Glacier National Park - Part II

Just thought I'd add a few more pictures from Glacier N.P. since I have Internet access tonight. I'm actually in Dawson Creek, British Columbia but trying to play catch up again on the pictures from several days ago. These are all still inside Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana.

Is it any wonder the great American west has become a central an enduring part of my life? It is times like this that remind me just how insignificant life's little problems, and the people who try to cause them, truly are.

Picture # 1:

Logan Pass at the summit of the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Look closely and you'll see the visitor's center which sits at an elevation of 6646 ft. and uses Mt. Reynolds as a backdrop. Logan Pass is located along the Continental Divide and is the highest point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
The pass is a popular starting point for hiking and backpacking trips. The most popular trail is the Highline Trail which heads north along the west side of the continental divide, through an area known as the Garden Wall, due to the abundance of wildflowers which grow there during the summer.

Just east of the pass, an area known as Big Drift often records over 100 feet of snowfall, much of which has been pushed over the continental divide by the prevailing westerly winds during the winter. The pass is closed during the winter due to avalanche hazards and the virtual impossibility of keeping the Going-to-the-Sun Road open, yet is generally open from the end of May until mid October.

The pass provides an excellent vantage point to view wildlife. A visitor is almost guaranteed to spot a mountain goat as they have become adjusted to summertime human visitation and I've been fortunate enough to see them on both this and my previous trip to Glacier in 2006.

Pictures # 2, 3, & 4:

Various mountain goat sightings and late evening views near Logan Pass. In the first picture you can see where this one is beginning to shed it's long, once snowy-white, winter coat.

Picture # 5:

Late afternoon view from my campsite on the eastern edge of Glacier N.P. near St. Mary's Lake.

We had a full moon hanging in the sky and later that night I took a trip back up to the summit of Logan Pass with a family I had befriended at the campground a day earlier. While no pictures were taken, it was absolutely breathtaking in the moonlight and the cool mountain air. If you ever go to Glacier, please don't overlook the beauty of the mountains at night, especially if you happen to be fortunate enough to be there with a full moon. It's well worth the effort and I promise you'll be without the masses.