Kiwis and Fairy Bread

18 June 2026

Research last night informed us that all boat trips and horse back rides were booked, but that getting on stand-by was possible. So at 7am Mike drove me over to the Many Glaciers dock where I would wait to get on the waiting list for the 9am. Ben, Cary and Mike would arrive about 8:30 where Ben would pop into the stables and from there, we would make our decision.

Into the hotel lobby I saw little Quinn running around in her pajamas with her dad. “Hello again!” I said and hurried out to the porch and down the steps. Surprisingly, I was not the first in line. A family had driven over from the KOA campground before the sunrise. Quinn and her father (regretfully, I never did get his name) soon came up behind me, followed by another young man (whose name I didn’t get but for purposes of this blog will call “Avik”). We all got along splendidly.

An eight year old member of the family first in line was a rock climber (but not like Alex Hannold, he told me. He’d never climb a sky scraper. That’s crazy!). As his mother enjoyed her coffee she told us how much she loved their KOA cabin with its fantastic view. Avik had gotten his Many Glaciers reservation just a few weeks ago. Quinn’s dad had booked last June. Quinn and I played What time is it Mr Fox? (Which quickly evolved into Mr. Fox, Mr Fox, what time is it? I love four year olds!). Her dad mentioned how bad the food was here. “Try Swiftcurrent” I said. As we shared experiences of our travels the hour and a half until the boat office opened passed very quickly.

Mike and the boys arrived. Ben was feeling good this morning but the horses, unfortunately, were no longer an option. So we decided to put our names on the wait list for the 9am and 2pm boat tours. If we didn’t get onto the morning trip we could try the hike and be back in time to try for the afternoon.

9am arrived and we waitlist hopefuls gathered together. 8 no shows. The KOA family was in! We all cheered as they crossed their fingers that they would see us soon. Our name was next on the list but just as we were about to be called a family came running, coffee cups in hand. Oh well! Honestly, in the end it really all worked out quite well.

I was cold after my ninety minutes on the chilly lake shore so went into the lobby to warm up by the fire. Mike showed us a map of the Grinnel Lake Hike. It was pretty straightforward with no big change in elevation (Ben and I are both sensitive to the high elevation here, so need to be mindful). There were several outhouses and some good viewing points, any of which would be fine places to turn around should Ben or I need to. Super!

It is an easy trail to find, well marked at the end for the Many Glaciers Hotel parking lot. Plenty of people were on the trail, even at 9:30am. It was beautiful! A well worn trail through dense forest with tall lodge pole pines and aspens. Lake Josephine flanked us to the right. We came across some staff cabins on the shore line with a dock. Nice place to live!

When the trail became slightly muddy we noticed some moose tracks! Sure enough, reports coming from people hiking towards us told of a moose grazing not far from the trail. We picked up the pace slightly, followed the tracks, but alas, for us there was no moose. Quite a few ground squirrels though, and the calls of many different birds.

Lake Josephine behind us, we came to the base of Hidden Falls, the top of which we had seen earlier in the hike. The trail continues across the stream on a swing bridge. A sign quite firmly stated that only one person should be on the bridge at a time. I found the short bridge exhilarating! It was sturdy but weird. It swung and bounced. I felt like a little kid on a playground. We all really enjoyed it.

Then came the most difficult portion of the hike. The path is narrow, strewn with roots and has the ups and downs of a kiddie roller coaster. Cary saved me once as I tripped and stumbled right into him.

Over the ridge and wow! We ALL made it! Red rocks sands melding into the aqua glacier waters of Grinnell Lake and… a glacier! It was a view to be savored we lingered not nearly long enough because time was ticking and we (hopefully) had a boat to catch.

Turning back, back over the ridge and across that swing bridge. All the hikers, especially the youngest ones were having fun on it. Ben really likes water falls so he and Mike climbed up this one a ways. Cary and I opted to stay at the bottom to enjoy the rushing waters from there. A tree stump that looked like a howling wolf stared us down.

Everyone on this hike was really nice. Smiles and greetings and even a “there’s a bear down the trail”. I said, “Why don’t we slow down the pace, just a bit?” Even though Cary, our resident county park ranger has had bear spray training I had no desire for that kind of close encounter.

