06-30 The Going to the Sun Road

Yesterday we were able to get to mile 30 on the Going to the Sun Road. A section of the roadway was reduced to one lane as the outside lane has caved in. Repairs are ongoing and the rebar for that lane is already shaped and tied in place.

The road itself is an engineering masterpiece. It was constructed in 1925 and rises above some of the most dramatic valleys in the park. Some of the drops are over 1,000 feet. Broad rivers are reduced to small ribbons of powder blue lines running through the forest below. Their color is caused by the glacial till, the glacier having turned the rock beneath it into nothing more that a fine grit carried by the creeks and streams.

Just beneath Logan Pass a beautifully formed cirque can be seen. (3rd photo from the top.) The Going to the Sun Road is one of the most scenic roads in the world.

I was shooting the moose next to a fellow who lives in the area and who is in the park several times a week. He informed me that this was only the second moose he’s seen in Glacier. Glacier is heavily forested and lacks the broad fields of grasses and sage. Large animals like bison and elk are not the rule here as they were in Yellowstone and The Tetons but deep woods are excellent habitat for bear.

The flower is a primitive wild rose.

06-28 First Day into Glacier National Park - Day 29

Unfortunately the 5o mile Going to the Sun Road, the across mountain route, is closed after only 14 miles due to snow and an avalanche. Today we heard the road is now open for 28 miles so I may be able to get higher up than yesterday.
I was able to get a few photos of Lake McDonald and then we took a back country gravel road to Bowman Lake on the western side of the park. The park itself is heavily wooded, at least in the lower elevations. Along with fir and spruce, lodgepole and Ponderosa pine, cedar and larches grow here. In many ways it reminded me of the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsular but I saw neither mosses nor one of the species indicative of that forest type, the Sitka Spruce. The photo of the small shrub is wild currant. Just outside the big black bus are growing several high bush blueberries… I think. Not being too familiar with western vegetation, they may well be what the locals call huckleberries. Not the blue huckleberries of the Smokies but a red variety.

The drive to Bowman Lake was beautiful with the tall peaks of Glacier to our east. Much of this route has been burned recently and the new trees are coming back amid grasses and other deer browse. A small doe was seen drinking from a small run. At Bowman Lake several back packers were getting their gear together and two fellows were kayaking against a wonderful mountain backdrop.

06-27

Yesterday we drove from Gardiner, Mt, the northern entrance to Yellowstone, to West Glacier located, strangely enough, on the west side of Glacier National Park. The drive was beautiful. We passed through cattle country and beautiful fields of wheat framed by mountains. This is Lewis and Clark country and many of the names date from their epic journey: Three Forks, The Bitterroots, Lolo Pass, the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers and so many others. But it is the beauty of the country that takes you first, not its history. Wonderful light, expansive valleys and towering mountain ranges. Too bad the pullouts are not where the scenery is located but here is a shot of the big black bus and its pet Jeep.

06-25 Lamar Valley and the Fires

These photos were taken yesterday.

This coyote was walking along a ridge as we returned from Lamar Valley. Lamar has some of the most beautiful light I’ve seen. It is a broad valley, heavily glaciated, lots of moraines and erratics are seen everywhere. Buffaloes come to the Lamar River in the afternoons to graze and drink its water. They rest along the banks and benches by the hundreds. (See 7th photos below.)

My biggest surprise in Yellowstone, apart from its sheer size and beauty, was the extent of the fire damage of 1988. Fires around and in the park destroyed 1.2 million acres of which almost 800,000 were in the park. As can be seen in the road photo, the forests in the higher elevations are very slow to recover. Remember, this is twenty years after the fact.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Glacier National Park.

06-25 More Animals

These photos are from the 23rd. I’m running behind in my posting but bear with me-fun comes first. :^)
The wolf was a nice find although the photo isn’t much. It was shot with a 300mm Nikkor lens with a 1.7 TC attached to my D2x. It is heavily cropped as he was at least a half a mile away. Probably more.
On the other hand, the elk were right on top of us. At one point, one of them was too close to shoot as he more than filled the frame.
The horn is from outside the park in the Beartooth Range. The range probably gets its name from this peak. Horns are formed by three glaciers backing up a mountain as the ice mass increases and “plucks” stone from it. As it forms three cirques in this manner, a horn is left when the glaciers retreats. The Matterhorn in the Alps is probably the best known of the horns.
The other rounded snow covered mountain is just to show the amount of snow in the high country. We have gone over a pass several times that still has eight feet of snow on the north side.
The moose was shot late in the evening and refused to raise his head very often or move away from the grasses on which he was feeding. It too is a poor shot, but hey, it is a moose.
The mountain sheep, three of them, were seen on our way down from Mammoth Springs. They were running across the face of a cliff most of us would find impossible to cling to.
The cute one is not a goat. That’s my beautiful daughter.

06-23 The Geysers and the Big Loop

These are photos from the day before yesterday, the 22rd. We drove the big loop starting on the western side of the park where most of the thermal activity is located. The heavy smell of sulfur and hydrogen chloride permeates the air near the hot springs, fumaroles and geysers. Strange country indeed and the vents are almost countless.
Naturally the way is made even more interesting by the occasional spotting of elk, bison, and their young. Yesterday Elaine spotted a pair of bull elk along a stream not far from a pull out. Aimee and I photographed them for over twenty minutes getting some very nice shots. I’ll be putting those up later.
The weather continues to be beautiful and the high during the day is in the 70s. Nights are cool and we fall asleep exhausted from driving the park all day. Yesterday we drove over 160 miles sightseeing and taking photos. Around every turn there is a beautiful scene or a large animal waiting to be seen. Magical place.
Dick, Gayle and Bre, we should get Elaine to drive us on our Cove outings. She’s a great spotter and can really wheel the Jeep. :^)

06-22

Yesterday, the 21st, was a day of rest, cleaning up and some small repairs to the bus. High water pressure blew the regulator and caused a water line to leak. All is back to normal... I hope.
Weather continues to be mild with beautiful skies. We visited the park visitor's center because the building was located in a strange looking compound. As it turns out, these buildings were used by the army from the early 1880s until 1916. This is the oldest national park in the system (1872 if memory serves) and the army was stationed here to help with poaching... according to the sign. This was also the period of the Native American Ghost Dance, which had the white settlers and Washington very concerned, and Chief Joseph's dash for the Canadian border. He passed through Yellowstone, already a park, with troops in pursuit. I suspect the army was stationed here for more than "poachers".
We found a really bad Chinese restaurant last night if anyone would like the name. Who ever heard of not taking leftovers home from a Chinese restaurant?

Here's a few more photos from the day before.