7.25.16 ::: Hiking Grinnell Glacier.

I know in my last post (in February…sorry!) I promised I'd be better about updating the blog. Well, we can all see how successful that followthrough was.

Suffice it to say, family tragedy and loss has a way of derailing even the most steadfast of plans. Shortly after my sister's passing in January, we knew we needed to get to Idaho to be with my father, who was slowly succumbing to the long-term effects of the same brain cancer my sister passed away from. We spent several months in Idaho being with him before he passed away at the end of April. In the midst of all of this, we secured jobs as raft guides in northern Montana and tentatively planned out our summer, not knowing what our timeline would ultimately end up being.

We moved up to West Glacier in April and have been slowly easing back into having a life that's our own and healing from the pain from the last six months.

Enter into the present and we've been raft-guiding on the river (Middle Fork of the Flathead) and on our rare days off together, exploring our new beautiful surroundings. (There is no better way to heal than to be out in nature every single day.)

Our most recent hike was by far the best one we've done, so I figured it was time to crawl out of our blogging hiatus and ease back into it with photos from said hike.

Despite having slept in, we jumped at the invite from our friend Kaden to hike to Grinnell Glacier. Getting a late start ended up being a blessing because we had the trail nearly to ourselves by the time we started hiking a little after 2pm.

The hike was just shy of 11 1/2 miles there and back and we finished around 9:15 pm, just before it started getting dark. The hike itself was just phenomenal and every turn stopped us in our tracks and left myself and Kaden reaching for our cameras.

Now, brace yourselves, because I'm about to inundate you with photos.

The trail started off around some lower lakes and you circled around them to start climbing the mountain up to the glacier.

Christian can be seen on the far right side overlooking the Grinnell Lake.

The Bear Grass was in full bloom and showing off for us.

Slight water crossing.

This goat was all about being the centerpiece of my photos.

This beautiful bighorn sheep was hanging out by the glacier rim

Grinnell Glacier.

Me, enjoying the sunshine and stretching in preparation for the hike down.