Even so, we were making good time and made bets about whether or not we would make it to the boat on time. I had confidence. Cary did not. We pushed ourselves a bit and arrived at Many Glaciers hungry, exhausted and in plenty of time to eat our lunch before checking in the boating wait list. Well done us!

It was clouding over and Ben wanted some down time so decided to skip the boat trip either way. While I waited in the stand-by line with Quinn and family Mike called down from the porch “a moose!”. People gathered, pointed cameras and binoculars and one women even got on a kayak for a closer encounter. She kept a respectful distance but still it was pretty bold. When she returned she was greeted with a round of applause.

“Parker, party of three!” We were in! Alas, there was not a spot for Quinn and her parents. I felt bad as we got onto the boat without them. She had been so cheerful and so patient. I hope they found something else fun to do.

The boat was another old one, built in the 1960’s. The wooden seats are all indoors, but we were all invited to go onto the deck, a few at a time. I usually prefer to be outdoors on boats, but I was too tired from our eight miles hike to get off the seat. Mike and Cary got up for a look. The pilot garbled some geological history, much of which we had heard before. A baby cried. It started to rain again. And in a few minutes we were at the far end of Lake Josephine to disembark to a trail to another boat on Grinnell Lake.

This was once a paved road, but was crumbling now. A long line of passengers walked slowly through dense forest up and over a ridge to a second boat. We three tried to pick up the pace. Taking seats on this boat, we viewed Grinnell Lake and the glacier for the second time today, this time from the water.

The captain pointed out a water fall and tried to get a laugh out of us by saying this one was known was “Teacher Falls. Because it babbles all spring and goes silent in the summer”. Hey!! Teachers work hard in the summer too! Clearly he meant to illustrate the falls here, like in Yosemite and other mountains, spring from the melt water of snowy peaks. Once the snow is gone, there is no more water for the falls. Another reason to visit these places in the late spring and early summer.

Fussy little children. More fun facts. Another docking, where passengers got off and passengers got on. We stayed. We saw Avik, who had done our Grinnell Lake hike just one way. Hmmmm. We hadn’t considered that option…..

Off a boat again. Over the ridge again. Onto a boat again, back across Lake Josephine. This time the captain took questions. Mine was “do you ever hear avalanches?” (With our experiences at Yosemite California and Hooker Valley New Zealand, I had been expecting to hear them off of these peaks). “Rarely” he answers. Something about the angle of the sun, if I remember correctly.

As boat tours go, I was not impressed with this one. Good for families, for sure. Or for a first day to get a good introduction. But honestly, the lakes are smaller than I had expected them to be. In retrospect, the hike was enough.

Ben met us on the dock. Into the lobby to warm up, Cary pointed out there were no elevators in this hotel. Really? How is that ADA compliant? What do older people do? Are they warned upon booking?

The staircases lining the lobby do look pretty and go up three flights. As if walking ten miles wasn’t enough exercise for one day, Cary and I walked up them to explore more of the hotel. Up on the inside, down on the outside. So many fun places unlike and out to stand, sit, hide. It really did remind me of an old hotel I stayed in once Austrian Alps back in 1987. And that, of course was the whole idea!

Back to Swiftcurrent for a nap and dinner. A wedding party was enjoying a meal at Nell’s. I cannot imagine the cost of a wedding reception at Many Glaciers. And the food was so bad they had to come here for an after-party meal? Xanterra food service, take note!

As had become our routine, Mike and I returned to Many Glaciers for twilight. I sat on the porch and wrote post cards. It was quite a party there! We talked to Avik again, and Quinn and her family. Animals were giving quite a show: grizzlies, mountain goats and moose. People shared binoculars and long lenses and chatted about the day. As the light waned, I noticed something unexpected. I turned to the couple next to me “And….a shirtless man in the window”. Laughter and whispers all around. Did the guy not see us all staring in that direction?! With binoculars?

Another game of Mr Fox Mr Fox what time is it with Quinn as the sky turned purple and pink over Heavy Shield Peak. It was near 11pm already. In the morning we needed to get an early start back to Bozeman. So with well wishes to all the good people on the Many Glaciers porch, we said good night.

What a way to spend our last day.