Flame and Pyro Adventures: Glacier National Park

Wednesday, July 9

We awoke in our Safari Tent's king-size bed, extremely comfortable, clear blue skies once again, with the temperature in the low 50's. Nice "glamping" weather! {If you are interested in this kind of accommodations, you can check out their website www.glacierundercanvas.com Tom grabbed me a cup of coffee and him a cup of hot chocolate at the "tent office" and away we went to Glacier National Park before 7:00 a.m. What a great day to go explore this awesome National Park!

It was before 7:00 a.m. when we arrived at the West Entrance, Apgar Visitor Center (not open yet), hardly anyone up and about yet, so this deer is just cruising around the parking area looking around.

So we headed out on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Going-to-the-Sun Road is one of the world's most spectacular highways. Bisecting the heart of Glacier National Park, the 50-mile-long road follows the shores of the park's two largest lakes and hugs the cliffs below the Continental Divide as it traverses Logan Pass. Many scenic turnouts and wayside exhibits let you stop to enjoy the park at your own pace.

We begin by following the south shoreline of Lake McDonald, a glacial lake 3,153 feet elev.

Spectacular scenery! Awesome views around every curve in the road!

After going only a few miles, we pull into the Lake McDonald Visitor Center so a "grumpy" Erma can get a second cup of coffee and a sweet roll. We see these neat old touring cars that the Park operates to shuttle folks around the Park. The car's canvas top can be rolled back for great views and photo-ops.

Here is our "touring car", our rental Mazda 5, "Zoom-Zoom". It is still early and there is still not many folks around.

There are so many turn-outs, and so many awesome sights! We get out and take photos at these gorgeous waterfalls.....

Waterfalls down low and snow up high!

More Waterfalls....

We walk across the bridge and get sprayed by the cold mist coming up from the falls.

When we get across the bridge we discover a cute brown monkey, sitting on a big rock! Someone abandoned their monkey! I'm glad I left BooBoo in the car or she would have wanted to take this brown monkey home with us.

Next we stop at McDonald Falls....

These clear running streams and rivers are truly beautiful!

We take a walk on the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail....

It is a lot of boardwalk through towering trees.....

....some uprooted trees....that BooBoo could not resist!

What a huge log jam in this rushing Avalanche Creek.

It is so much moisture in the air here that a green lichen/moss covers everything.

So serene and beautiful among the towering cedars along Avalanche Creek.

Tom and BooBoo having fun in a hollowed-out tree trunk!

Now that is an enormous knot on that tree!

I've already told you how much fun it is to go on vacation with Tom!

We keep going on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, in awe of God's spectacular creation in this Park.

There are so many waterfalls.....everywhere we look....

This sort of reminds us of Alaska. Photos don't seem to capture the majesty of the scenic views.

Summer in the mountains means colorful wildflowers...

We pass through another tunnel....

This is the view at the top of "The Loop"....

Water is seeping right out of the rock walls...

More beautiful wildflowers!

We are winding ever higher heading to Logan Pass.

We see a lot of bicycle riders. That has got to be a tough climb on a bicycle!

There are also a lot of motorcycle riders on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Fast-rushing Haystack Creek....

in the early morning sunlight.

This sign tells us about the monumental challenge of getting the Road open every year by the end of June/first of July. This year the Going-to-the-Sun Road had only been open for about a week when we got there. The snow can be as deep as 80 feet near Logan Pass! While most folks are turning on their air conditioners, the work crews are busy plowing snow in an attempt to have the Road open by July 1st. What a daunting task!

BooBoo is just speechless at the incredible views!

Tom wanted to get out of the car and touch this wall of snow.

We are coming upon the Weeping Wall...

...the water is just pouring out of the side of the mountain...

...right onto the roadway....and we drive right through it.

This is the Triple Arches.

Now that is a huge wall of snow!

...here at Logan Pass Visitor Center.

The road is plowed, the parking lot is plowed, the sidewalks are plowed...

But every where else is covered in snow up here!

Someone even built some tiny little snowmen!

On the way up to Logan Pass, Tom and I discussed maybe taking a little hike on the Hidden Lake Nature Trail. Well, like I said, once you leave the roadway, parking area, and sidewalks, everything is covered in snow. Snow that has seen some sunshine and then refroze again when the temps drop at night. Slick as glass!

We walk a few yards out anyway, slipping and sliding, and I decide very quickly I am not even going to attempt to walk 1 1/2 miles in these conditions to Hidden Lake! Tom agrees that we are really not prepared for this kind of hiking.

On our way back to the parking area we see the Warning Sign attached to the Trailhead Sign, warning of the dangers of snow drifts, snow bridges that may collapse, etc.

A lot of daring souls head up the trail anyway, some are equipped for this kind of hike.

I don't even see the trail!

A fellow tourist snapped this photo of us together.

I looked back and saw this...those little dark specks are those daring souls trying to get up and over the mountain to Hidden Lake.

As we headed back to the car, Tom created snowballs and sent them sliding down the handrails!

As soon as the snow melts, out pops the wildflowers!

There were a lot of these touring cars up at Logan Pass Visitor Center.

As we left, we went through yet another tunnel.

And admired more beautiful scenery along the way.

They only have a short period of time in which to do road work in the north country because of all the snow and ice, so on the east side of the Park, the Going-to-the-Sun was going through some major construction. Flagman letting only one lane of traffic through at a time. But the scenery beside the road construction along the shoreline of Saint Mary Lake (4,484 feet elev.) was still stunning.

We finally made it through all the construction, and exited from the Park, to the small town of Saint Mary where we stopped for a late lunch.

After our lunch we headed north on Hwy. 89, following the eastern shoreline of Lower Saint Mary Lake to the tiny Montana town of Babb. From there we took the Park Road along Swiftcurrent Creek to the Many Glacier Entrance. We planned to go to the Many Glacier Lodge where we could purchase our boat tickets for the next day's boat tour.