EXPLORING GLACIER NATIONAL PARK DURING THE PANDEMIC

there's a bear hey dude hey oh it's so cute remember those bugs we need to wash off you should put my window down okay look how crazy these things are i love your spikes me too all you guys want to see is this that's the magic stuff isn't nature great we are britney and drew and for the past six years we've been exploring the world by van from the u.s to canada europe to africa finding so much peace inspiration and joy and immersing ourselves in the great unknown but now with our world changing what feels like every single day our route feels more unknown than ever before but luckily we have found comfort and direction in exploring our country's awe-inspiring national parks and in today's episode we're taking you with as we discover the crown of the continent none other than glacier national park in montana where we navigate some unexpected closures due to covid but end up creating our own route leading us all to one unforgettable day we invite you to subscribe and buckle up as we embark on yet another adventure together and now it's time to enjoy the show [Music] we got new kinds of neighbors today as you can see here our hood is raised and generally a raised hood is never a good sign if you're trying to get somewhere fun like a national park especially when it's glacier but drew's taking care of it and luckily we have some roadside assistance from some fellow sprinters so let's see what happens here how are things looking captain we got a voltage of 13.8 we're back in action we're back in action i'd switched out the agm gel battery for the lithium battery to do a little testing on our isolator but all that matters now is everything's working together [Music] get those bugs we're on our way to the apgar visitor center fingers crossed that there is a ranger outside of the visitor center there's not a phone number that we can call to figure out what trails are open not even the back country permit office is accepting phone calls right now we need a ranger to tell us what adventure we can embark on what trailheads are open can we do the high line loop that is so epic although i've heard that all of the shuttles are not operating for the entire 2020 season or that boat on that hike that we loved last time so much but unfortunately the east side of glacier national park is not open that's right the whole east side of the park is closed so dawson pitta mockin that hike that we loved so much when we were here back in 2015 it was so beautiful but anyway onwards let's see what we can get ourselves into this time huckleberry pie huckleberry land did you guys know brittany and i have never seen star wars until kovit hit we are watching and binging all the episodes in order that they were produced so i think we're on like movie eight now we're on like rogue one we just watched rogue one oh look oh that's how excited i am from puckleberry ice cream [Music] it's so thick if you guys have never had huckleberry it's like a mixture of blueberries raspberries and cranberries all in one and they grow here in montana in the mountains of glacier so there's huckleberry everything here i love it go we're being chased by dinosaurs and a wookie oh the look he's nice popping in to tell you a little bit about the sponsor of today's episode and that's native deodorant if you guys have never heard of native it's an all-natural deodorant brand that uses no parabens no sulfates and no aluminum instead they use ingredients that we know and love like coconut oil and shea butter it's so good i almost could eat it if we were stranded on the trail at least we'd have a snack we made the switch to all natural deodorant because i was actually getting a rash using the other stuff so i couldn't be happier with this switch plus mr adventure over here smells great all day yeah it's not sticky at all and it dries quickly plus they have so many amazing flavors not only do they have lavender and rose which is my favorite coastal oak in amber i really like this one there's also eucalyptus and mint and normally three deodorants cost 36 but using our link below and the code mr and mrs adventure you'll get them for just 24. so that's 33 off and you get free shipping yeah so 24 plus free shipping what a smoking deal so we hope that you guys will join us in the movement of smelling good the natural way staying fresh out on the trail and in the outdoors let's get back to that adventure there's the sign glacier [Music] this shows all the campgrounds all but one open how's your day going good how are you guys pretty good all right have a good one thank you is that app car visitor center open miles perfect thank you my favorite part about entering the park getting the literature and look this is the map for glacier and waterton which is the first international national park in the world it splits the border between canada and the u.s there's even a peace trail where you can hike from the u.s into canada you have to bring your passport on that hike and i'm pretty certain that that is probably closed right now due to covid most definitely yeah but isn't that cool glacier was also the eighth national park ever so it's one of the original ten the busiest entrance we've seen today yeah i was just thinking that we have not been to a national park that was this busy yet [Music] so this is about as open as the visitor center gets right now there's a ranger outside answering questions so hopefully she can help us figure out how to do the high line trail which is like the most incredible trail in the park i was hoping that we could do the high line trail but i've heard that the shuttle is closed yeah and the highland trail is actually closed right now due to snow hazards shoot okay bummer but have no fear mr and mrs adventure and their trusted ranger are here i guess that could be really awesome actually how many yeah that was my question or time that is a good