Glacier NP (part 3, 7/20-7/31) - St. Mary/Many Glacier

Three phases of a flower

The entrance to the St. Mary Valley
with the ridge we saw from camp

"A symphony of color" near Beaver Pond

Pinks and blues

Purple, yellow, white

A whole splash of color

More fun with the macro lens

St. Mary Falls

Virginia Falls

Wild Goose Island, St. Mary Lake

Gabe riding tall to Cracker Lake

Glacial Cracker Lake

A mountain goat with problems

Grant's overlook of Grinnell Glacier

Grant's overlook of Many Glacier Valley

Gabe driving a surrey in Waterton, Alberta

Morning fog in Many Glacier
before boat rides across 2 lakes

The hike up to Grinnell Glacier

Bighorn sheep at our lunch spot

Grinnell Glacier & Mt. Reynolds

Looking up at Grant's overlook

2.5 billion year old stromatolites
(like cabbages made of cyanobacteria)

Salamander & Grinnell Glacier

Patti after Thunderbird Falls
(coming back from the glaciers)

Hiking the Highline Trail
from Logan Pass

View of the west side from Highline

Odd clouds from camp
(waiting for the mothership)

GRANT:  A picture is worth a thousand words, so this time the blog starts with photos.  We spent over a week in St. Mary on the east side of Glacier National Park.  From there we accessed the St. Mary Valley in the park, including its beautiful lake and falls, as well as the other side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road up to Logan Pass.  Our first hike in the area was an unassuming little jaunt to a beaver pond but had the most amazing assortment of wildflowers we've ever seen, among aspens and burnt trees.  The native people would come here in the summer because the higher elevations provided lots of harvests, as well as awe inspiring scenery.  Toward the end of our stay we went to Logan Pass and walked part of the famous Highline Trail, with panoramic views of the west side of the park.

From St. Mary we also accessed the Many Glacier Valley, which is really popular, and included two horseback rides for Patti and Gabe to Cracker and Poia Lakes, a hike to Grinnell Lake and a stunning, all-day, ranger-led hike to Grinnell Glacier near the Continental Divide.  Gabe absolutely loved riding horses, and they had both guides to themselves.  The hike to the glaciers included two boat rides, a long, steady but beautiful 3.8 mile hike, including a free shower in Thunderbird Falls, and an up-close look at the glaciers themselves.

The day that Patti and Gabe rode, I took the free shuttle to the west side of the park, climbed 2200 ft. to Granite Park Chalet then another 1600 ft. (in .8 miles) to a breathtaking overlook of the Grinnell and Salamander Glaciers, the whole Many Glacier Valley on the east side out to the planes, and the west side, including Lake MacDonald, the largest lake in the park.  I was standing on the knife edge of the arete, straddling the Continental Divide on a saddle point 7600 ft. up.  Wow!  Better get here quick, because the remaining 25 glaciers are projected to be gone by 2020!

We also spent a day in Waterton, Alberta, which is part of the Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park.  Didn't do any hiking but had a great time tooling around the cute little town and practicing our Canadian, eh?

Next we headed to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, but that's another story ...