Giant Springs...

One of our first stops after getting to Great Falls was Giant Springs. I have many fond memories of this park...feeding the fish, walking across the bridge, running up the hill and rolling down!! It is a beautiful fun park. The Great Springs for which it is named after pumps out over 150 million gallons of water a day into a pool which then flows 201 feet via the Roe River into the Missouri River. The Roe River is the shortest river in the world...

"E" and "Emi"...Cousins...almost exactly one month apart...enjoying their picnic! I think between the two of them, they just ate the scraps that the older kiddos dropped!
Erin and Kaleena sitting down for lunch!

Taking a break from running up and down the steps!! Zach, Seth, and Kaleena must have ran up the steps and then down the hill a dozen times.

I'm not sure how many times the boys fell on their trips down the hill, but Kaleena found herself flat on the ground numerous times! It didn't seem to stop her from trying to keep up with the boys!!

Taking in the view...this is right on the edge of the Roe River where the Springs are coming over the edge of the pool.

Giant Springs is also home to a fish hatchery. Last time I was here there were several ponds of fish you could feed, from tiny babies all the way up to the full grown adults. This particular day we could only feed and watch the adult trout (or "Eels" as Zach called them.).

Watching...waiting...would the fish take the bait?? Even these big guys will actually leap out of the water and race eachother to the food. It is pretty fun to watch.
Feeding the fish. I think Eli could actually see the fish - he was pretty excited about the whole thing.
Zach's picture of the "white eel." There is ALWAYS an Albino in the group. I wonder if it is the same one that was there 5 years ago?? The boys really wanted to just feed him, but the other fish always snatched the food away first.