In the Rocky's of Montana

In these cold winter months, I am starting to reminisce about the summer. Past summer, when I and Savan took a mini vacation in the Rocky's of Montana. We visited three national parks - Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier. 

We landed at the Bozeman airport and unlike any other major airport that is intimidating, this one was welcoming - a simple wooden structure, where we rented a car and made our way to Yellowstone National Park. We stayed inside the park in a lodge by the lake. Early next morning we witnessed the most beautiful sunrise and a couple bison's roaming in the heavily grown grass between the lake and the lodge. Our food for the entire trip was mainly oatmeal for breakfast and burgers for dinner. 

Our first destination was the Old Faithful where we discovered that Yellowstone sits on a super volcano. The last time it exploded was 640,000 years ago. There is no rough estimate of when this can happen again. But when it does, it will wipe out three-quarters of North America. This region is geographically unique. I could not completely comprehend the incredible micro bio-diversity that exists here. There are raised paths laid out for pedestrians and there is a strict no-contact code within the preserved landscape. A touch could alter or kill the thousand years old bio-diversity. We continued to Lamar Valley, also known as America's Serengeti - spotting bison's spread across the landscape, rolling in the sand to the keep the flies away. After miles and miles of meadows parading with bison's, we headed back for a nightcap. 

The next day, we decided to start early to easily secure a parking spot at the Grand Prismatic Spring, little did we know we would get lucky to see a young bear crossing the road. The Prismatic spring is another wonder, the sun rays that fall on this spring gives it its beautiful colors. For us, the day was only partially cloudy, a 1.5 mile hike uphill, revealed the beautiful colors of the spring. After the hike, we decided to stop by the Old Faithful Inn for lunch. The hotel is one of the oldest log structures and a historic landmark. Additionally, I got the huckleberry ice-cream at the Inn. Huckleberries are local to this region, they are also difficult to cultivate and rare, this made it the perfect opportunity to savor good quality huckleberry ice-cream. 

We made our way south to Grand Teton for a day before making our way up to Glacier National Park. A road sits on the east of Grand Teton that offers many spots to stop and hike along the mountain range. We stopped to take the iconic Grand Teton photograph before heading to Jenny lake. We found a spot by the lake and enjoyed the view while taking a snack break. Later in the evening we decided to take a detour inside Yellowstone National Park. Here, we witnessed Elk crossing, we lingered for a while, gazing at the Elk's, their movement, their actions, enjoying the moment.

The end of the trip was at Glacier national park. On our agenda was a hike up to a hidden lake. We reached the park early in the morning only to find out we needed reservations to go up the Sun road. The only road spanning Glacier National Park top to bottom, the road that was designed by an architect while competing with a renowned engineer at that time. The park authorities had options to take the on & off bus service, which was the ultimately the better choice since the parking lots were packed. We took the bus and ascended within the park. The hiking experience was breath taking. It was medium intensity, we constantly anticipated spotting a bear and being ready to face it, gladly encountered none. On the way we eavesdropped on the stories of other tourists - stories of bear sighting, mama bear and cubs. We also stopped by a lake to soak our feet in ice cold water, which massaged our feet after the hike. The next and final day we had reserved to go up the Sun road. We stopped by viewing points to spot glaciers, how to identify them and before-after images of the melting glaciers. This trip was a warm hug, within nature, experiencing its vastness, its beauty and how dangerous it can be. It was a must needed break in the chaos of life.