Bozeman Hikes: The M Trail + Hyalite Canyon

During our stay in Bozeman, we were able to get out several times and do some hikes in the area.  We wanted to hike the M Trail, which is a short, but very steep trail up the side of a mountain to a giant white letter "M" at the top.  You can see it in this picture.  

Despite the grade, Sierra hiked the whole thing all by herself, all the way, and all the way back down the longer, slightly less steep trail on the other side.

Hooray!  We made it to the M!

Kaia missed the fun because she was crashed out in the carrier at this point.

Sierra decided this tree needed a hug.  I didn't even suggest it!  She just stopped, and wrapped her arms around the tree.

Though not as steep, part of the down trail were rather treacherous.  Sierra handled them like a champ!

Kaia finally woke up to enjoy the last bit of the trail!

On another day, we headed out to Hyalite Canyon, which is about 20 minutes outside of Bozeman.  It's a lovely place, and not particularly crowded, really a gem in this area of the country.

We did a hike that was slightly longer than 3.5 miles which took us past several waterfalls.  I think the trail stats stated that if we would have done the entire 10 mile out-and-back trail, we would have seen 11 different falls.

Kaia likes to start out hikes on her own.  This is the summer she began declaring, "I hike!  I hike!" so we let her hike until she gets tired and requests to be picked up.

I am trying to recall the name of the first falls we came across on the trail, and I believe it was Grotto Falls, not particularly tall, but a lot of volume, and beautiful to see.   We took a little off shoot from the main trail to get there.

The next falls were called Arch Falls, because of the arched rock through with they flow.  The best views were from a thin trail on the edge of a cliff.  Sierra got to see the waterfall under Daddy's careful watch, and Kaia took in the view from the carrier, safely on my back.

Though we weren't very close, we also had views of these tall twin falls coming down a cliff in the distance.

Sierra, once again, did great, navigating rocks and stream crossings.  She really became quite the intrepid little hiker with all the trails we visited this summer.

Water break!

Wildflowers were in bloom along the trail, including Columbine, one of my favorites!