Tony CuradoOn day 12 I had one of my longest drives of the trip ahead of me, and the cloudy night before had me in a somber mood. But I was on my way to Glacier National Park so my spirits didn’t stay down for long. While the drive was long it was beautiful. I drove through Yellowstone and much of Wyoming, making my final push up into central Montana, that took me for a drive along the some pristine lakes backdropped by amazing mountains and forests. It was a long taxing drive, and I was hoping in some way karma would be on my side and reward me with a clear night sky.
I arrived at my hotel after 8:30 p.m. and after a long 12 hour drive, I settled into bed to look at some pictures and do some writing. The next day I woke up and spend most of the morning recouping from the previous days drive. Around 2:30 in the afternoon, I started my way to Glacier National Park but unfortunately the weather was against me again. The forecast called for major rain storms all night long, so a night shoot was out of the question. But if there is anything I learned from being out in Colorado is that mountains storms always look amazing in pictures.
Glacier National Park is very large place, 1,012,837 Acres to be exact, with over 700 lakes throughout the park. Day hikes to numerous larger alpine lakes one of the best things to do on your trip, but if you only have one day in the park the best thing to do is hit “Road to the Sun” scenic byway. The road splits the park in half and will take you up and down and all around on some hairy turns and heart stopping drop offs. But if you can stomach the drive you will certainly be rewarded.
Halfway through Road to the Sun road, you will come to Logan’s Pass, where they currently have a Big Horn Mountain goat study going on, as well some trails to hike and see the mountains. I started out on the 1.5 mile hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook, the 3 mile hike to the actual Hidden Lake was closed due to “Bear Activity,” and I soon realized that the hike to the overlook should have also been closed due to “snow activity.” I made it about halfway up, over 2 different largely snow covered areas when I finally could get a glimpse of the remaining trail and it was covered in snow with a very large climb up another snowy hill. As I was debating with myself on whether I would continue, even though I couldn’t get to the lake, was made very easy, as I turned around and saw the storm creeping even closer to where I was, so off to the parking lot it was.
When I finally made it back to my car, I saw some commotion going on around a small herd of mountain goats. It was pretty funny to watch, as they would stand in one spot disrupting traffic than out of nowhere run for the other end of the parking lot. All was worth it as they finally made it to a grassy spot by the edge of the parking lot and one decided to strike a pose for all the tourist they just charged.
I made it back to my car just in the nick of time. As I was putting my equipment away, the skies starting falling and the next thing I knew it was hailing. It was the perfect time to call it quits for the night and end my Glacier National Park visit, for now….
Lynn Wiezycki
Mary Presson Roberts