Vivian here. After a perfectly serene day traveling along good old Highway 2 to East Glacier and then into new territory -- the town of Browning on the Blackfeet Nation and mesmerizing Highway 464, then back into the park at St. Mary Lake -- and low and behold my computer went kablooie. So Phil is giving me a little time on his laptop to do a post. The real problem is that my computer has an internal card reader for the camera we've been using, so the photos may be few and far between until we get back to Long Beach.
Ah, Long Beach! It's only two days until we'll be walking through the door at 723 Terraine and getting ready for a weekend visit from Cousin Steve. Back in the land of washer/dryers and computer repair shops within walking distance.
Anyway, the tip of the day for anyone who stays on West Glacier and visits sites on the other side of the park is to drive up Highway 464 on a clear day. It runs parallel to the park but about 25 miles away from the park boundaries. The distance allows you to take in the scope and breadth of the mountains and also gives you an idea of why the Plains Indians consider the place hallowed ground. Looking west from the plains, these soaring jagged peaks rise up out of nowhere scraping the clouds and sometimes hiding the sun.
We stopped at the Visitor Center at St. Mary Lake and studied the three dimensional map to find out the names of the mountains we'd been oohing and awing over for the last 45 minutes in the car. A ranger had lots to say about encountering wildlife in the park. The more I hear about bears the scareder I get. She mentioned that in a week, she would climb a mountain and count bald eagles as they flew by on their annual migration. Talk about an all-American assignment.
The wind was blowing like a hurricane, but we drove up the Going to the Sun Road as far as they allowed, which was the Jackson Glacier Overlook. On the way back down, we ate our sandwiches in the car parked with a million dollar view and did a mile and a half walk in a sheltered canyon to see St. Mary Falls. A bridge crossed the 15 foot cascade of water into a very deep emerald pool. On the way back up to the car, several people passed us, which of course brightened my spirits. Phil stopped several times to take pictures and scan the horizon with binoculars, but so far no woodland creatures.
Ah, Long Beach! It's only two days until we'll be walking through the door at 723 Terraine and getting ready for a weekend visit from Cousin Steve. Back in the land of washer/dryers and computer repair shops within walking distance.
Anyway, the tip of the day for anyone who stays on West Glacier and visits sites on the other side of the park is to drive up Highway 464 on a clear day. It runs parallel to the park but about 25 miles away from the park boundaries. The distance allows you to take in the scope and breadth of the mountains and also gives you an idea of why the Plains Indians consider the place hallowed ground. Looking west from the plains, these soaring jagged peaks rise up out of nowhere scraping the clouds and sometimes hiding the sun.
We stopped at the Visitor Center at St. Mary Lake and studied the three dimensional map to find out the names of the mountains we'd been oohing and awing over for the last 45 minutes in the car. A ranger had lots to say about encountering wildlife in the park. The more I hear about bears the scareder I get. She mentioned that in a week, she would climb a mountain and count bald eagles as they flew by on their annual migration. Talk about an all-American assignment.
The wind was blowing like a hurricane, but we drove up the Going to the Sun Road as far as they allowed, which was the Jackson Glacier Overlook. On the way back down, we ate our sandwiches in the car parked with a million dollar view and did a mile and a half walk in a sheltered canyon to see St. Mary Falls. A bridge crossed the 15 foot cascade of water into a very deep emerald pool. On the way back up to the car, several people passed us, which of course brightened my spirits. Phil stopped several times to take pictures and scan the horizon with binoculars, but so far no woodland creatures.
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