Glacier National Park

Travel requires a sense of humor.  So does owning an RV, but that's not a topic for today.
This morning we were up and out heading for Glacier National Park.  It was raining.  We dithered for a bit and decided that we're here, and we're hiking.  This is Jim contemplating the Trail of the Cedars.

 

These are falls on the hike.  The light was really weird, I could not get a good picture.

 

Look at how the rocks have been shaped by the water.  The hike ends at Avalanche Lake.  It's a beautiful area, surrounded by mountains.  It was also pouring and I was afraid to take my camera out of the baggie.  So, you will have to take my word for it.

 

On the way back down, we started seeing shadows.  Then there was sun.  By the time we got back to the car, the sky looked like this.  We were pretty much drenched to the skin at that point.  Fortunately we had more clothes in the truck.

 

Then it was on into the park on the Going to the Sun Road.  The scenery and the road are amazing.  Construction began in 1921, the road was a NFS project specifically designed to appeal to tourists in cars.  It's a narrow twisty road.

 

The white patches on the mountain side are the glaciers.

 

The Logan Pass visitor's center is on the Continental Divide.

 

The Clements glaciers.  It is estimated that the glaciers will be gone in 2020.  That's seven years from now.

 

This is a Columbian ground squirrel.  Clearly he has been well fed by the visitors.

 

After leaving Logan Pass we kept driving toward East Glacier.  We spotted a fox.  He ended up running down the road for a bit and then went over the edge.  He should go back to the visitor's center and eat that squirrel.

 

The road is under construction.  A significant portion of the work is occurring in the area where you see Saint Mary Lake.  Every pull out is full of construction equipment, so we couldn't stop and look.  Is it not beautiful?

 
That's Wild Goose Island out in the lake.

 

This was taken from the east side of Glacier.  There was a huge fire about 10 years ago.  Dead trees stretch as far as the eye can see.

 

Why did the cow cross the road?  See the guard rail on the left of the photo?  They would go climb over it with great difficulty, instead of walking around it.  Cows!

 

This is part of the road back.  We weren't expecting that much elevation.  We had amazing bouts of rain.

 

You can take the train to Glacier.  There's a station at the East and West entrances.

 

When we returned to the park, it was bright and sunny, temps in the upper 70's.  It was good to get the clothing and boots out to dry.

 

Glacier is an awe inspiring park.  If you haven't been, you should go.  Even when the glaciers are gone, it will still be an amazing place.