Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park 7/18/16

Considering it was supposed to be raining this morning, we had the great fortune of having a dry and sunny day for our trip into Glacier NP.

The day began with a delicious breakfast with Claude and Bobbi, in the café at our campground.  Biscuits and gravy was on the menu.  Very tempting for one of us!  (sure you can guess) The good news was that they had just baked cinnamon rolls, so we were both happy. 

The park is about 2 miles from our campground.  We began our trek on the “Going to the Sun” road.  The views began immediately.  This road is extremely narrow, with rocks jutting out from the mountain along the way.  Steep drops were all along the route. 

We first stopped at McDonald Lake.  The calm waters provided a mirror image of the surrounding mountains.  

Then we stopped by Avalanche Creek and enjoyed viewing a series of rapids.  Should also mention that the crowds were remarkable in the park.  Lines of people waiting to use the bathrooms and lines of cars in traffic, many, many cars trying to stop in turn-outs.  Often, there wasn’t room for us to stop to try to take pictures.  The Logan Pass visitor center’s parking lot was identified as being “Full”.  Typical summer experience at a National Park.

We were treated to many waterfalls.  One of the areas is called the "weeping wall".

We went up to the highest point at Logan Pass: 6646 ft. with a temperature of 65 F while the town experienced a high of 79 upon our return in the afternoon.

Jackson Glacier was prominent and beautiful.  This glacier is suffering the same fate as the others, losing mass with each passing year.

Lake St. Mary had the most spectacular colors!   

Robert spotted a black bear on the way up to the east gate visitors’ center at St Mary, but we couldn’t stop due to the amount of traffic behind us. 

We stopped for a picnic lunch at Rising Sun Picnic area, hoping the bear wasn’t lurking.

 

On the ride back, “Eagle Eye” saw a grizzly, and this time we all had the opportunity to watch him in the distance.  Wish we had pictures to share of these bears, but not this time.

The ride back down the Going to the Sun road was equally impressive.   On the last leg of the ride down, there was a mountain goat on a ledge of the mountain!

A truly awesome day today at Glacier National Park.