Day Thirteen: Still in Glacier NP, MT

Highlights from Sunday, 3 Aug:

• Ouch! We do NOT sleep well. We're sleeping on simple foam pads to give us some cushion and elevation. They're pretty useless, because we can both feel large rocks underneath us. Also, it's freezing. I seem to be doing OK in my mummy sleeping bag, but Christina is sharing a half-mummy with Kiersten, and they're quite cold.
• I wake up around 7 a.m. to get the morning fire going. Success! I can actually get a fire going by myself. (I do use the cheater log again, though.) I'm mostly concerned with the temperature: the morning air is still mighty cold.
  
• Christina gets up a little later, and we get breakfast moving before Kiersten gets up. This morning's menu consists of delicious French toast. I have to admit, the campfire-cooked meal is very fun.
• We quickly get dressed and take down everything except the tent. It's Sunday, so we still need to get to church. The nearest one we know of is in Browning, MT, about 40 minutes away. The distance isn't that far. but the road winds a lot and has a lot of free range cattle, so we need to drive slower.
• Browning is a little bit of a frumpy midwestern town, but it's not awful. It's in the middle of the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, too; neither of us have ever been on a reservation. We easily find the Little Flower Catholic Church and make it in time for the first reading. Kiersten is pretty well-behaved, but ends up misbehaving for the last 1/3 of the Mass. (The poor kid has been cooped up a lot; she enjoys her freedom.)
• Lunchtime! We try a Subway across the street, but it's not open yet because the morning help never showed up. We try a supermarket across the street, shop for awhile, and realize we don't like the selection. So we go back to Subway...where they're still not quite open. The owner can see that we're hungry, so she lets us order whatever's available. Christina and I both get chicken, and Kiersten has a turkey kids meal.
• Back to Glacier! It's warmed up considerably since this morning, and we're now able to freely hike without heavy clothing.
• We drive through part of Going-to-the-Sun Road (the main tourist road which cuts across the park). Since our time here is limited, we decide to hike to St. Mary Falls, a short hike to a lovely waterfall. Christina decides it's her turn to wear Kiersten on her back for once, and she does quite marvelously. The hike to the falls takes about 1/2 hour, well worth the effort.
• The trail continues to another set of falls, Virgina Falls. This hike is a little steeper, but still manageable. The trick to this trail is that there's three points where you come to a waterfall. The main attraction is the last one; it's a spectacularly large waterfall which was so powerful, it generated its own wind. Kiersten loved seeing it!
• After making one last stop at a nearby gorge, we decide to head back for dinner. Between church and the hike, it's gotten pretty late. This time, we cook hot dogs! Kiersten loves the idea of cooking dogs over an open flame, and we let her help with caution. A little later, we cook marshmallows, and she has a great time eating those as well.
• I go off to an evening talk about Glacier's birds, while Christina puts Kiersten to bed. I learn that one species of bird lays its eggs in other birds' nests, and lets those birds raise their young. Awesome. I'm pretty sure there was a Simpsons episode on point.
• Cold again! Once again, the temperature rapidly plummets after dark. Christina and I hurry to get stuff done so we can get ourselves to bed. We do pause for one important sight: we notice that the stars are much, much clearer out here, away from civilization. Without any light pollution, we see the night sky is filled with countless stars (and one planetoid in the East-Southeast which we think is Jupiter). Awesome.
• We're freezing. We pack what we can in the car. Off to bed!

Results: So-so Mass, but we got our $5 footlongs at Subway. Great hiking with spectacular views. Cooking is a lot of fun. Grade: A.