Glacier National Park

Monday (August 18th) we left Libby, MT and arrived at Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana. The first 3 nights we stayed on the west side of the park at Apgar Village near West Glacier. On Thursday we moved over to the east side of the park to St. Mary.

One of the main attractions of Glacier National Park is the “Going-to-the-Sun” Highway. It traverses the park from east to west about 50 miles. The peak is at Logan Pass at an elevation of 6646 feet. The road was cut out of the sides of the mountains and as you go up (or down), the views are breathtaking. There are many places along the road where it is very narrow and a little bit scary.

Here are a few pictures along the Going-to-the-Sun Highway.







Here are three more pictures of some of the scenery







Here are some pictures at the Visitor Center at Logan Pass.







Also, at each end of the Going-to-the-Sun Highway are a couple of huge lakes. McDonald Lake on the west side is about 6 miles long and St. Mary Lake on the east side is 9 miles long. The road follows along both of these lakes.



One of the most scenic and probably most photographed spots is Wild Goose Island in St. Mary Lake. Here’s our version.



There’s also lots of wildlife - we saw several bears, lots of ground squirrels, Hoary Marmots, Big Horn Sheep, and Mountain Goats.

Here’s a Hoary Marmot



This Big Horn Sheep was right beside the parking lot at Logan Pass.



This nanny Mountain Goat and her kid were right beside one of the trails.





This National Park is one of the most beautiful we’ve ever seen - nothing we saw in the Canadian Rockies or Alaska can top it. We had been here back in the late 80’s and it is still just as spectacular as we remembered it.

All good things must end - tomorrow we're slowly headed southeast.