While the entrance to the caverns were discovered in 1882 by two Whitehall men; Charles Brooke and Mexican John, the the Lewis and Clark caverns were discovered in 1892 by Tom Williams and Burt Pannell, two hunters.  Tom Williams explored the caves 6 years later and then talked to a local investor named Dan Morrison about further developing the cavern for tours.  Until 1908 the caverns were a successful tourist business, when the railroad laid claim to the land and gave it to the federal government and was consequently turned into a National Monument.  In 1937 the state of Montana received its first state park as the federal government declared the Lewis and Clark Caverns a state park.  Even though the name of the park is ‘Lewis and Clark Caverns’ it is believed that Lewis and Clark never visited the caverns, chances are they never knew they existed.

two shots while walking up the trail to the cavern;

The entrance to the caverns;

Our visit to Glacier National Park took us 16 miles in the West Glacier entrance to Avalanche Campground. With 50 camp sites the campground is definitely on the edge of the wild.

While there were no signs of bears the deer had no problem with the campers.

After camping at Avalanche Campground, we took a hike along Avalanche Creek, a rough yet spectacular clear blue creek runs along an ‘easy’ hike up towards Avalanche Lake. The hike is approximately 2 miles each way and a gain of 500ft in elevation.

Along the hike many surrounding mountains still had snow which was melting and causing runoff resulting in huge falls, this is a small one;

Upon reaching the lake we found crystal clear water surrounded by mountains.

Later that day, a little lunch at McDonald Lake;

From the lost trail website: The beauty and uncrowded slopes of the Rocky Mountain’s hidden jewel.

… family skiing from the top of the Continental Divide.

… unbelievable powder …

… an excellent family facility that has been helping folks enjoy themselves for over 60 years

Liberty Cap is a [now inactive] 37-foot hot spring cone located at the bottom of Lower Terraces, in the northern portion of Mammoth Hot Springs. Liberty Cap was created by a hot spring which remained in one location for a long time, depositing minerals which built the cone. Liberty Cap was thought to resemble caps worn during the French Revolution and that is how it got its name in 1871 from the Hayden Survey party.

We got a late start today and then I drove us all around looking for a small, out of the way fishing spot on the Bitterroot River but we never found it. We decided to go back to the public fishing access at the Florence Bridge which is close to our house but its usually packed with fishers, floaters, and people with their dogs. I don’t think any of us were too hopeful as it was getting late in the morning. When we got there there were few people there and the river looked still. We decided to walk north and I kept walking until I saw signs of life and after quite a ways up river I found it. They were jumping all over and it was hard for them to resist the worm.

We walked away with several rainbow trout.

Just north of Victor on the east side of highway 93 you will find signs for Glen Lake. It is a nice drive up to 6800 feet (from 3400) with views overlooking Victor and Stevensville, if it weren’t so smoky we would have had views of the Sapphire Mountains as well. On the way up we hit some traffic (see little black bear picture right).

At the trail head are 4 parking spots with plenty of room for additional parking. It starts uphill immediately and stays that way most of the hike in, approximately 2 and 1/4 miles in, going from 6800 ft to approximately 7700 ft. Any real hiker would consider this an easy walk but it was a little more than we expected; our 7 year old son did very well though. Most of the hike consisted of views of the Bitterroot Mountains through the burnt forest.

There were probably 4 groups of people on the trail which was slightly disappointing but didn’t present an inconvenience. Trails.com reported over a dozen vehicles parked at the trail head back in ‘98 due to the trails easy status, maybe there were few people there due to all the smoke in the area but if there were a dozen people on that trail my opinion might be a little different. Despite all the burnt land and the other hikers; the views along the way and then reaching the lake made it all well worth it.

The 6 acre Glen lake sits back int he Bitterroots at an elevation of 7741ft. We packed our poles looking for the rainbow trout the MT FWP said existed but we saw no signs of life in that lake. Still a very nice place, probably better for camping than fishing. The hike in took us longer than expected (about an hour and a half) so our fishing time was limited as we needed to get back over the top of the mountain before the sun went down. The hike back was quite easier than the hike in, as the hike out only consisted of hiking up the backside of the mountain, a couple hundred feet; the rest of the hike was all down hill from there. Back to the truck and back down the switch backs, we hit more traffic (see picture right).

Southwest of Hamilton, Lake Como is a large irrigation reservoir that lies at an altitude of 4,500 in Rock Creek canyon which was the main trail of Idaho’s Selway country in the late 1880’s. There is a south-shore pack trail following this original route, and a north-shore foot trail join 1/2 mile below the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness boundary. The lake was considerably low (see picture right) and the smoke from the forest fires were moving in, still a nice place.