MTD7 – Hike to Pine Creek Falls

Today is our last full day in Montana.

Astrid has been waking up in the wee morning hours and I have been getting up to feed her and put her back to sleep, and then Uwe will take her at 7 AM so I can sleep in. Today we changed shifts. Uwe got the early morning shift and I got the later shift and let him sleep in for a change.

So this morning Astrid was watching me make breakfast and wash the dishes. She grabbed this wooden spoon after I had washed it and laid it down on the counter. I thought it was cute that the spoon looks so enormous in her hands. It snowed last night. Here's what our Jeep looks like after an overnight snowfall. This is how the morning looks inside the cabin.We bundled up the baby (this time with her own hat) and off we went for a hike to Pine Creek Falls. Notice the walking sticks next to the trailhead sign. The walking stick was a great help. Slipping and falling is a concern when you're carrying a baby on your back and there is snow and ice on the ground. I did slip once on the way back, but luckily I was able to catch my fall and get up quickly with out any assistance.The sign says it's a 1 mile hike to the Pine Creek Falls.A Winter wonderland. Uwe throwing a snowball.If you look closely you can see Uwe under that snow avalanche. He stood under a little tree and shook it and this is what happened. There was A LOT of snow. Shaking off the snow. A human snow cone.Uwe said he did it so I could have a great pic for my blog, but I think it was just the little kid in him that wanted to see what would happen. An ode to Uwe written in the snow.
Here we are standing next to Pine Creek.Content little hiker. A family portrait in the snow.Crossing the bridge (which was built for horses to cross).Another pic of Pine Creek.Now these are some real Christmas trees.My beautiful snow baby.Astrid is sleeping.

We kept walking and it felt like we walked much further than 1 mile, but we still didn't see any waterfall. We started hiking up an incline and it got more difficult as we were hiking up the mountain, but we kept going hoping that just around the corner we would see the Pine Creek Falls. (We found out later that the Falls are right where the bridge is, that we crossed, but because of the snow and frost, there wasn't any water flowing.) After awhile we decided to turn back. Baby Astrid's name written in the snow. Ready for round II...

On your mark.Get set.

Go! Tada!Covered in snow but smiling from ear to ear.Blue skies. Here we are after our hike.That was a really nice hike. Thank you Bailey for recommending it and showing us how to get there on a map! What a perfect day.
Our little one is growing so tall.
Astrid touches snow for the first time.Astrid's sitting in a high chair again, at a restaurant in Livingston.

Her snowsuit has a toy attached to it, which she's chomping on. Uwe feeding Astrid in the high chair.Back at the cabin there is a baby rocking chair.And a matching adult sized rocking chair.

Do we really have to go home tomorrow?