Today is that special day that comes around once a year. No, not Christmas! It's my human parents' wedding anniversary, the 37th one. Dad says Mom has been putting up with him for a long time? But they still love each other and that is all the matters, I can tell.
Dad and Mom went into Glacier National Park early this morning and hiked two trails, the Trail of the Cedars and the Avalanche Lake Trail. They hiked over 7 miles, while I stayed home and caught up on my beauty sleep. Avalanche Lake is at the terminus of what is called a glacial hanging valley. This means that there are very steep sides to the mountains that form around it, and it is fed by runoff from the glaciers above it on the mountain peaks. Numerous avalanches occur during the winter months each year due to the steepness of the mountain cliffs surrounding the lake, thus the name of the lake.
Notice the little rivulets running down the mountains and dropping hundreds, if not thousands, of feet to eventually form Avalanche Lake. The lake overflows of course and creates a roaring brook as it travels down the mountain and empties into McDonald Lake at the base of the mountains. McDonald Lake is over 500 feet deep and about nine miles long (the same size a Conesus Lake, but much deeper), and very cold.
Mom took a picture of Dad climbing up the trail (see the top of the picture) and scrambling up over some big rocks along the path. The trail has a vertical rise of about 800 feet and travels a distance of about 3.5 miles to the top where the lake is.
This little guy came out to protest as they walked by on the trail. Apparently, the hikers were disturbing his lunch and he let them know that they were trespassing and unwelcome guests.
Mom and Dad got well wishes and Happy Anniversary calls from several people and I got lots of hugs from them when they came back to our place where we are staying in Columbia Falls, MT. Two more days here and then we are heading to Canada to visit some of their National Parks too😉.
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