Gates of the Mountains

We headed to the Gates of the Mountains on Thursday morning.  We arrived just in time for the 10am tour.  The kids were excited to get on the boat.

The cousins came too.

We are ready for our tour...it's a 2 hour tour.  The last time I was here was when I was 9 years old.  Our tour back then stopped at a little picnic area and some kids threw rocks at bee hives and we were all attacked by the bees...something I will never forget!

Nana and Papa were ready too.

Emma took most of the scenery pictures; it helped her not get motion sickness.  Here we are heading towards the gates.

There were lots of bald eagles...they were so pretty.

Twins.

The kids loved the tour.

Emma got a picture of the Native American drawings...so cool.

Here the gates are closed.

The tour guide turned the boat to show us how the gates are opening.

Isn't that cool!  The gates are open!

We were distracted by a young eagle with a fish!

The gates are more open now...so cool.

We also learned about the gulch fire that happened August 5, 1949.  This was one of the first fires where the foreman set a backfire to stop the gulch fire from getting to him.  Unfortunately his crew did not follow him and thought he was crazy starting another fire so many of them died.  It was quite the story.

Here you can see the gulch in the background.  We learned a lot; our guide was an amazing storyteller.  It was so fun. 

On our way out we saw "The Sleeping Giant"...can you see it?  See his nose on the right and his mouth underneath and his chest and belly on the left...this is something I remember from when I was a little girl and we used to go to Helena.