Glacier National Park

After Teddy Roosevelt NP, we drove 8 hours west across northern Montana to reach Glacier NP.  Even though our road atlas said we were on a “scenic route”, we only saw wheat and grass fields stretching to the horizon for the first 7 hours.  This was our first hint that we were finally getting close:

The next morning Steve grudgingly got up at oh-dark-hundred…

…so we could get into the park early enough to get a parking place near the trailhead.  We did!  I had scored a last minute reserved timed entry into the park through the Many Glacier entrance.  After visiting all the areas of the park, this was definitely my favorite, and I would highly recommend it, along with Many Glacier Hotel, if you can catch a reservation. (this last note is only after we stayed there with our organized bike tour that I’ll cover later)

That was our introduction to the 10 mile (out and back) Grinnell Glacier hike, that at the present time, I’m considering the best hike we’ve done in North America, and in my top 5 hikes of all time!

It was absolutely gorgeous all the way up…

… and kept getting better around every bend –

We even “got to” skirt a waterfall, getting a little cooling shower –

We just kept gradually climbing (the pitch really wasn’t that bad)…

… until we reached the glacier and its lake –

Steve got a nice panorama of our destination, with other hikers down at the beach for scale –

As we enjoyed our lunch while admiring the lake (and the crazy “youngsters” who plunged in for a dip), I spied this Mountain Goat family way up on the cliffs across from us.  I’m truly loving my new camera and lens!

(go ahead and enlarge the picture if you can)

As we bid our final adieus to the mesmerizing reflections…

… we continued enjoying very expansive views all the way down (I’m trying really hard not to keep using “jaw-dropping” as a descriptor, but it was truly apt here).

The jets of glacial water emptying into the lake were pretty interesting looking –

(enlarge the right edge of the lake to see them better)

So that was our introduction to Glacier National Park.  Awesome!

Since we had one more day before joining our friends on the tour, we started the next day with a hike (of course) but it was “only” 8 miles and was in a much drier and less popular area – Two Medicine.

It was here that we had close encounters with the local citizens –

Columbian Ground Squirrel (I thought these were marmots because they had such loud alarm calls)

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Bighorn Sheep

Those two finally decided to walk around us…

… after we had stopped and were wondering whether and how to yield the trail to them without upsetting them.

Our view of Two Medicine Lake from near the top made the hard climb worth it -

For the next video be sure to click the link at the end of this email to open and view a panorama from Scenic Point (I enjoyed all the butterflies dancing) –

I’ll continue with lots more in the next post –