After leaving the West Glacier campground, I took a trip down memory lane. We went horseback riding through the forest. On the lookout for bears and deer we saddled up. Behind our wrangler, Chad, Harry was the first in line on his horse named “Marley.” I was behind him on “Splash,” my mother behind me on “Datsun,” and my Dad as the caboose on “Facebook.”

Even though it was only Harry’s first time, we could all tell he was the most relaxed the entire ride. One hand in his pocket and the other on the reins, rolling his body with the horse’s footsteps. Harry was even promoted to “Junior Wrangler!”

My horse was definitely called splash for one main reason. No, not because its hair looked like splattered paint (even though it did). But because Splash did not like water! This may be ironic, but he would rather walk on a thin and muddy log in the middle of a puddle and slip every time with a splash than walk straight through. Let’s just say I got a little wet.

Datsun took a few too many dumps. On a half day tour, the horses usually code brown about twice and code yellow three times. My mother called code brown about five times and code yellow about four! My Dad grew up with family horses and I took lessons when I was younger. Since Harry is already a pro, I’m guessing Harry and I both inherited this gene from our Dad. My mother had the most trouble while riding Datsun, but Datsun wasn’t the problem. 😉

Anyway, we passed by a scenic overlook of Strawberry and Chocolate Drop Mountains. On our way back to the stables, we took the trail “Bear Claw.” It was named appropriately! All the trees had scratches on them and logs were scraped up on the ground. This trail was where they see 90% of their bears! We luckily didn’t see one, I was on edge the entire ride!

After the tour, I kept saying “herse” instead of horse. This may seem weird, but a lot of strange things happen in Glacier National Park!!