Glacier NP - September 19, 2004

Day 1

	Lake McDonald Lodge, where we stayed the first night after landing in Kalispell. These photos show the the front and the rear porch
	The view to the south end of the lake from the dock, The dock on Lake McDonald at the rear of the lodge

Going-to-the-Sun Road

	The drive through the valley north of Lake McDonald, alongside McDonald Creek
	At the Loop, the main switchback at which the Going-to-the-Sun Road begins its ascent to Logan Pass.
	Valley below with McDonald Creek
	Thistle with waterfall into Logan Creek, from below Haystack Butte
	Broken fog in the valley below Mount Oberlin
	Snow on the ridge just north of Bishop's Cap
	Looking back into the Logan Creek valley
	Bishop's Cap in fog
	The south end of the Garden Wall
	Logan Pass
	Reynolds Creek valley, looking east, with Going-to-the-Sun Mountain left and Little Chief Mountain right
	Clements Mountain
	Reynolds Creek valley, looking east, Little Chief Mountain center
	Bighorn sheep on rocks north of the road near Lunch Creek
	Clements Mountain and falls to Reynolds Creek, looking west. Logan Pass is in the fog (as usual).
	Scott with Citadel Mountain
	Scott with Reynolds Mountain
	Jackson Glacier from an overlook, the only glacier visible from the Going-to-the-Sun Road
	Sunrift Gorge, easily accessible from the road
	Wild Goose Island on St Mary Lake, view to the west
	This is the spot of our first bear sighting. We pulled over to take a picture of St Mary Lake, I checked the mirror before opening the door, and behind us about 25 yards crossing the road I saw black bear. I tried to get the camera around in time, but he had disappeared into the woods. Digruntled, as I figured this could be the only bear we saw the whole trip, I snapped this picture.
	I thought I was taking a picture of Triple Divide Peak, but upon review of the topo map, it looks like Red Eagle Mountain. Triple Divide Peak sits back in the distance to the left. It isn't quite visible here. Triple Divide is interesting because it not only sits on the Continental Divide, separating Pacific and Gulf of Mexico watersheds, but also the Hudson Bay watershed.
	West toward the park from the area near the St Mary entrance (east side).

Many Glacier

	Along the road into the Many Glacier area from the eastern boundary of the park
	Swiftcurrent Lake, from the road near Many Glacier Hotel
	A bird at our campsite at Many Glacier

East Side to Two Medicine

	Along highway 89 which runs around the park on the east side
	Free range cattle impeded our progress along the roads east of the park
	The country to the east of the Two Medicine area
	While touring Two Medicine, we decided to drive through the Two Medicine campground, which was closed for the season. After missing the bear on the road earlier, I was relieved and excited to see this family of black bears crossing in front of our car. The traveled from the water to our right up through the middle of the camp. We circled around to take a few more pictures of them. Interesting to note that the mother seemed to let the large cubs travel in front while she would wait for them to cross a road. Once they were across without trouble, she would then follow them. I got the impression this was intended to preserve the element of surprise should a predator attack her cubs.
	Two Medicine Lake. On a cold, windy day in September, there were few people here. This clear water lake was the first of several we would see.
	On this cliff (part of Rising Wolf Mountain) to the north of Two Medicine Lake, one of the other visitors pointed out a line of mountain goats. You can spot them just left of center.

Trail of the Cedars

	Some of the great big cedars along this accessible walk. Some are 500-700 years old.
	At the far point of the tail loop, a bridge crosses a waterfall on Avalanche Creek. We would later see the source of this waterfall at Avalanche Lake.
	The enormous leaves of stunted tree/shrubs form the ubiquitous understory along many Glacier trails. I was calling these mountain maple after I thought I read it in a guidebook, but now I'm not sure that's right.

Going-to-the-Sun Road

	Heaven's Peak, which stands at nearly 9000 feet
	The third of our several trips to Logan's Pass. We actually drove the road three times that first day. Once from Lake McDonald to Many Glacier, then back across to Trail of the Cedars, then back to Many Glacier to our campsite. The last trip was a bit harrowing, as snow was moving across the pass. Visibility was nearly zero at times and I figured out what thost tall poles lining the road at the pass were for. They marked the road in the fog and snow.
	Once we were out of the snow and off the steeper portions of the road, I had a chance to take photos again. This one is near St. Mary Lake.

Back to Many Glacier

Our campsite was cold and wet. It rained the whole evening and night on us. Not a good way to start out our vacation. Of course, had we known whether the weather would eventually clear up, we might have abandoned our site that night. But, we were here to camp... right? The next day, after a very cold night we re-thought that.