Day 5 - "Don't Worry It's a Flat Hike."

Remember that picture from the last post of the sunset? Well, if you look at the pictures you can see some clouds pouring over the mountains. It was really quite beautiful. Little did we know that that night was the last time we would actually get to see those mountains because the next morning we were socked in with clouds. No worries though, up there even when it's cloudy it's still pretty...just a mysterious cloudy. Since the sun wasn't out it was also quite chilly which was perfect! It was about 55 or something like that when we left the hotel to move onto bigger and better places....or so we thought.

Our next place to sleep was to be in St. Mary's. We had made reservations for 2 nights in a Pinnacle Cottage which according to the pictures was absolutely beautiful. They have fireplaces, kitchens, 2 bedrooms, a living room and a bathroom with a tub/shower (which is way different from the 2 ft x 2 ft showers we've been having...which btw are very hard to maneuver around to shave the legs...you hit your head on walls and if you drop anything good luck. So, thankfully as they say, "When in the mountains do as the mountain-women...if you get my drift...). Anyway, the week before the trip I had looked up these places we were staying and happened upon a review site that gave this place about an 79% disapproval rating...yes, my friends that is right, basically in mathematical terms that means that 79 out of 100 people rated this establishment as terrible. In fact some of the ways that this place was described was, "Your Worst Nightmare Come True", "I Felt Like I was in Friday the 13th", "Stay AWAY!", and my personal favorite "Horrific Experience...Bed Sheets/Mattress Saturated With Urine"...no kidding! That's a true story! In fact allegedly that happened while we were there. Haha! Anyway, needless to say we were a little wary of what we were walking into.

Thank you St. Mary's Lodge and "Resort" for not failing us too! I'm sure when Daniel went in to check us in they said something like this:

"Haha we got you! Welcome to St. Mary's Lodge and Anti-Resort we lost your reservations! So sue us! You are going to have to live under a tree somewhere along the lake down below and fend off the wild bears that are coming out to eat the huckleberries! I can also sense there are two not-so-rustic women in your vehicle...yep, good luck that buckaroo!"

Shocking isn't it?! They informed us they sold those cabins to KOA campgrounds so we would have to go there to straighten it all out. We went and they were very kind (at least I got that impression from Daniel). They told us ever since they bought that property from St. Mary's they have had problems with the St. Mary's people. Apparently even though St. Mary's sold the properties to KOA St. Mary's was still making reservations in them! Wow! Thankfully, much to Jessica's and my relief they had one of the cottages open for the night so we were guaranteed one night in them, but we would have to check out the next morning and then St. Mary's was supposed to find us a place to stay the following night. Jessica and I assumed it would probably be in one of their infamous teepees that would blow down on us in the middle of the night or something lovely like that.

We enjoyed our accomodations for the night though which made it very hard to say goodbye to in the morning:


Pretty nice, eh? It really was great.

That day we took a hike...shocked? This time we headed up to Logan Pass. Jessica and I were told by the boys, "Don't worry it's a flat hike." So, we were excited! Awesome a flat hike where we don't have to climb rocks or sheer cliffs. I'm not quite sure what dictionary was used when using the term "flat" because it wasn't flat. In fact we climbed stairs. Not little bitty stairs...like taller steps. I have short legs...short legs and tall steps do not mix. Now, it was really foggy up there (and about 45-50 so we were in our warm jackety coatlike attire) so you couldn't see all the way. Jessica and I would get oh so excited when we'd reach the "top" of the stairs only then the fog would kind of clear and show us our next set...and our hearts would be crushed.

This picture is not mine...hence the clear sky...these are some of the stairs. They are not steep, but they go on and on and on and on and on...



I had no idea it actually looked like this. Wow.

We did get to see some wildlife though! Starting with a hoary marmot. They are these large rodents. If I would have seen these sooner they might have been one of the animals that crossed my mind at 2 a.m. the other morning.Kinda makes you wanna curl up with a 30 lb rat doesn't it?

We also got to see mountain goats up close and personal.

He looks snuggly too.

When we got to the Hidden Lake Overlook this is what we saw.

Now, close your eyes and imagine this is what we saw...well, don't close your eyes...look at this and imagine this is what we saw:


Through all of that fog this is what it looks like. Nice, huh?! We had to use our imaginations because we had no idea that it looked like this when we were up there. I figured there would be a lake down there though since it was the Hidden Lake Overlook. I'm smart like that.

That night dinner was AWESOME!! We were introduced to the new love of our lives. It's a little place called Johnson's. Holy cow! We had the special which was grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and vegetable beef stew. It was quite possibly one of the best meals ever! Finding this little gem (thanks to Doug's boss for the recommendation) was one of the best things on this trip. If I could marry it, I would. I want to go back to Montana just for Johnson's. Blessed Johnson's.

Tune in next time to find out if we had to live with the micro-bears in the mountains the next night and for: Day 6 - To Ride Horses with the Drunk Indians or Not to Ride Horses with the Drunk Indians? That is the Question.