i wasn’t kidding. after our 5.6 or so mile hike to mills lake on our first day, we turned around and hit the trails again on day two. the grandlidboms were set to arrive that night for a couple of days, so i wanted to cram in all the things i could before they were […]
hiking
rocky mountain national park.day one. mills lake hike.
when we came off the road in 2019, one of our regrets was that we never made it to rocky mountain national park. it was the one big park out west that we missed, but when we were in denver (in may 2017) there was a giant snow storm and most if it was closed. […]
black elk peak hike.
turns out, that lovely ranger from yesterday was right, and the skies cleared up and the sun came out, and anna and i woke up to a picture perfect day for a hike to black elk peak. so, once again, we geared up and packed up and headed to the trailhead bright and early (the […]
the black hills. custer state park.
when we booked our time in custer, south dakota, i knew it was close to wind cave, badlands, and mount rushmore, but i had only vaguely heard of the black hills. despite its gloomy sounding name, it turns out, the black hills are completely amazing. we got a little taste of them on our drive […]
badlands day.
our site in custer was pretty close to a lot of things, but badlands was still about a two hour drive away. thankfully, we had THE BEST neighbors, who also had a sweet pup, who offered to check in on ruby and take her for a few walks throughout the day, so we were able […]
devils tower. one hit wonder.
fun story. the journey to devils tower national monument passes through the tiny, little, stupid, pointless, sad town of moorcroft, just off the highway. i’m normally pretty good about observing speed limits in these sorts of situations because i know about the racket these small towns cops like to run, but i must have missed […]
life after glacier, heading east.
we had a fantabulous time in glacier, but all good things much come to an end, or whatever it is they say. so, on july 5th, we began our long trip from northwest montana towards the black hills of south dakota, with a few stops along the way. first of all, in case you were […]
glacier. iceberg lake with anna.the last hurrah.
on our very last day at glacier national park, anna and i ditched the rest of the lidkids and drove back up to the many glacier part of the park, to hike to iceberg lake. we had a couple of different hikes in mind, but grinnell glacier wasn’t fully open and the highline trail presented […]
glacier. st. marys and virginia falls.
due to a huge increase in the number of visitors (and/or covid), glacier national park had a ticketed entry system in place for access to going to the sun road. the passes could be reserved for a one week window in advance (and i think a certain percentage were sold as a one day pass […]
glacier. avalanche lake.
now that we were in a new location, more central to all the parts of the park, with electric hookups to keep this sweet pup cool while we were gone for long periods of time, we had a lot more options for possible hikes and things to do. and with the kids all rested up […]