avalanche lake

today we started our glacier experience by hiking to avalanche lake.  the trail was pretty and followed a river. 

this was the beautiful reward at the end of the trail:

well worth the walk, which was 3 or 4 miles in all round trip.  we took some time at the end of the trail to relax and take in the scenery.

on the way back to the trail head, craig and sam saw a black bear in the woods looking for berries.  they didn't bother each other and there were several people looking on.  we had our bear spray, but luckily we didn't need to use it.  the rest of us were bummed that we didn't get to see the bear.

after lunch of sandwiches from our cooler at a picnic table, we drove around to st. mary's lake where our campground was.  with a little cooperation, we quickly set up camp and made a yummy dinner of barbecued spare ribs and peach cobbler in our dutch ovens.

this might be the only picture i ever get of sam in his glasses since he is extremely sensitive about that subject.  i think he looks cute.

as you might guess, we all fell asleep quickly and the tent was great except for a little snoring.