question that looks like a lot of mild we have a game plan our ranger friend erica was so helpful she let us know that everything over here is closed due to coved everything on the east side of the park and even the high line trail that i thought that we were going to be able to do that's closed but because of snow yeah she said there's too much snow up there and there's some avalanche conditions which is wild because it's the middle of summer so instead we have come up with our very own loop she said that she had actually never thought of doing this as a loop before so she really loved our idea of trying to make that happen and she's going to do it in the future too so tomorrow morning by 8 am we got to be here feeling good about our new plan we decided to spend the rest of our day driving along one of the most scenic roads in america montana's going to the sun road which is the only road that stretches from the east to the west side of glacier originally named the trans mountain road sun road was first designed having 15 switchbacks winding up the enormous mountainside but instead engineers decided on one one massive switchback known as the loop that helps take drivers up to the 6646 foot apex at logan pass a massive rib of rock that carries the continental divide through the park's interior finished on july 15 1933 we rode along the 50-mile engineering marvel keeping a watchful eye out for grazing animals like bighorn sheep mountain goats and some other unexpectedly frightful sights sorry guys sorry just pay attention to the goat look at him he's so curious oh no i tried to avoid it with smiles plastered on our faces we found ourselves awestruck with wonder as we tunneled into the very mountains themselves one wondrous detour after the next remember those bugs we need to wash off you should put my window down okay that was fun this is the weeping wall isn't that beautiful wow how refreshing trust us when we say that everyone who visits glacier national park owes it to themselves to soak in these awe-inspiring sights that is one healthy marmot do you guys know what tonight is [Music] star wars star wars [Music] here it comes the last jedi [Music] [Music] that morning we found ourselves going back up the sun road before anyone else was up including the sun we just parked at gunsite pass trailhead and we're going to go counter-clockwise going up here to the si pass which is supposed to be one of the most incredible spots in the park we may or may not make an extra jaunt over here to see a glacier we'll see how we're feeling at that point and then we'll continue our loop making it all the way back down here to spirit got the bear spray handy my boots are tied tight got the water full got the bug spray on the lunches are packed we are set we don't really know how long this day is going to take or how many miles are in store for us i'll set my tracker and that way we'll know my guess is about 16 miles maybe nine hours yeah so let's get started it's 9 a.m we got a trail ahead of us it's gonna be a gorgeous day really pretty like super lush smells like flowers smells like my deodorant is that good that good so real thick whoa as tall as you would you rather be watching out for grizzly bears or rattlesnakes grizzly bears yeah it's kind of more fun i'm not a snake guy at all i like my bears from a distance when we were here in the park five years ago we weren't permitted to take the road to the sun because there were forest fires and we were just observing the forest that we're in and if you look around all the trees are burnt and we think that was the fire from five years ago with the new undergrowth part of that renewal process of nature having a fire reseeding and regrowth it's really beautiful to witness it's beautiful [Music] you love how the water glitters can't get enough of these colors welcome to saint mary's river incredible many peaks that surround her feel the snow up on these sharp peaks so amazing and waterfalls and we have one more waterfall right before we start our ascent our 2500 foot ascent away we go 5.6 miles all uphill i'm hanging out where there's no wind right now to tell you guys a little bit about the history of glacier national park so originally the blackfoot indians inhabited the area they would hunt bison in the valleys and they would prey on the tops of the mountains and then it was george bird grinnell who became very good friends with these indians and he fell in love with glacier which we can completely understand why it was actually george grinnell glacier's most passionate conservationist who named the psy pass after sae one of the blackfoot indians who originally inhabited the land it means crazy dog or mad wolf from our next vantage point the 9642 foot going to the sun mountain stood before us and dominated our view for the next two and a half miles as we made the rest of our 2 500 foot ascent up to saiyu pass at this point it was already 1 30 and we had hiked about 10 miles so we decided it was time to pick a perch and refuel before our final push to the top there he is oh he's just looking right at us hey dude hey little guy hey hey oh he's so cute blew i know we should have went over this what but can you show me how the bear spray works if a bear comes how you're prepared go i think the bears already attacked you can you do it a little faster really fast and then oh the bear's already attacking there's a bear you press this you press that down yeah i'm not doing it you gonna do it no put it back in your holster that's how you be prepared gotta do a trial run we're gonna be following this trail all the way up to a glacier one of the 25 remaining glaciers in the entire park and then we'll be going up and over the saddle right here [Music] wow [Music] so we've met a few other hikers on the trail who have expressed the fact that it is very precarious to walk across the snow they've seen people fall right through scrape