We opened the garage door to head out to Glacier National Park when Kristen said, "I don't think I have enough clothes on. It's cold." It was a chilly morning. The clear skies that were beckoning us to get outside had also helped drive down the temperatures. We're not ready for winter. With no specific plan, we headed east on Highway 2. As the sun rose, it took our breath...

Firebrand Pass in Glacier National Park is a favorite fall hike of ours. This year, we decided to add a little bonus by climbing Red Crow Mountain. Maybe it was all that clean air and blue skies. Either way, it was all smiles on a perfect September day in our favorite park. I've spent most of my summer away from Glacier National Park. While I've been gone, and even when...

Grinnell Glacier sits at the head of the Grinnell Creek drainage and is the easiest glacier in Glacier National Park to day hike too. Even with its popularity, this gorgeous hike is also a perfect place to see animals. We experienced all of that on this trip. My brother Josiah and his wife Amy were coming to Montana to visit us and we all wanted to go on a hike...

"So now what should we do?" we both said as we looked at one another. Kristen and I had arrived at Logan Pass at 9:30am on Saturday which meant that we couldn't park in the parking lot because it was already full. After driving down to Lunch Creek to park and walking back up to the Visitor Center, we found out that the Hidden Lake trail was closed at the...

  If you follow Hike 734 you are probably aware that Jake is currently hiking and exploring Olympic National Park in Washington.  Although I'd love to join him on this adventure, my full-time job as a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer and some lingering limitations from the long recovery process of a fractured foot is keeping me close to home for the time being.  Fortunately, I'm lucky enough to have Glacier Park...

Well another summer season and another national park. This year, the park I'll be hiking all over is Olympic National Park. It's looking like I have about 45 days of exploring this amazing park located in the northwest corner of Washington... and well, the entire United States! This park features the Pacific Ocean with beaches and tidepools, dense moss covered old-growth forests, and sprawling alpine landscapes. I'm super excited! I'm...

Now that Logan Pass Glacier National Park was open, we wanted to see if we could sneak up and bag a peak. Kristen had never done Mt. Oberlin, so we set off through the fog of Logan Pass and up through the clouds to a glorious summit! As we drove up Glacier National Park's legendary Going-to-the-Sun Road, we wondered if we would be hiking and summiting in the fog that...

The wait is over! The Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park is now officially open to vehicles all the way to Logan Pass for 2018! We were there when they opened the gates and were the first through on the west side which was super special for us and really dang exciting! Every year in Glacier National Park, there is the big question, "When are they going to open Going-to-the-Sun...

Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park is a gorgeous lake hemmed in by a terminal moraine. There are many ways to explore this lake from a short out-and-back, to a loop around the lake or even exploring the wooded ridges of the moraine. The lake with the mountains backdropping is definitely the highlight and the trail that goes around stays true to the lake giving you views all day...

When Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park is closed in the spring, the two most popular activities from West Glacier are hiking to Avalanche Lake and biking the Going-to-the-Sun Road. We decided to do both. We planned on camping at Fish Creek, waking up early and getting a parking spot at Avalanche Lake, then hiking to the lake before biking. It was a glorious day. The Avalanche Lake parking lot...

It's been a while since we made it into Glacier National Park, but we made it happen this weekend. The trick is always to figure out where to go. Spring really restricts where you can go due to snowpack (especially this year!). This slimmed our pool of options, so we decided to hit up Apikuni Falls (Kristen had never been there) and then a quick trip to Red Rock Falls,...

A series of easily accessed beaver ponds along the Snake River is sublimely backdropped by at Schwabacher's Landing in Grand Teton National Park. It's also a perfect place to spy moose!   We pulled into the parking lot of Schwabacher's Landing surrounded by a sea of sagebrush. This dry terrain contrasts with the collection of wetlands and beaver ponds in the area. The easy, level trail walks the boundary of...