Glacier National Park...in a nutshell

Hey Everyone!

I am back in Billings after a quick trip to the northwestern part of the state. I know now that I need at least 5 days in the park to see and do things. But even a short trip is worth the drive if you don't have much time.

I put a lot of pressure on this National Park because I've been staring at one image of Going-To-The-Sun Road on my wall for nearly 20 years. I can't find a copy of that print online to show you, so I am including this one (photographer unknown; sorry!) just to give you an idea of why I was going.

Saturday morning I was on the road at 4:30 in order to get to certain spots for sunrise. When I got to spot number one around 5.30am here's what I saw:

Yep....just like I've imagined all these years :-). As luck would have it there was a weekend photo workshop/tour and they beat me to the spot. But it's okay....in my 4:30am-9:30pm explorations I found several other spots I want to visit at sunrise and sunset. You know, someday.....

If you want to see wildlife this is a great place to visit. I saw pretty much everything I think: moose, deer, bighorn sheep, cows & horses (free range in or near the road) - drive carefully; those black cows are REALLY hard to see at night! Be careful of the sheep...they seem quite mild here, but apparently they've gotten comfortable with us humans & aggressively go after picnickers!

And a couple of bears - I am pretty sure both are Brown Bears (Grizzly) ...this one is about a car length away from me. I have decided that's as close as I ever need to be to a bear. I've also come to the conclusion that wildlife opportunities can turn intelligent people into fools....I really shouldn't have been standing in front of my car with nothing between me and the bear.

The second one caused such a traffic jam of onlookers that the sheriff had to shoo people away. He looked small, but the way he was digging up big rocks and tossing them aside gave me another reason to think I've been as close as I want to be to bears.

The rest of the park visit was much calmer and safer.... here are some pics of the area.

From Going-ToThe-Sun Road.

One of the really impressive aspects of this road is how well the man-made stuff fits into the natural scenery. If you aren't paying attention, then it's hard to know where one ends and the other begins. Very cool!

There's a visitor center at the continental divide (Logan Pass) and some hiking trails start here. The next two pics are from that area. This spot gets VERY busy... get here early if you want to avoid the crowds.

This is Many Glacier Lake. Lots of great hiking trails here too.

The park has had a couple of big fires in the last several years....the earth is coming back to life quite nicely.

Because of the rain and wind I was unable to get a picture of the pretty little glacier lilies. But this cool little yellow flower made up for that. I haven't found the name of it yet....

This is Running Eagle Falls - named after a great Pikuni woman warrior.

Two Medicine Lake - a nice, quiet place for a boat tour or some kayaking.

 

And from a junction in Montana because I love a sign that can stop drivers and horses... :-)!

 

That's all from Montana for now. I leave for Australia in a few days and hope to have wifi from time to time as I explore. I hope all of you are having a great summer. As always, thanks for stopping by! I will be in touch soon.

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