Glacier National Park, MT – Mountain Goats and Lake Views

Glacier National Park

The air was still hazy.

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park was engulfed in smoke from wildfires

just days before our arrival.

Red limo tours at Glacier National Park

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.

Logan Pass boardwalk at Glacier National Park

Boardwalk hike at Logan Pass.

Hidden Lake at the summit of Logan Pass in Glacier National Park

Hidden Lake at the top of Logan Pass

Hidden Lake at the summit of Logan Pass in Glacier National Park

Logan Pass summit views.

Hidden Lake at the summit of Logan Pass in Glacier National Park

A glorious day.

Logan Pass Glacier National Park

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.

Mountain goats at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana

A mountain goat lazes about at the summit of

Logan Pass.

Mountain goats at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana

National Park animals seem fearless of humans.

Mountain goats at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana

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

Yellowstone National Park.