Quinn Endicott/SWC
110 9th Street West
Columbia Falls, MT 59912
7/9/21
Friday was another typical day at work with my shift being 6am-2pm. We are still dealing with answering COVID questions and our restaurant was recently downsized to accommodate the needs of the Many Glacier Hotel so half our staff now works 1 mile up the road at the Many Glacier restaurant. This means that we have to have guests pre-order food for breakfast and lunch so that our limited staff can keep up with meals throughout the day. After work I joined a group of ministry friends and a co-worker for a hike to Bullhead lake. It was a great time with many jokes made and rocks being thrown in the river and lake. We would yell a frustration from the summer and then throw a rock into the stream/lake. Although it ended up turning more into who could make the biggest splash. It was quite an enjoyable evening which was a nice refreshing way to end the work week before heading into my birthday weekend.
7/10/21
Today I turned 23! I have no idea how time is going by so quickly but it is streaking by. I am approaching a quarter of a century ad I can still remember sitting in elementary school feeling like high school and college were so far away and yet here I am now having finished those stories in my life. I slept in today and prepped my cabin for my parents to visit. They got here in the afternoon and I greeted them at the entrance to the Many Glacier valley. It had been over a month since I had seen them and it was a great birthday present to have them in the park. That evening we went out to eat at Two Sister's where they surprised me with a cupcake and candle. We then went to the Going-to-the-Sun road and stopped along the road to take in the views. I ended up driving so that they could see everything and we stopped at the highest point along the road, Logan's Pass. My entire goal for my birthday was to make a snow angel because I have never been able to do that before in the month of July. So, I found some snow at over 6,000ft of elevation and made a snow angel. We then kept hiking along the hidden lake trail where we came across over 16 big horned sheep, 10 goats, with lots of baby goats, and from the Hidden Lake over look we borrowed some binoculars to spot a momma grizzly and her two cubs fishing in the lake! The goats and sheep were within 25 yards of us which was a little too close for comfort but they just ignored us. For their first night in Glacier my parents were able to see more animals than I had seen over the past month and a half. We continued on our way back to Swiftcurrent where I was surprised by my friends at SWC to find a Happy Bday balloon string in my cabin. It was one of my favorite birthdays and an absolutely wonderful time with my parents.
One of the stops along the road.
7/11/21
Today my parents and I went to Cracker Lake. They decided that they wanted to push themselves on the long hike rather than taking a bunch of smaller ones. So we set off that morning at 9am and began our long journey to Cracker Lake. Along the way we stopped and took photos of the scenery and different things that caught our attention. It wasn't until mile 5.5 that we started to get fairly tired. Anticipation for the lake kept growing so when we finally turned the last bend to see the lake it was a great relief. There ended up being a moose in the lake too! He was just enjoying the cool water and then went back on shore on the opposite side of the lake. We decide to stop at a large cliff overlooking the lake and we ate lunch while taking in the view. There were multiple people down at the "beach" along the shore of the lake and I had heard that there was old mining equipment by the shore so I went exploring to find it. It looked like the mine entrance had been blown up with the equipment because there was wood, rocks, and metal strewn about in a huge pile by a hillside. I found out that the equipment was manufactured in Indianapolis, IN. I continued to explore the valley and climbed on top of a large rock mound to overlook the bowl that Cracker Lake sits in. I met back up with my parents and then we started the long trek back. It ended up being 14 miles in total and we were all dragging our feet once we reached the car. We made sure to fill our water bottles up once we got back and then we went to put our feet and legs in the lake to ice them for a bit. It felt great to be able to cool off the swollen feet and legs. We made it back in time to attend the evening service for ACMNP and my parents got to see what I have been doing most of the summer! Later that evening we played National Park Monopoly and due to a lack of reading the rules I ended up winning, unintentionally cheating most of the game though.
7/12/21
This morning, even with our soreness, my parents and I went on a hike to Red Rock falls. We stopped by Fishercap lake to see if there was a moose and it paid off because there was big bull moose munching on the lake bottom vegetation. We watched him for a while with a group of people before moving on to Red Rock falls. We enjoyed the views getting to the falls and then spent some time soaking in the sounds of the water, animals, and sunlight at the falls themselves. We had a few snacks and explored around before heading back to Swiftcurrent so that I could get ready for work. We walked past Wilbur falls on the way back and then played a quick version of monopoly. I went to work for the evening shift, 3pm-11pm, while my parents went back to Wilbur Falls and enjoyed a quiet evening of rest.
7/13/21
This morning my parents and I went over to the Many Glacier Hotel and had breakfast in their Ptarmigan Dining Hall. We sat by the windows overlooking Swiftcurrent Lake and talked about fond memories of our family. After breakfast we explored the hotel for a bit until it was time for me to go get ready for work and for my parents to head back home. We said our goodbyes and then they dropped me off back at Swiftcurrent. Before my shift I checked on my brake lights because my dad mention that one of them was out. Turned out that my back right brake light was out so I made a mental note to order one when I had internet access. My shift went well and I received a few gifts from friends and family in the mail! My brother-in-law and sister got me the new Tottenham Hotspur jersey which was awesome and many birthday wishes were given through cards.
7/14/21
Today was another day of work from 6am-2pm but I had planned a hike after work with some friends. We left at 3pm to go to Ptarmigan tunnel which was built in the 1930s to shorten a horseback trek that normally took 5 days. The elevation change is 2,300ft over 5.3 miles. It was a rough hike especially after having worked for 8 hours and standing on my feet the entire time but it was totally worth it. the views were absolutely incredible and the payoff was awesome. The rock cliffs looked enticing to climb but it would be stupid to climb them with the sheer 2,000ft drop-off right there. We stayed at the tunnel for a while taking ive everything and then finally after building up the mental strength to push on, we headed back down. On the way down at one of the switchbacks there was a snow drift that seemed to be calling me to slide down. Me and one of the friends checked it out and then my friend just jumped on the drift and went zooming down. That convinced me to join him so I started sliding down and it was an absolute blast. The snow was bumpy so we were able to stop at certain points and recover our balance and control but it was basically a snow slide for a good 400 ft. We continued on our way back and finally made it around 8:30pm. I was exhausted so I ate dinner, took a shower, then went to bed.
7/15/21
So far today has been a better work day. Although we were surprised by some news about highway 2, the road that goes around the outside of the park, being closed. The reason behind the closure was due to a homicide kidnapping. Police found a body in Great Falls when responding to a domestic dispute and then pursued the suspect all the way to the southern part of the National Park, 175 miles away from Great Falls. So that was quite shocking to learn about and kept everyone buzzing about the event. We also had another employee leave due to a family emergency so our security staff is now just 2 people covering 7 days a week. I have also been resting the past two days in preparation for an extremely long hike tomorrow. We will see how it goes but I know it is going to push me physically.
P.S. A group of three friends came in who are biking across the U.S. They are on week 10 and are almost there!
"Not all hero's wear capes"- one of the group biking across the U.S.
Thanks for a wonderful visit at Glacier NP! Great to see you, your friends and the park!!
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