Saturday, September 8th
On Saturday morning, JoAnn and I and her sister, Dawn, and boyfriend Ron flew from Philadelphia to Chicago and on to Bozeman, Montana. This was obviously a sightseeing trip and not a bird trip. There, we picked up our mid-sized SUV and started the nearly five-hour drive to Glacier National Park. We stopped in the Montana capital of Helena to get something to eat and continued northwest. As dusk approached, we saw a Pronghorn and numerous deer along the road. We eventually reached the Red Eagle Motel in St. Mary where we would spend the next two nights.
Sunday, September 9th
Back in 2004, JoAnn and I had basically done the same route to see Glacier, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Parks. Unfortunately, the weather during that entire week was constantly cloudy and dreary with a low cloud ceiling and periods of rain or drizzle. We never saw the peaks of many of the mountains in Glacier and the Tetons. Additionally that year, the night before we planned on driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road, a landslide closed the road on the west side of Logan Pass, so we never got to see that area of the park. As it turned out this time, the same west side of the road was closed due to the Howe Ridge Fire, a wildfire that was burning at the north end of Lake McDonald. Because of fear of the fire reaching the road, the park closed it to personal vehicles. Only the park shuttles and tour buses were being allowed up there. We heard that the park shuttles were booked two days in advance and the two tour companies, Red Bus Tours and Sun Tours, were also filled up. Sun Tours put us on a waiting list in case they decided to run a second bus, but it looked as if we would not get to see that area once again.
Sunday morning, I walked out of the motel and took in the view of the mountains flanking the east side of Glacier National Park.
After many humid 90-plus-degree days at home, the much cooler temperatures and low humidity felt great.
After an early breakfast next door at Johnson's of St. Mary, we passed through the east entrance of Glacier National Park and headed up the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Our first stop was the Wild Goose Island Overlook, which is the view most often put on postcards of Glacier. It's easy to see why.
A little farther up, we found a few vehicles stopped along the road, which meant there was probably an animal sighting. Someone said there were three Grizzly Bears up on the hill, but they were actually Black Bears. I managed to get a photo of one when it moved most of the way out into an opening.
About halfway up, the peaks of Reynolds Mountain and Clements Mountain came into view.
A stop at a turnout just below the East Tunnel produced this view.
We parked in the lot at Logan Pass (elevation 6,646 feet) and started our hike up the Hidden Lake Trail.
The trail climbs an additional 460 feet to the overlook where Hidden Lake comes into view.
Three White-tailed Ptarmigans and a Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel were seen along the trail.
Just beyond the overlook, there were several Bighorn Sheep among the evergreens and a Hoary Marmot running among the rocks.
Our walk back down the trail gave a totally different perspective of the amazing views.
The highest point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road is at Logan Pass where it crosses the Continental Divide.
We crossed the road and headed down the Highline Trail, which provides great views of the west side of the pass.
The exciting part of the Highline Trail is where it runs along the sheer cliff face of "The Garden Wall". It's about one to two persons wide with a sheer drop off down to the road. There is a rope anchored to the rock to help hikers feel a little more secure in the case of gusty winds or a fear of height.
We headed back down to the village of St. Mary to get something to eat. One of the pullouts provided this view of St. Mary Lake.
In St. Mary, several Black-billed Magpies were seen along the nearby stream.
While eating, I called Sun Tours and was happy to hear that they had decided to run a second bus on Monday, so we would finally get to see the west side of the pass after all. After eating, we re-entered the park and hiked the trail to St. Mary Falls and back. The trail, which passes through a previous burn that happened back in 2015, was well worth the walk.
Back at the motel, we set our alarms in order to get an early start to the two-hour drive all the way around to the other side of the park.
