’s raining…” and before she finishes “wait, is it?” I’m back asleep. Another wonderful morning of sleep. I swear I’ve been getting 8-10 hours of mostly restful sleep the past week. It’s been quite nice, but somehow, I’m still tired a lot. Must be all the physical exertion.

We broke camp and headed to the Many Glaciers district of the park to hike to Ptarmigan Falls and Iceberg Lake. Total round trip, 9.8 miles. It was an absolutely gorgeous hike, I’d recommend it to anyone. There wasn’t a great viewing platform for the falls, but Iceberg Lake made up for it. Iceberg Lake is situated in the middle of a semi-circular group of mountains and it’s contents comes from glacial runoff. This time of the year, it’s still mostly frozen and the last half mile of our hike to the lake was over snow covered fields. It was an awe-inspiring sight.

After our hike back, we piled into the car and exhausted, drove to the Two Medicine district to set up camp in preparation of tomorrow’s hike. Highway 49 along the eastern border of the park is a blast to drive but not quite so much fun as a passenger apparently. The speed limit never drops from 70 mph, but almost every half a minute your onto a new set of curves with a recommended speed of anywhere between 25 and 45. Plus, there’s no guardrails and the valley floor appeared to be as much as 1,000 feet below us at times. I loved it, Sarah later remarked to me that she was terrified the whole time.

And… the funny story for the evening. After we had our tent pitched, Sarah was making dinner, spaghetti actually. I was absolutely out of it, half reading a book, half falling asleep at the end of the picnic table while she manned the stove. She apparently asked me, “Is it all right to put the glass jar of spaghetti sauce on the camp stove?” and I, in a voice that any man with sisters, a wife or even a mother will recognize, grunt a noise that means in effect, “I didn’t hear you, but in an effort not to get in trouble, I’m making a noncommittal noise.”

Two minutes later, I hear a boom come from the stove and look up confusedly to find spaghetti sauce everywhere. So, we had plain spaghetti for dinner and one burner on the camp stove still only lights halfway because of the spaghetti sauce residue in it.

Fun times!

Travel Distance: 78 miles, plus 9.8 miles on foot

Woke up this morning and after an attempt to make edible pancakes, we got started driving down Going-to-the-Sun Road. We stopped a few miles in and hiked out to Avalanche Lake, which was absolutely gorgeous. You step right up to the edge of the lake and it is ringed with mountains, and down each mountain there is at least one waterfall caused by glacial melt. It’s absolutely amazing.

We popped back onto the road and drove through the mountains; Going-to-the-Sun Road is described as one of the most beautiful scenic highways in the world, and I will completely agree with that. The road through Rocky Mountain National Park doesn’t even come close. In one section, four or five waterfalls are right at the side of the road and your car gets sprayed as you drive by. It is absolutely amazing.

We also hiked down to Baring Falls, where Sarah left me to hike to St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls while I set up my picture, waited for people to clear out and the right light to hit the scene. After I had a few shots I was reasonably satisfied with, I hiked back up the path and took a few shots of Sunrift Gorge before heading to the St. Mary Falls trailhead to wait around and pick Sarah up.

Then we headed down what was left of the highway, swinging by Sun Point for some pictures (I’ll be going back there to shoot sunrise). Now… camp is set up, food has been eaten and I’m headed to bed.

Travel Distance: 50 miles, plus 5.5 on foot

First of all, let me just say that the fireworks in Butte, MT on the 4th of July are simply fantastic. It is probably the best show I’ve ever seen. Oh, and the fireworks the city launched were nice.

Apparently, in Butte, you’re allowed to buy pretty much whatever you want. For almost four hours last night, I watched fireworks launch over the entire city in the middle of an on again – off again thunderstorm. I sat at the top of a hill in the middle of the city and turned around in a 360; fireworks were going off in every direction.

But, this is supposed to be about today…

Got up and had camp broken by 7:30 this morning, even though that did mean a wet tent was placed in the car. That’s all right though, because after two hours of standing around waiting, I got to see Barack Obama from about 60 feet away and I have a little over 100 pictures of him on my camera. Now, I’m not an Obama fanboy, but if he wins the presidency, I’ll be able to tell my kids that I saw him in person, at the 4th of July parade in Butte, MT. And that will be cool.

We packed it in pretty quick at the parade, Obama made a quick speech, basically apologizing for not walking (because he didn’t want to put undue security restrictions on the entire route – the section I was in had to pass through metal detectors) and wished everyone a Happy 4th. With that, Sarah and I made for the car, not wanting to endure an hour of fighting traffic to get out of town. We made it after some wandering driving and found an on-ramp to the interstate not blocked by the parade route and it was off… for a lot of time driving.

There is one thing I’ve noticed about drivers in Montana; unlike in Michigan where the speed limit is viewed as the minimum speed one should drive, here it seems that people actually take it as the LIMIT. It’s a very odd sensation to be driving in a 75 mph zone and pass people doing 72 mph. It’s a new concept, as is the 70 mph undivided 2 lane highways that are prevalent in the state.

But, anyways, we’re settled into a campground for the night, have three days of activities outlined and then on Tuesday, I start my 2.3 thousand mile trek back to my parents via Devil’s Tower in Wyoming and the Badlands in South Dakota.

Travel Distance: 250 miles