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.
