My first visit to Glacier National Park was in June, 2009. It was the second stop on a road trip starting in Walla Walla, Washington, and going up through Glacier, Waterton and the Canadian Rockies all the way north to Jasper. I had never been to Glacier NP before, and had no inkling of how much I would fall in love with it. We had made reservations at the Many Glacier Hotel...we were ready.
We started off this trip by flying to Spokane and renting a car. We arrived mid-morning and drove the 3 hour drive to Walla Walla for wine-tasting the following day. The next day we were up early, had breakfast, and then hit the wine-tasting trail. It was a good day! We stopped at Northstar, Pepper Bridge, Canoe Ridge, Reininger, Three Rivers and a few others that I can't seem to recall. It was a great day ending with a drive back to Spokane.
This was an interesting house outside of Walla Walla.
Windows at Pepper Bridge.
Canoe Ridge
Canoe Ridge
The next morning, we were up very early and on the road to Coeur d'Alene. While it looked like a lovely city, we only made a quick stop here to walk around by the lake and take a couple of photos. We were on a schedule today. We were anxious to get to Glacier and drive the Going-To-The-Sun Road (GTTSR) that we had heard so much about! We also knew that we could be in for a very full day on the GTTSR...stopping many times for photo ops and possibly road construction and traffic. Also, we were not sure if the road would be open over Logan's Pass, and if it wasn't, we would have to backtrack and take the long road around the park to the MGH.
Lake Coeur d'Alene with a moose keeping an eye on things.
We entered Glacier through the west entrance and came to Lake MacDonald first.
Lake MacDonald
Wow. Wow. Wow. Going to the Sun Road before Logan's Pass to the west. Turns out that we had to turn back right after this because the road was still being cleared of snow before Logan's Pass. *sigh* We had to take the long road home...or to the MGH, at least.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Going to the Sun Road before Logan's Pass to the west. Turns out that we had to turn back right after this because the road was still being cleared of snow before Logan's Pass. *sigh* We had to take the long road home...or to the MGH, at least.
Beargrass - This stuff was everywhere. I guess deer and elk really love to eat it and grizzlies use it in their winter dens.
Somewhere along Swiftcurrent Trail.
The next day we drove up the Going to the Sun Road from the east and made it to Logan's Pass! Here I am to prove it.
The rest of this day was spent hiking to St. Mary and Virginia Falls. This was such a beautiful hike with the lake, wildflowers, moss and pink and turquoise rocks everywhere. We even ran into a couple of deer.
Oh, look, a deer butt. This guy was somewhere between Virginia and St. Mary Falls. We saw him a few times...at least we think it was the same one.
Another deer, this time a female, right on the lakeside trail. We sort of came to a stand off here on the trail...she finally made a detour up the side of the hill and we continued on our way.
The next morning we had to pack up and leave the MGH. Our stay was not nearly long enough (but the following year we would return for a whole week...which is covered in a previous blog post), but we had reservations in Banff and we wanted to make a stop in Waterton Peace Park. As we were driving from the MGH to Waterton, this black bear crossed the road. Of course, we were fumbling for our cameras, so I just caught him/her right before he/she headed into the bushes (left side of picture below - you can click on the pic to make it larger). We did not see tons of wildlife this trip, at least in comparison to our trip the following year, where we saw an incredible amount.
After this stop, we hit the road to Banff and Lake Louise, which is covered in a previous post.
This is a picture taken from the Prince of Wales Hotel overlooking Upper Waterton Lake. What an incredible view! There was a wedding taking place out here on the day we visited. While it would be a beautiful place to be married, it was also extremely windy.
After this stop, we hit the road to Banff and Lake Louise, which is covered in a previous post.
No comments:
Post a Comment