Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Great Adventure 2011 Montana – 7/28/11

072For more pictures, click HERE

We had a lovely day today especially since the sun was out! We got to Logan’s Pass to do the Hidden Lake Trail. The ranger said it was under snow but if we had hiking boots and hiking sticks, we could do it so away we went. The views were beautiful but it was very challenging to walk up the mountain in the snow especially when we came to steep ledges. The trail was very slippery! When we got to the lake overlook, we came across a bunch of wild mountain goats and they were beautiful! I even got some fiber from one of them (No, I didn’t attack the goat! It shed its hair and I rescued the fiber as a souvenir!) On the way back down the mountain, we did a lot of slipping, sliding, and skiing with our boots.

When we drove out of the parking lot, we heard a scraping sound so we parked the car and looked under it. But we didn’t see anything making that awful metal sound. The teen in the truck next to us even got on the ground to look under our car and said that it was probably just a rock in our brake shoe. So, away we go again. But this time it sounds even worse so we stop and I jump out again to look. I expect to find a brake shoe dragging on the ground. A couple nearby (from Florence, SC) told us that it was probably a rock in the brake shoe and the man suggested Don put the car in reverse. After this gosh-awful screech and scrape, the noise went away (I guess the rock came out) and all was well again so we left. What a relief that it wasn’t anything more major! I could just picture us coming down that mountain with no brakes!

On the drive down the mountain, we stopped at a few overlooks. One had a trail to a bridge over the raging river and that was exciting.

It was a lovely day!

What I Learned Today:

· Hiking in the snow in July is magical but it can wear you out!

· Mountain goats are very lively (or restless) animals and move around quickly rather than staying in one place.

· Hidden Lake was still frozen over!

· Rocks in brake shoes sound awful like the car is falling apart!

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original Photo: by Pat Hensley

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