It all stated as a 12 days trip to Montana. It ended only 8 days later coming back from Virginia…
But let us start from the beginning:
All started on the wrong foot. Due to bad weather we missed our connection at the Denver Airport by 5 minutes. Apparently there were literally hundred of people missing their flights so the process of finding us alternative flights took hours. Additionally, United is not that organized so at one point we were notified that the next available flight is only four days away…
Finally we were able to find a flight at the following morning so we missed only half a day of our trip. But this is not the reason out trip was shorter then expected neither the reason why we came back from Virginia…
After getting to Montana we drove directly to the east side. We started with a short hike to Barring Falls (3.5 stars on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW)
But let us start from the beginning:
All started on the wrong foot. Due to bad weather we missed our connection at the Denver Airport by 5 minutes. Apparently there were literally hundred of people missing their flights so the process of finding us alternative flights took hours. Additionally, United is not that organized so at one point we were notified that the next available flight is only four days away…
Finally we were able to find a flight at the following morning so we missed only half a day of our trip. But this is not the reason out trip was shorter then expected neither the reason why we came back from Virginia…
After getting to Montana we drove directly to the east side. We started with a short hike to Barring Falls (3.5 stars on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW)
and went to sleep in the Rising Sun Lodge. It is located within the reservation boundaries and it seems to reserve the old time atmosphere. That means sleeping in a rustic cabin that was not changed much. It is not that I am complaining, but I do not think that kipping the cabin not isolated for example is a good thing to keep from old times. Besides the views are great and they do their best to be environmental friendly (which is a big plus).
Next day we did two tours:
A very short hike near Many Glacier lodge (4 on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). It is basically a five minute walk to a watch point over a waterfall near the lodge.
From there we went to the Grinnell Glacier hike. This one got another 4 on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW. It is a ~4 mile walk each way to Grinnell glacier. The nice thing is the changing views.
It starts at a forest, then it moves to a lake view, a mountain view and finishes on the foothills of a glacier. We were also fortunate enough to see a mama Moose (or as we call her Mamoose) with her cub 80 feet away. 
From there we drove back to the west side of the Glacier. We took the long tour since going to the sun road was not yet open. After a good dinner at a Mexican restaurant called we arrived at out hotel for the next two nights called West Glacier Motel. The hotel is run by a lovely couple from New York that where exceptionally helpful. The husband is a hiking enthusiastic so he shared his hiking stories with us which helped us plan our next days.
The following day was devoted to early wake up to watch the sun rise (3 stars on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW), back to bad for a short nap (we officially do not declare morning till there is Breakfast ready in the nearest restaurant). After a decent breakfast we went on two hikes. The first called Sacred Dancing Cascade (3.5 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). Is along the river that flows into Lake MacDonald. It is relatively short hike (less then three miles each way) with lovely river and waterfall views. Most of the walk is shaded which makes it nicer (especially for the mosquitoes).
The second hike was along the very popular Avalanche Creek (4 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). The fist part is a mild climb in a forest, some along a river bank. This part is relatively boring. After about 40 minutes you end up on the edge of a beautiful lake. It is worthwhile walking to its other hand before heading back. The views are beautiful both of the lake and of distanced waterfalls.
The following day was supposed to be in the most beautiful part of the park – Logan Pass. It was scheduled to be open that same day so we were the fifth car to reach the pass! We started hiking the highline trail (5 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). It is a walk on a narrow trail above the going to the sun road with great mountain views. Some of the hike was at snow and we hiked for about 3-4 miles till
reaching a point where there was too much snow to continue. On the way back there was a family of mountain goats standing on the narrow trail. Since there was not much room to go around them we had to wait patiently till they finished eating all the grass on the trail and allowed us to pass…
That ended the Glacier National Part of our trip. From there we embarked on a day ride to Yellowstone. There is not much to tell about that beside a nice stop at Polson which has a great location on the Flathead lake shores. After a days ride we got to Bozmann, which is a good stop before entering Yellowstone either from the north or the west. We were very excited with the trip we had ahead of us. We were suppose to o to see the 3-4th of July Rodeo at Ennis (very famous one) the following day and then to go for a four days trip to Yellowstone. Then we planned on a cowboy style stay at Jackson Hole before taking our flight back from Salt Lake City. We were on our way to Bozmann’s hot tubs (after having a meal at the Garage restaurant – very good ribs) when we got the message that radically changed the trip for us.
