Exploring Apgar Village

I think yesterday's action-packed day tired me out today.  We went for a walk along the Apgar bike path and I made it there, but Dave went and got the car so that I didn't have to walk back.  If I don't take a preventative Tylenol before going on a walk, I generally get pain in my hip which bothers me.  That's why I like bike-riding--it doesn't give me hip pain!  Maybe tomorrow we'll bike on all the Apgar and Fish Creek bike paths. 

Last night, Dave and I attended a very informative ranger talk at the Apgar Campground amphitheater, which is located at the west end of scenic Lake McDonald.  The topic was about trees.  Ranger Becky gave us a lot of information, including how to identify different trees, and her presentation was interactive and enjoyable for all ages, from children to senior citizens. 

The Apgar Amphitheater

Ranger Becky holding up the number of vascular animals in Glacier National Park.  The audience had to guess what each number stood for.

The final number was the number of tree species in the park, a low enough number that it ought to be easy enough to identify all of them.

She also had the audience play a game that identified the functions of each of the parts of a tree.  You would be surprised how involved the children in the audience were during the presentation.

Some of the trees surrounding the amphitheater:

 

This morning, Dave and I attended the non-denominational church service here in the lounge of the KOA.  It was a  well-done service which included several hymns and several praise songs, prayers, a responsive Bible reading, and a short devotional based on the Bible reading.  It was very nice to informally worship the Lord with the others that attended the service--a good way to start the day.

As Dave wrote in his blog, we intended to drive up to Polebridge, but we turned around when the road turned to gravel.  On the way back to Apgar, we saw a deer in McGee Meadow.

During our picnic lunch at Apgar Village, we enjoyed another good view of Lake McDonald and the snow-capped mountains.

After lunch we went on the ill-fated (for me) walk from the village to the Apgar campground.

Many trees burned during the big fire of 2003, but there are still lots of trees in the park.  Many of them are lodgepole pines and cedars.

I snapped a photo of a few of the many ferns we saw.  It was an enjoyable, peaceful walk, except for my hip pain.

In case anyone is interested, the Apgar Campground looked very nice.  No hookups, of course, but the price was right at $10/day for senior pass holders, and $20/day for others.  We saw a few big rigs in the campground, but most of the sites were more suited for average or smaller rigs. 

We are spending the rest of the day relaxing at our KOA campsite.