July 29 - Riding to the Sun Road again & Avalanche Trail Hike

Today started out with Bill going to the auto parts store to get spark plugs for his bike. It was starting to miss a little yesterday and he wanted to make sure he had new plugs just in case.

Then we decided we wanted to hike Avalanche Trail off of Riding to the Sun Road. It was a 2.5-mile hike in among huge, tall red cedars to a gorge. Ice-age glacial melt water carved through bedrock sculpted the gorge. Then the trail headed up among western hemlock and overland until we reached Avalanche Lake. We continued walking along the lake's rocky shore.

As you see in the photos, the weather was gorgeous making the lake’s aquamarine shine. We hiked around the lake as far as the trail would let us, again taking our shoes and socks off to wade in the freezing glacier water.

Too beautiful to pass up, we sat for a spell looking at the water falls coming off the glacier on the continental divide. We took a break just listening to nothing and taking in all the beauty surrounding us.

Jumped on the bikes and decided to ride somewhere we hadn’t been yet. The road took us to another part of the park where there had been a fire at some point. Lodepole pine have started to grow in the ungrowth of the burned out trees.

On our way back, we stopped in Columbia Falls because they were having a Farmer’s Market with live music and crafts. Had a great time listening to some bluegrass music and shopping!! To end our night, we ate at a Mexican restaurant that was superb and then washed two loads of clothes so we’re ready for our next adventures.