Apparently our dog’s (Shuki) babysitter got an invitation from a friend at Virginia farm area to join him for the 4th of July party. So he decided (without our consent) to take Shuki on a 10 hours drive to Virginia. There Shuki chewed his leash and ran away (after they played with fire works that frightened him). The babysitter (Tyler) looked for him for two days with the help of all his friends, some on horses before calling us. That phone call changed the trip for us. We decided to fly to Virginia to help look for Shuki. We knew the chances are slim but we figured out we have to do it for Shuki after he put up with us for the last 8 years.
Finding flight from Montana is not an easy task. There are not much cities (not to mention airport) and they are very far apart. Eventually we found a flight from a city 200 miles away to Washington (which is 100 miles away from the Virginia farm) the following day at 6am. It was already 9pm so we drove half of the night and made it. To make story short we arrived at the farm the following afternoon to help look for Shuki. Tyler seems to take the matter seriously. He was already searching for 3 days and seemed to cover almost any spot within 2 miles radius. He had a lot of help from his friends and from 2 horseback rides he knows. Additionally he was distributing hundreds of flyers to people mailbox and posting signs. He even thought of broadcasting on the local radio and putting ad on the newspaper. Just to clear things, this place is huge, dotted with a farm house every few miles. The rest is a lot of forest and cows and some predators (fox, coyote, bears) so with all the good intentions the chance of finding Shuki was low. In order not to gloom the average reader I will skip the joyless part where we became more and more desperate. Four days after running away, due to enormous amount of luck we were able too find Shuki. The story is that he was stuck in the middle of a forest about 3 miles from the farm. He was tangled in his own leash. Orit and I passed in a construction site nearby and yelled Shuki’s name. A local construction worker told us he spotted a dog that looks like Shuki about one mile away so we left the place. By chance the two horse riders that helped us look for Shuki passed nearby a few minutes later and heard a faint barking. They went deep into the forest (it was so dense that they had to leave their horses behind with one of the riders) to find Shuki.
The happiness was unbelievable! All were so happy that we decided to go and have a party at the Barbara and Greg house (the two horse riders).
After the party we had to drive all the way back to Cambridge since we could not put Shuki on an airplane. And this is why the trip ended after 8 days at Virginia…
During the drive we got into a hail storm near Washington where the hail was a gulf size. We were lucky to be in a rural area at the time so we could find shelter.
Next day we did two tours:
A very short hike near Many Glacier lodge (4 on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). It is basically a five minute walk to a watch point over a waterfall near the lodge.
From there we went to the Grinnell Glacier hike. This one got another 4 on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW. It is a ~4 mile walk each way to Grinnell glacier. The nice thing is the changing views.
It starts at a forest, then it moves to a lake view, a mountain view and finishes on the foothills of a glacier. We were also fortunate enough to see a mama Moose (or as we call her Mamoose) with her cub 80 feet away. From there we drove back to the west side of the Glacier. We took the long tour since going to the sun road was not yet open. After a good dinner at a Mexican restaurant called we arrived at out hotel for the next two nights called West Glacier Motel. The hotel is run by a lovely couple from New York that where exceptionally helpful. The husband is a hiking enthusiastic so he shared his hiking stories with us which helped us plan our next days.
The following day was devoted to early wake up to watch the sun rise (3 stars on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW), back to bad for a short nap (we officially do not declare morning till there is Breakfast ready in the nearest restaurant). After a decent breakfast we went on two hikes. The first called Sacred Dancing Cascade (3.5 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). Is along the river that flows into Lake MacDonald. It is relatively short hike (less then three miles each way) with lovely river and waterfall views. Most of the walk is shaded which makes it nicer (especially for the mosquitoes).
