The Courageous Busers in Glacier National Park

Today we went RAFTING!!!! We did some other stuff involving scary drives, beautiful views, and mountain goats, but the highlight was definitely floating down a river in Glacier National Park. I’d made it a personal goal to find us a place to go rafting when we were in Colorado several weeks ago, but had been unable to find to find any adventures that met my criteria (pretty much had to be free). However, my dreams came true when Erin’s family offered to take us in their boat on the Flathead River. Merritt, Lucas, and I joined the Windauers and their dog Holly at the park gate to prepare for the epic journey. HUGE waves, gnarly holes, towering rocks, and giant fish* threatened to flip us as we navigated down the river. Bernie gave each of us a turn at the oars (a fool-hearty move? Perhaps, but we are courageous busers and are not swayed by danger). I fought off giant waves at the bow in order to keep everyone dry while Lucas showed off his steering ability (“Only one rock ahead? Don’t worry guys, I’ll get us stuck on it”). After several hours of showing the river what we’re made of and nearly losing Merritt to the class 10 rapids** we arrived back at the gate, wet and very happy. After packing up the boat and saying goodbye to the Windauers (except for Erin, who we kidnapped for the night), we headed back to the Apgar village for huckleberry ice cream and a delicious dinner by Chef Hayley. An awesome day- we’ll have to come back some time and spend more time here.

*not true
**really, really not true.

Much thanks to the Windauers for hosting us, taking us rafting, and for letting us take their daughters for the day. Erin and Heidi, if you want to join us as new crewmembers, there’s still room!

-esther

Merritt and Lucas show off their manliness by jumping off tall bridges

Pretty

Merritt, Lucas, and Erin stare off into the smoky Lake McDonald

fact-o-the-day: Odors attract bears. However, several national parks are testing biodiesel trucks and have not founds sniffing bears to be a problem. We also concluded that veggie oil is not a bear attractor. (Though we still encourage you to be careful with anything that leaves a scent while in bear country).