Time for a change in venues! We left rising sun that morning to head to Many Glacier Lodge for our final two nights in the park. This requires an hour or longer drive out of the park through the east gate and back in on the many glacier specific road.
We stopped on our way back in to hike to akipuni falls. It was a short, but steep hike to a beautiful tall waterfall in a canyon. A wonderful leg stretch on our way to the lodge with a beautiful view back down the valley.
After we made it to the lodge early, so decided to grab lunch and go on a small hike while we waited for our room to be ready. The cafe had more delicious montana beer, and abby was delighted with a wonderful mac n cheese.
Another short hike began at the doorstop of the cafe, heading to swiftcurrent lake, where wild life is supposed to be very abundant. And boy was it!
On our way out, abby very astutely told me to stop. Looking up we were at eye level with (what we learned later) was a grizzly bear teen. We slowly moved out of its path, as it and a baby cub crossed the trail and went up the other side of the small valley we were in. We were too caught up to catch a good photo, but it was an amazing experience.
Arriving at the lake had us in for another treat. A huge moose on the other side of the lake had the attention of a small crowd. We were awe struck as it lumbered along the far shore, paddles draped in greenery from foraging around.
We made the return hike without any major events, and found our room ready at the main lodge. The building was a beautiful, sprawling, century old swiss chalet style piece of eye candy. We lucked out with a top floor room just off of the main 3 story atrium.
After freshening up we headed to dinner in the expansive dining hall. The food was delicious, served by more summer workers from various places near and far. We retired to the grass lawn sandwiched between the front of the lodge and the lake with a bottle of wine, playing rock poker and recounting the crazy day while surrounded by the jagged peaks of the park.