The second hike was along the very popular Avalanche Creek (4 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). The fist part is a mild climb in a forest, some along a river bank. This part is relatively boring. After about 40 minutes you end up on the edge of a beautiful lake. It is worthwhile walking to its other hand before heading back. The views are beautiful both of the lake and of distanced waterfalls.
The following day was supposed to be in the most beautiful part of the park – Logan Pass. It was scheduled to be open that same day so we were the fifth car to reach the pass! We started hiking the highline trail (5 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). It is a walk on a narrow trail above the going to the sun road with great mountain views. Some of the hike was at snow and we hiked for about 3-4 miles till
reaching a point where there was too much snow to continue. On the way back there was a family of mountain goats standing on the narrow trail. Since there was not much room to go around them we had to wait patiently till they finished eating all the grass on the trail and allowed us to pass…That ended the Glacier National Part of our trip. From there we embarked on a day ride to Yellowstone. There is not much to tell about that beside a nice stop at Polson which has a great location on the Flathead lake shores. After a days ride we got to Bozmann, which is a good stop before entering Yellowstone either from the north or the west. We were very excited with the trip we had ahead of us. We were suppose to o to see the 3-4th of July Rodeo at Ennis (very famous one) the following day and then to go for a four days trip to Yellowstone. Then we planned on a cowboy style stay at Jackson Hole before taking our flight back from Salt Lake City. We were on our way to Bozmann’s hot tubs (after having a meal at the Garage restaurant – very good ribs) when we got the message that radically changed the trip for us.
Apparently our dog’s (Shuki) babysitter got an invitation from a friend at Virginia farm area to join him for the 4th of July party. So he decided (without our consent) to take Shuki on a 10 hours drive to Virginia. There Shuki chewed his leash and ran away (after they played with fire works that frightened him). The babysitter (Tyler) looked for him for two days with the help of all his friends, some on horses before calling us. That phone call changed the trip for us. We decided to fly to Virginia to help look for Shuki. We knew the chances are slim but we figured out we have to do it for Shuki after he put up with us for the last 8 years.
Finding flight from Montana is not an easy task. There are not much cities (not to mention airport) and they are very far apart. Eventually we found a flight from a city 200 miles away to Washington (which is 100 miles away from the Virginia farm) the following day at 6am. It was already 9pm so we drove half of the night and made it. To make story short we arrived at the farm the following afternoon to help look for Shuki. Tyler seems to take the matter seriously. He was already searching for 3 days and seemed to cover almost any spot within 2 miles radius. He had a lot of help from his friends and from 2 horseback rides he knows. Additionally he was distributing hundreds of flyers to people mailbox and posting signs. He even thought of broadcasting on the local radio and putting ad on the newspaper. Just to clear things, this place is huge, dotted with a farm house every few miles. The rest is a lot of forest and cows and some predators (fox, coyote, bears) so with all the good intentions the chance of finding Shuki was low. In order not to gloom the average reader I will skip the joyless part where we became more and more desperate. Four days after running away, due to enormous amount of luck we were able too find Shuki. The story is that he was stuck in the middle of a forest about 3 miles from the farm. He was tangled in his own leash. Orit and I passed in a construction site nearby and yelled Shuki’s name. A local construction worker told us he spotted a dog that looks like Shuki about one mile away so we left the place. By chance the two horse riders that helped us look for Shuki passed nearby a few minutes later and heard a faint barking. They went deep into the forest (it was so dense that they had to leave their horses behind with one of the riders) to find Shuki.
The happiness was unbelievable! All were so happy that we decided to go and have a party at the Barbara and Greg house (the two horse riders).
After the party we had to drive all the way back to Cambridge since we could not put Shuki on an airplane. And this is why the trip ended after 8 days at Virginia…
During the drive we got into a hail storm near Washington where the hail was a gulf size. We were lucky to be in a rural area at the time so we could find shelter.
