entered the Park at the south west entrance at West Glacier. We had
made reservations that night at the Park inn at the northeast side
near Many Glacier. So we spent the morning hiking through some 500
year old cedar and hemlock forests that looked like middle earth. We
then went on to drive the world famous Going To The Sun Road. 50
miles of a spectacular road where major portions are built into the
side of mountains at death defying elevations. The drive was alot of
fun with many turnoffs for picture taking with many mountain peaks
above 10,000 feet. So many breathtaking scenes. I felt like a kid in
a candy shop. My camera was the gum ball machine and each snap of the
shutter revealed another kind of sweet. Each picture and scene
outdoing the previous.
By afternoon the winds picked up strongly and we stopped at the
visitor center, roughly midway, at Logan Pass which is on the
intercontinental divide at elevation 6,800 ft. We froze our butts
(mid 40's with wind gusts to 40 mph) just walking from the parking lot
to the building. The relief map there shows one mountain that has
three sides with one side draining to Pacific, one to Atlantic, and
one to Gulf of Mexico.
After that we headed out of the park on the east side and re-entered
further North to get to the Many Glacier area. We had a cabin waiting
for us near Swift Current Lake! not more than 10 miles from the
Canamiles province of Alberta. We checked in and then went for our
first real hike where with some steep climbs up to a waterfall. We
were in the heart of grizzly country. The signs on the trail tell it
all. See pic.
We were pooped after that and went back to the lodge. In the parking
lot, a park ranger had a telescope pointing to grizzlies and mountain
goats up the side of the mountain behind the lodge. Very cool. The
grizzly was big and plump, getting ready for winter. Unfortunately the
boat/hike to Many Glacier ended a week earlier so we had to forego
seeing that glacier.
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