Miracle of Miracle! The sun has come out and the clouds have parted and we've been treated to the most spectactular transformation of scenery! I can finally see the gorgeous peaks surrounding the crystal clear water of Lake McDonald.
This is a photo of me while taking a second boat tour of the lake in order to appreciate the new scenery!
To take adventure of our fabulous weather, my friends and I decided to go on a 12 mile hike along the western shore of the lake. It's mostly flat, but it helped us get our hiking legs back, and took us through areas burned in the 2003 Roberts Fire (affording excellent views of the mountains through the charred, toothpick-like trees), and then through some old-growth cedar and cottonwood forest towards the head of the lake.
Here I am at next to McDonald "Creek", which right now is more like McDonald Raging River with all the spring snow melt. The water has that amazing blue color due to suspended rock particles in the water that have been ground up by the glaciers up above. It's called glacier flour, and it gives all the waters here that characteristic color.
Here I am at next to McDonald "Creek", which right now is more like McDonald Raging River with all the spring snow melt. The water has that amazing blue color due to suspended rock particles in the water that have been ground up by the glaciers up above. It's called glacier flour, and it gives all the waters here that characteristic color. I hope the photo quality looks ok on these photos. The government computers here are crap, sorry to say, and I can't tell if the photo looks blurry and pixelated because it really is, or because the computer screen has terrible resolution. So let me know! Also, my photo-uploading website, Picassa, is blocked here.... The error message I get says something like "You are not allowed to access media sharing websites" which is total BS... So blogger is allowed, but not picassa... anyways... gotta gradually figure out how to work around this. 
Anyways, last picture before I have to leave. Here's me with my two great friends here. Caiti is on the left. She's from New Jersey and worked at Rocky Mountain National Park last summer and she lives in an apartment down the road from me. Bridget is on the right, and she's my roommate. We share the master bedroom of our 3 bedroom apartment. She's from Pennsylvania. They're both super fun and awesome, and we've already gots lots of cool hikes and backpacking trips planned together!
Anyways, last picture before I have to leave. Here's me with my two great friends here. Caiti is on the left. She's from New Jersey and worked at Rocky Mountain National Park last summer and she lives in an apartment down the road from me. Bridget is on the right, and she's my roommate. We share the master bedroom of our 3 bedroom apartment. She's from Pennsylvania. They're both super fun and awesome, and we've already gots lots of cool hikes and backpacking trips planned together! Tomorrow we start our more intensive training with all the park interpretation staff. And as our supervisor described, this week will be "death by powerpoint." Gotta get some evening hikes in there to counteract the aweful health effects of staring at a projector screen for 8 hours! Luckily it doesn't get dark until almost 10pm~! Woot!
I love you all and am thinking about you lots! If you have time, please feel free to call me in the evenings (5-10pm, Montana time) as I'm always eager to talk and hear the news out in civilization!
Love always,
Emilie
Hi Emilie! Your photos of the landscape are so beautiful. And I'm really glad you have good friends who share your passions for fresh local farm produce and home baked cookies! It looks like it's going to be a great summer. xoxo Gloria and Anna
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