The Big Picture

This is my first visit to Glacier National Park, and the panoramas are awe inspiring. I will start with the beginning of our trip on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, from West Glacier up to Logan Pass.  In this first photo, we are looking down on the river that runs into MacDonald Lake.  It is this river and valley that are the most accessible to Glacier visitors:

One of the largest of the falls in Glacier NP drains water from this bowl-shaped valley, carved by glaciers.  As it was explained to us by naturalists, v-shaped valleys are carved by rivers; u-shaped valleys are shaped by glaciers as they move.  (One of those things you learn and forget and then learn again by seeing the perfect example!)

Another peak comes into view as we ascend:

A small waterfall comes down from the cliff above the road:

Wow!  Is this real?  Take note of the dead trees in the foreground.  Major fires have burned through large portions of the park in recent years.  We learned a lot about forest succession - how lodgepole pines are the first to grow.  The lodgepoles die off in about 100 years, from disease and insect or weather damage, as cedars and other trees crowd them out and eventually take over.

This mountain, lit by the sun, seems to have a band of gold across its girth:

Once we arrived at the Logan Pass visitor center, we saw new vistas, and became especially well-acquainted with the mountain directly above the center.  This is where we walked across the alpine meadow.

Once on the meadow, visitors have this fantastic view of my favorite feature in the park - two aretes (French for "ridge") referred to as "the Garden Wall".  Someone after my own heart named these peaks!

 

Same view, further to the left.  Another "wow' view!

"Bishop's Hat", below.  This peak is just to the right of the Garden Wall.

Several mountain goats showed their agility on this cliff:

Meadow and glaciers, below.  It was explained to us that a glacier is ice that moves, or flows.  It can be new or old ice.

Once we reached the pass at the top of the meadow, which in this case happened to be the Continental Divide, we looked down to the west at the most incredible view, of Hidden Lake.  The hike was definitely worth it, even though we had to walk across several large patches of snow to reach it.  Unbelievably beautiful! We sat up here for quite a long time, soaking it in. Despite the snow, it was warm up here. No parkas needed.

The path to Hidden Lake was closed this week due to "bear activity".  Apparently the trout were spawning, and a particular berry had ripened, so the bears were partaking of it all. 

Another "wow"!

 

We started down the east side of the Continental Divide from Logan Pass, and saw more new vistas along the way:

This particular view is of the Jackson Glacier, one of the larger glaciers remaining in the park.  In 1850 there were about 150 glaciers; today there are 25.  Scientists expect all to be gone by 2020.
 

One fantastic view after another!  The photo below looks across St. Mary Lake.

I will end with a photo from the alpine meadow, of lichen on a rock, for your deep contemplation and meditation, of all things large and small:

Waters of the Alpine meadows

Here are a few more photos of the alpine meadows, mostly of water, an important element:

 

 

Look at all the colors of rock!  Each represents a different mineral, the red being oxidized iron.

Alpine meadows

I mentioned in the last post that we were above 6600 feet at Logan Pass, and above the tree line, surrounded by alpine meadows.  Logan Pass is known for its alpine flora, having several species that are very rare.  Here are a few photos of the flora.  The first is of a glacier lily, photographed by Lee.  Its petals are facing downward, so it’s a bit difficult to see:

This next plant is closely related to the pussy willow, according to a park naturalist who was giving a talk (and walk) on the flora:

The small yellow flower below, the timberline buttercup, is plentiful.  Mind you, all these alpine plants are small, not more than a few inches high.

Eileen took the following photos.  Although small, alpine flowers can be very colorful.  The purple flower on the left, below, is an alpine aster. 

 

I loved this one.  Pom poms!  Unfortunately, I don’t know what it is.    A little help from botanists, please?

 Lewis' monkeyflower, named after Meriweather Lewis, is one of the more brightly colored:

 

And the rosy paintbrush (terrible photo, sorry):

It is very impressive to see a flower blooming "en masse", as is the alpine aster right now:

The following photos are of the alpine meadows from above and below:

 

Here is the boardwalk that leads from the Logan Pass visitor center to the alpine meadows above:

One of the many, many small waterfalls:

This post was of the micro elements.  The next post will be on a macro scale - the panoramic views!

Road to the Sun

Glacier National Park has only one road that traverses the park, Going-to-the-Sun Road. Consequently it is a very busy road. To top it off, road construction is being done at the higher elevations, where low walls are being renovated on the side of the road with the steep drops. Traffic can only pass these areas one direction at a time. It's okay though, because the views, as we wait, are breath-taking.

We drove to Logan Pass, the highest elevation of Going-to-the-Sun Road, at 6646 feet. There is a visitor center here, and a trail to Hidden Lake. The lake is on the other side of the Continental Divide from the visitor center. In fact, on this day, we passed over the Continental Divide four times - twice driving, twice walking.

We walked uphill from the visitor center to the Divide, to an elevation of a little over 7000 feet. Consequently, we rose above the tree line to the level where alpine plants grow, with many streams and wet meadows draining melted water off the glaciers.

I am going to start with the animals we saw. There were ground squirrels, that nest in underground burrows. One couple accidently spilled some train mix on the ground, so we got a good view.   Its fur coat is beautiful, a sort of gray, cream, and brown checkered pattern.  This squirrel is larger than the gray squirrel that we see on the east coast:

Lee took this photo:

We didn't get quite as close to a hoary marmot.   Lee took these photos, from a distance:

The hoary marmot, it turns out, is closely related to the wood chuck or groundhog.  It is about the same size, but more colorful.  And it has two extra large front teeth for chewing.

We watched two marmots meet.  No violence ensued, just casual curiosity.  I suspect they were well acquainted.

 

The best part of the day was seeing the mountain goats.  We saw several from a distance early on, but then a few close up.  What a thrill!  I especially enjoyed watching a nanny and its kid.  They traversed the high cliffs above us.  (Lee gets the credit for these photos):

When the nanny came to a dead end, she reversed direction:

They then walked across a glacier.  I overheard someone say the kid took a spill on the ice, but I missed it.  Both goats seemed sure-footed to me, although the kid took smaller steps so had to run a few times to keep up!

 

Next the pair traversed a ridge, all the while coming closer to us:

 

 

This was a wonderful view.  It was at this point that Lee said the National Park Service must have hired the pair and scripted their movements!

 

And then, the nanny and goat appeared in front of us, not 20 feet from the trail!  How exciting is that!  

 

 

Here is the kid, trotting after his mother to keep up before they disappeared from view:

Another hoary marmot, sunning himself.  I forgot about this one, also taken by Lee:

And finally, on the way down from the top of the pass, we found this fellow cooling himself by laying on the ice, not 20 feet from the trail:

The literature of the park says it isn't necessarily good that the wildlife become so habituated to people.  It is certainly against the rules to feed any animals.  But there are so many people in the park, it can't be helped, I imagine.  

Other subjects to follow in later posts.