Another beautiful morning today - the clouds mean that the high temps will only be in the low 80s. The forecast for the week shows the temps getting higher every day, back into the 90s and into the 100s by Saturday.
As I reached the local park and riverwalk, I was greeted by a very curious deer. After watching for a few minutes, I saw that there were several others. In fact, as I trekked the riverwalk back towards the hotel, I saw deer in at least three other locations. All part of people moving into what had been the natural habitat of much wildlife including deer.
Yesterday, the crowds at Glacier National Park were overwhelming - Patty later read that there were 650,000 visitors in June and even higher numbers for July. We would agree that it is becoming too crowded. So today, we tried hiking in Lone Pine State Park in Kallispell, less than 30 minutes from our hotel.
The visitor center was only open for summer camp but as the kids were not there yet, they let us in. They had several exhibits and much information about the interactions between humans and wildlife as people move into areas where there had been no people, just wildlife. Some was just informational data, such as the study of rural cats in Wisconsin killed 35 million songbirds in four years.
They had lots of info about how homeowners can avoid bears and other animals, as well as info about invasive plants.
We then headed out on a short memorial trail that had a great view of the surrounding area. The visitor center and this memorial trail are on the top of the hills and you can look out across the Flathead Valley to see Glacier National Park to the northeast and Mount Whitefish Ski Resort to the north.
The Lone Pine Trail is a multiuse trail - hiking, biking and horses. It leads down about 600 feet in elevation over a mile and a half with only two switchbacks.
The Cliff Trail then heads back up in 3/4 of a mile, so many more switchbacks and much steeper trail. And we again met our four legged friends grazing in the woods and gazing at us.
We then went out on the Bearly There Trail. We saw many wildflowers and meadow areas, and in places, the trail was barely there.
In all, we cover a bit over four miles in a little more than two hours of up and down hiking. We then went to the covered picnic area for our lunch. We have found that individually prepared salads make a great lunch. We noticed that the park is dog friendly. The dog stations not only have plastic bags and waste bins, they have leashes in case you forgot yours (dogs are required to be on leashes here - no off leash areas as in some parks). And they had water dishes set out for the dogs. As we were eating, we did see a small four legged animal make use of one of the water dishes. Afterwards, he watched us for quite awhile - he even splayed out to rest on a railing to wait for us to perhaps give him something to eat. But clearly his drinking from the dog dish was the funniest part of his act.
We then drove back to Whitefish, where we went to Baker Park, the town park that includes the riverwalk. We both read, me in the car and Patty out on a bench - but that did not last long, as she was bothered too much by the bugs. So we went back to the hotel for a leisurely rest and pizza for dinner while watching the PBS Newshour.
As I reached the local park and riverwalk, I was greeted by a very curious deer. After watching for a few minutes, I saw that there were several others. In fact, as I trekked the riverwalk back towards the hotel, I saw deer in at least three other locations. All part of people moving into what had been the natural habitat of much wildlife including deer.
Yesterday, the crowds at Glacier National Park were overwhelming - Patty later read that there were 650,000 visitors in June and even higher numbers for July. We would agree that it is becoming too crowded. So today, we tried hiking in Lone Pine State Park in Kallispell, less than 30 minutes from our hotel.
The visitor center was only open for summer camp but as the kids were not there yet, they let us in. They had several exhibits and much information about the interactions between humans and wildlife as people move into areas where there had been no people, just wildlife. Some was just informational data, such as the study of rural cats in Wisconsin killed 35 million songbirds in four years.
They had lots of info about how homeowners can avoid bears and other animals, as well as info about invasive plants.
We then headed out on a short memorial trail that had a great view of the surrounding area. The visitor center and this memorial trail are on the top of the hills and you can look out across the Flathead Valley to see Glacier National Park to the northeast and Mount Whitefish Ski Resort to the north.
The Lone Pine Trail is a multiuse trail - hiking, biking and horses. It leads down about 600 feet in elevation over a mile and a half with only two switchbacks.
The Cliff Trail then heads back up in 3/4 of a mile, so many more switchbacks and much steeper trail. And we again met our four legged friends grazing in the woods and gazing at us.
We then went out on the Bearly There Trail. We saw many wildflowers and meadow areas, and in places, the trail was barely there.
In all, we cover a bit over four miles in a little more than two hours of up and down hiking. We then went to the covered picnic area for our lunch. We have found that individually prepared salads make a great lunch. We noticed that the park is dog friendly. The dog stations not only have plastic bags and waste bins, they have leashes in case you forgot yours (dogs are required to be on leashes here - no off leash areas as in some parks). And they had water dishes set out for the dogs. As we were eating, we did see a small four legged animal make use of one of the water dishes. Afterwards, he watched us for quite awhile - he even splayed out to rest on a railing to wait for us to perhaps give him something to eat. But clearly his drinking from the dog dish was the funniest part of his act.
We then drove back to Whitefish, where we went to Baker Park, the town park that includes the riverwalk. We both read, me in the car and Patty out on a bench - but that did not last long, as she was bothered too much by the bugs. So we went back to the hotel for a leisurely rest and pizza for dinner while watching the PBS Newshour.
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