Postcards from Alberta: Apgar Fire Lookout with GMS, June 29 (2013)

Photo 1. Nicolas and I on Apgar Fire lookout, with Lake Macdonald in the background.

Nicolas and I joined a club trip with the Glacier Mountaineering Society (GMS) for a family outing in the mountains.

We drove down after work on Friday afternoon and camped at Fish Creek, Glacier National Park. On Saturday morning, Kristien thought about joining the hike to Apgar for about 2 seconds but decided, naaah... figured it was prudent at 7.5 months pregnant to take 'er easy. She dropped N. and I off at 9 AM at the lookout trail-head then checked out Apgar Village before picking us up at the agreed upon 3 PM. Nicolas and I had a fantastic day in the hills!

Photo 2. Nico going wild around our campsite at Fish Creek. He enjoyed hiding in the beargrass and in his enthusiasm, his shoe kept falling off, which he found to be hilarious.

The outing was organized by Scott and Carrie, who live in Northern Montana and wanted to do a family trip with their kids, who are aged 2 and 8 mths. Hats off and kudos for such a great idea! Nicolas and I had a blast (although he wanted to be carried a lot of the time, which is getting to be increasingly demanding physically for me.) I noticed right at 9 AM (ie was acutely aware) that it was a very hot day... but we lucked out with some timely cloud cover and a cooling breeze on the way up.

Photo 3. Scott and Carrie + 2 (they both have +1 in child carriers)

Photo 4. Signs of civilization. The boys loved it whenever a train would pass by.

Photo 5. Lovely switchbacking trail and lots of wildflowers (pinkish red paintbrushes were exploding everywhere, although you just see a bit of Jacob's ladder and Beargrass in this pic).

The group was pretty large (15 + people) but with N. on my back I could barely keep pace with the other 2 year old (Scott and Carrie's eldest boy walked about half of the time).

Photo 6. Nicolas in our deuter kid comfort child carrier

Nicolas was shy but he enjoyed having another kid his age to play with and they seemed to have a common interest in sticks and rocks and caterpillars and trains, etc. They were both afraid of butterflies, for some reason, during the afternoon. It was quite funny!

After the hike, Kristien met us at at the trailhead and the group had some still-frozen popsicle treats from a cooler courtesy of the organizers. Afterwards, we had a quick dip in Lake Macdonald before heading back for another night at Fish Creek.

To quote one guy we overheard while swimming, that water ain't cold, it's FREEZING!

Photo 7. Cool, clear waters of Lake Macdonald (boat dock near Apgar Village)

Photo 8. K. relaxing on the rocky beach

Photo 9. Lake Macdonald. "That water ain't cold. It's FER-EEZING!"

Photo 10. Lake Macdonald. I remember swimming here years ago with a Chinook club campout during a heatwave... the water hasn't gotten any warmer...

Photo 11. Lake Macdonald... usually after one jumps into a pool or a lake - the water seems to warm up after a few minutes. Not so in Glacier National Park. The water just stays cold! But on a hot day, it's quite refreshing for a few minutes at a time. You certainly feel awake!

Photo 12. Do you think N. was having fun? Look at that smile.

Sunday we decided to head back and went via Logan's Pass. Tons of snow and skiers and tourists. We had a quick lunch break at the Rising Sun boat dock.