their legs turn around turn around but we can't turn around because we are too far in this loop luckily we have crampons and our hiking poles they said that they think with that we should be good but otherwise we may be crawling on our hands and knees trying to get across this snow or should i say glacier how crazy let's go are i love your spikes give me a kick time to make it over to the glacier these are actually helping i feel like i'm like completely grounded in the snow i feel like you can take a nice strong step yeah like show me anywhere you know yeah you look great it's kind of fun running in them wow wipeout look at that glacial bowl down there if you guys are wondering why peaks up here are like so jagged it's because when the glaciers melt the constant freezing and melting of the snow causes rocks to crackle and break so it creates these really gnarly steep tooth-like jagged peaks unlike mountains that are carved out by rivers and water you crush it in those spikes high five we've had some experience on snow in other situations but never with crampons and i gotta say that wasn't too bad very impressed all you guys want to see is this that's the magic stuff isn't nature great [Music] just begun [Music] found what we're looking for in life [Music] we're getting there there i think it's bear poop is that bear down i don't know do you guys know the visitor centers aren't open so we can't see them should i touch it poop exhibits it's hot no is it no it's not hot it means that there would have been a bear here fresh fresh stuff i don't know what that is but i haven't seen that's a big animal though i can tell you that much i haven't seen this kind of poop yet stay alert i got my bear spray right here we might see that guy yes it is very pretty bib hmm the bird sounds right at the end of our trail we didn't really know where this was gonna spit us out wow that was so great look can you guys hear their spirit that's even better than i hoped i didn't know there was a trail right there i didn't i knew we'd be on that side of the road but i mean i knew we'd be close spirit cool we love you man what a day it feels really good to be sitting again back in spirit home what an adventurous day i'm really glad that that loop worked out me too we started the day not knowing how long it would take how many miles we'd do if it was gonna be just relentless i do love loops though because it makes the ending not seem so endless as an out and back does because it's like oh i've seen this how much longer i know it's like you faintly remember the being on the out and back and you just gotta get there but on a loop everything's new the whole time and we saw so many beautiful animals so many flowers a highlight was being up at the top of that pass after we'd been trudging through the snow with our crampons and then we got to see into canada yeah that was amazing that was crazy like we maybe physically can't go there right now but it was cool to see into waterton park and just see across the border yeah see for miles what a clear day blow some kisses over to our canadian friends yeah but we still need to check our app to see how far we actually went and how long it took us so let's see put up wow basically 17 miles and nine hours about nine hours including our almost hour lunch break we just like to take it in and that's pretty solid i guessed nine hours you did it said nine hours 28 minutes but wow minus our lunch i'm always impressed with how far you can actually travel in a day by foot like like all the way up from that lake to the mountain pass no wonder my feet i don't think you want to show you really rough right now yeah but this adventure in glacier park isn't over just yet not yet not yet britney made my sloppy joe with two undersides can you imagine i've done that now twice two undersides and two tops i'm sorry no it's all right i love you you'll be okay it'll taste just as good like we have waterfalls back here we do look it was just too good not to share we were like okay and then we'll wait till tomorrow we're like we don't have to show this view we're just gonna enjoy it for ourselves exactly but then we're like but it's too good not to share with you there's a bunch of photographers down here in the meadow but they're capturing this amazing view this is so pretty we're gonna throw our photo up so you guys can see it too drew wants to show you his photo be today today is the perfect day of relaxation being out on this water what more could we want than this beautiful scenery behind us there's a lot of people out here on the water whether it's in canoes kayaks you can rent them right on the shoreline here and we're going to spend a little more quality time together out on the water it's nice that yesterday after such an intense day on our feet that we can float and be rejuvenated by the melted iceberg lakes it is pretty niffy it is really cold um but we love you guys don't forget to subscribe if you are new to our channel tap that like if you are enjoying especially our national park series yeah we're having a lot of fun bringing you with us we have our sights set on so many more beautiful places and we look forward to bringing that beauty and serenity to you see you guys next video we love you all take care be well [Music] the bottom

Channel: Mr and Mrs Adventure

Views: 79,152

Keywords: Mr and Mrs Adventure, vanlife couple, vanlife, van life, van life vlog, NATIONAL PARKS 2020, SUMMER 2020 USA, sprinter van conversion, US National parks, van life america, van life national parks, overland national parks, rv travel national parks, NATIONAL PARK PANDEMIC, glacier pandemic, hiking glacier national park, best hikes in glacier, van life montana, glacier national park, van life glacier, going to the sun road, van life pandemic, high line glacier, US Glaciers

Id: 3uy9h751lEc

Length: 27min 20sec (1640 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 13 2020