Sperry Chalet, Whitefish, and Polebridge

John and I took a morning to hike up to Sperry Chalet, the other mountain chalet where people can stay overnight up high.  We won't be doing that anytime soon (much more expensive than European mountain accommodations) but it's fun going up to look at the scenic spots.

John with his "clearing the trail" sticks:

There is no shortage of pretty waterfalls in Glacier:

Nor pretty flowers:

Strawberries!  Nice find, John.  We actually found huckleberries first, but we (well, I) ate them all before I thought about perhaps taking a picture.  Love wild berries!

The chalet is on the top of the rocks in front of the low cloud, blending in nicely with the surroundings:

Such a scenic trail:

At the chalet we found a ranger trying to drive a marmot out from behind a storage shed (they apparently like to chew on the new shingles).  Also a couple mountain goats!  Mountain goats are cool.  They like to lick the shingles, not as destructive as the marmots.

Just hanging out eating grass, waiting for opening day at the chalet:

Pretty stone buildings and more low clouds:

It was now Kathy and Bob's last couple days in Montana, so sad!  We were thrilled to catch the finals of the Women's World Cup at a bar in Whitefish - go USA!  That was such an exciting game, glad we got to see it.

The mountain goat over at the railway depot:

This appears to be a white bighorn sheep, which confuses me.  Just when I thought I had figured out that bighorn sheep are brown and mountain goats are white (which still kind of confuses me)...

Kathy and Bob at their final vacation home - a yurt!  How cool is that!

Love the circular inner space of a yurt:

Huckleberry Patch for breakfast, our new favorite place!  Yes, that includes huckleberry-flavored coffee:

We made the journey over to Polebridge to see what the "town" was about.  There wasn't much to it, but it was a quaint little place to stop for a snack:

Close-up of the elm tree in the yard, apparently the first one planted west of the Divide:

Checking out the little store:

From there we motored up the dirt road to Bowman Lake, which is gorgeous.  Love the views of Glacier lakes with mountains in the background:

While we were admiring the view, a bald eagle flew right across in front of us and landed in a nearby tree.  Cool!

Amazingly, John managed to digi-scope a photo using his hand-held scope and our little camera - most impressive (as is the bird):

Checking for anything else interesting to gawk at:

Last up, a long bumpy drive up to Kintla Lake for a picnic lunch.  Another beautiful location:

More Vortex action?

The Beast ended up with quite the layer of dust:

I think we wore John out!

Thank you Kathy and Bob for sharing your vacation with us!  We had a fabulous time, let's do it again soon!