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This gorgeous place in northern Montana is another one that we could spend weeks…hiking, backpacking, exploring. It is also one of the really busy ones in the summer months so we will probably come back more in the off-season – but not too much cause it gets brutal in the winters here!

The glacier carved valleys & sharp mountain peaks are just amazing! It is also the home of the Triple Divide Peak. Triple Divide Peak (8,020 feet) is one of the most unique peaks in the world.  This is because two Continental Divides meet on its summit. If you poured a bucket of water on the summit of Triple Divide Peak, a third of the water would flow into the Pacific Ocean, a third would flow into the Atlantic Ocean, and a third of the water would flow into the Arctic Ocean. There is no other peak in the world where this happens.

We spent our few days here driving the famous ‘Going to the Sun’ road, doing ranger programs, a hiking some short trails.

Over the holiday week, we stopped to visit some family in the area. First we went to see Drew’s uncle Wayne & aunt Sandy in Mt Vernon, WA. We ate yummy fresh oysters & talked while we played pool into the night.

Then we headed to the east side of WA. On the way, we stopped to take in the views of Snoqualmie Falls.

We spent the holiday with my sister & her family, and also my Dad & Sandy in Benton City, WA. They were finishing up cherry harvest so the kids got to “help” Paka (aka: my Dad) by putting tags on the last of the bins – Madi also did her share of “sampling” the goods 🙂

We spent lots of time playing with cousins, then celebrating the 4th with some ultimate frisbee & fireworks.

This park is a grouping of National Recreation Areas that didn’t become a joined park until 1968. Due to its remote location & lower visitor numbers, it is a summer backpackers paradise. The turquoise waters of the glacier lakes are also just amazing.

As a 14,410 ft volcano, Mt Rainer captures the weather as well as our imagination. The local tribes call it Tahoma, which means “big mountain where the waters begin”. The Cascade Range captures much of the precipitation which is why the west half of WA is so wet & the east half is a desert.

Fortunately it was clear last time we were in the area, because this time the mountains were covered by clouds and it rained almost the whole time.

We started at the Paradise visitors center up in the clouds.

The next day the rain cleared off enough for a few hikes before we finished up our badges.

The massive eruption & collapse of Mt Mazama (8000 yrs ago) created the amazing caldera that is Crater Lake. Because the water is only refilled by precipitation (mainly snow) the water is very pure – and very deep with an avg depth of 1,148 ft with max depth of 1,943 ft. The blue of the water is almost indescribable. The cliffs around the lake also protect it – there is actually only one (very steep) trail down to the water.

Like the great Sequoias, the these amazing trees have found their unique space on earth to grow & thrive. However, unlike the Sequoias, they were not protected as a national park until 1968 – that’s why the park is actually a combination of several state parks & national park areas that are jointly run. The tallest tree in the world is here, but they don’t publicize the exact location of the tree to protect it. Most of them you can’t see the tops of them anyway – they are all really tall!

We started on a Ranger led hike to see the grove of trees used during the dedication of the park. We learned that these trees can actually clone themselves so you will see a circle of younger trees surrounding an older tree as it dies away out of the middle of them.

After hiking through several groves of trees, we went to the beach for lunch & some time to explore the coastline.

As the southern-most peak in the Cascade mountain range, Lassen Peak is the largest plug-dome volcano in the world. The park is actually the only one in the NPS to include all 4 types of volcanoes. And the surrounding areas have several geothermal features. The largest area of these features (Bumpass Hell) was closed due to reconstruction of the boardwalk. We still got to see the mudpots at Sulfur Works & the bubbling of the Cold Boiling Lake. The big surprise though was Kings Creek Falls – which was actually a very long water cascade.

These last pics are a series of shots taken during one of last eruptions in 1914 – it has had a few minor eruptions since then but stopped in 1921.

This park is an icon – many of the famous images people think of from our National Parks are from here. In fact, this was the home park to the famous conservationist, John Muir, who helped establish the idea of national parks, and the NPS. So much to enjoy – the famous granite cliffs (including El Capitan & Half Dome), dense forests, and amazing waterfalls (including Yosemite Falls which is the tallest fall in North America)

On average, about 4 mil people visit Yosemite each year, and most spend the majority of their time in the 5.9 square miles of Yosemite Valley. When in actuality, 95% of the park is wilderness.

One of the big highlights – we FINALLY saw a bear! A lil black bear cub in a small meadow – we didn’t see mama bear but I’m sure she was close by 🙂

Due to the summer season & popularity of the valley, we explored all of the other areas of the park before we finally ventured into the valley for a Jr Ranger program on our last day.

Even though it was quite crowded in the valley, there are so many “must-see” features here that it can’t be missed. After our program & lunch, we took the shuttle to the falls. Afterwards, we waited for a return shuttle, but one never came. So we gathered the kids up on our shoulders & trekked the 5+ miles back to the other end of the valley where the jeep was parked. Best part is we found several trails away from the traffic & even stopped to swim in the very cool creek along the way.

I’m very sad that so much of this park was affected by the wildfires later in the summer – so grateful we got to see it when we did! We will definitely plan a longer return trip in the future.

This park is often overlooked due to its remote location, and because it gets over-shadowed by its two (more popular) neighboring parks – Sequoia & Yosemite. But I highly recommend it & would love to come back explore more on a longer backpack/camping trip.

What a great place to spend celebrating a very Happy Father’s Day for Drew!

This park will now hold a special place in my heart as it was the site for celebrating my big (4-0) bday 😳 The day started with me (and Jsky) sleeping-in while daddy & Madi snuck out to buy me flowers & gifts 💗 We then headed into the park, which was actually the 2nd park (after Yellowstone) in the NPS system (est 1890) And home of the largest tree (by volume) on earth – General Sherman.

We finished up the day have a beautiful river-side dinner.

Even with all of the amazing adventures of the day, I found myself a lil sad that I didn’t get to celebrate with my sisters. But later that evening, Drew & I joined with our neighboring camp. It was a very large family from CA who was there for their family reunion. They invited us to join them & we were immediately welcomed in by the whole family. There was also another girl celebrating her bday (36th) as well – made for a big party into the night 🎉 What a way to celebrate a milestone bday!