The air was still hazy.
Glacier National Park was engulfed in smoke from wildfires
just days before our arrival.
The best way to see it is to let someone else do the driving.
It is a spectacular drive up and over the mountain range.
Boardwalk hike at Logan Pass.
Hidden Lake at the top of Logan Pass
Logan Pass summit views.
A glorious day.
A helicopter and pilot stand by as medics attend to an
unfortunate tourist.
Once the unfortunate tourist is onboard, with all eyes from
the visitors center watching, the helicopter rises up and
disappears beyond the mountains.
A mountain goat lazes about at the summit of
Logan Pass.
National Park animals seem fearless of humans.
She kept her baby close by.
A "stressed" forest lined the slopes of one hillside.
Glacier National Park, Montana
September 3-5, 2007 - Traveling east from northern Idaho, we visited Glacier National Park in
northern Montana. There had been terrible wildfires for most of the summer. Rangers told us
that two weeks before we arrived you couldn't see any views in the park. Luckily the smoke had
cleared somewhat by the time we got there, but the air was still very hazy. We drove from the
west side of the park up to Logan Pass and back down again.
At Logan Pass there is a beautiful
3 mile round trip walk that you
can take to the summit. Some of
it is on a boardwalk that stairsteps
up the hillside and some is a
gravel path. At the summit there
is a gorgeous view of Hidden
Lake.
Before we embarked on our little hike we saw a lot of commotion
in the visitors center. A tourist had a medical problem. We
ventured on with our hike but stopped midway up to watch a
helicopter fly in, pick up the hapless visitor, and fly him off to the
hospital.
At the summit we watched a mountain goat and her baby munching
the grass. They wandered in and about the many tourists,
unperturbed by our presence.
Making our way back down the
mountain road to West Glacier we
spent some time enjoying our luxury
accommodations at the West
Glacier KOA. The hot tub and
swimming pool were just what the
doctor ordered to relax and
ponder the beauties of all we had
seen. Once our internal batteries
were recharged a bit we took to
the road again and followed the
very scenic south and east
through Montana towards