It was a beautiful morning and we had planned on hiking to Sky Pond that day. As always, we packed the night before and were ready to go… excited as always. As we drove up Bear Lake Road, there were more cars than usual and we were very lucky to get the last parking spot at the Glacier Gorge parking lot. It was cool day and we were glad that we had prepared by wearing long pants. This was my first time for the season wearing long pants! You can really feel a little nip in the air in the early morning. As we hiked up to Alberta Falls, a lady with a walking stick followed us from the Bear Lake cut-off on the trail. She was by herself but enjoying everything immensely. When we stopped at Alberta Falls to take some photographs, we had the opportunity to talk with her. What a gem! Her name was Barbara and she told us that she tried to do the hike from Bear Lake to Alberta Falls 3-4 times a week. Her husband had just had knee surgery so he was walking around Bear Lake. But she likes to climb, so she got some of that in on this hike. She was a fascinating lady. Her doctor told her that hiking was the best medicine that she could have. We agreed! Phil finally asked her how old she was and she said, “I’m 83 years old.” WOW! What an inspiration to us all. I hope that we’re doing that when we’re 83!
 
From Alberta Falls we hiked up to the Loch. It was a beautiful morning and getting warmer. The Loch is always so pretty, watching the fly-fishermen using their techniques! We continued on the trail past The Loch and followed Icy Brook upstream through the dense forest. When you go over the bridge, Sky Pond Trail goes straight while Andrew’s Glacier veers off to the right and up the stream. As we hiked on we came upon beautiful meadows full of wildflowers. I’ve been amazed at how many wildflowers are so high up, but it must be the streams and meadows that keep them moist. We began to see bits of a waterfall in the distance with the high rock walls on the right. There is quite a climb of steps to reach Timberline Falls but the views are just spectacular when you reach the top! Timberline Falls is really beautiful as the water cascades down the rocks. You can still see a 15 foot snowdrift still nestled in next to the falls where the sun rarely hits. It was a beautiful view of the Loch in the distance with a lot of good rocks for a rest or snack.
   We saw 2 people coming down from Sky Pond so I thought I’d give it a try. There are many smaller waterfalls, on which water was coming down right in the middle of the trail. It was a very steep climb up, trying to meander between the water and loose rocks. Phil watched from the bottom. I turned around to see if he was coming... No go for Philip! I decided that I’d have to put my poles away and try to scramble up some very high rocks if I wanted to see Sky Pond; the running water just wasn’t going to let me go. At that point I thought “Safety wins again!” I wasn’t sure if I could make it so I wasn’t going to risk getting hurt. Oh well….maybe another time. The hike to Timberline Falls is well worth it and just spectacular! On the way back, we did take that turn up to Andrew’s Glacier... one of our favorite hikes. The hike up there is equally beautiful, through the forests and meadows, and then up to the very rocky tundra. We always enjoy this hike and the views at the end. There was still quite a bit of snow up there as we saw a group of boys scrambling to get up to the top where they could hike across the Continental Divide and then back down the Flattop Trail. After boulder-hopping a bit across the stream, we stopped for lunch on a huge rock, enjoying the views, the mountains and Columbines that grew nearby. It was just another perfect day.