Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Glacier National Park, a different perspective
We took Going-to-the-Sun road east through the park this
morning. The road is worth traveling in both directions, as the
views differ considerably. From the west end of St. Mary's Lake we
hiked to St. Mary Falls, Virginia Falls, and Baring Falls, all
fantastic.
Wild Goose Island, St. Mary's Lake
St. Mary Falls
Virginia Falls
At St. Mary we turned south for 30 or 40 miles and re-entered
the park at Two Medicine Valley. An easy paved trail leads to
Running Eagle Falls, also called Trick Falls. In the spring, water
pours over a high cliff, almost completely obscuring a lower
waterfall, which seems to come from nowhere. In the autumn only the
lower falls is visible.
Running Eagle "Trick" Falls
From Two Medicine Lake we watched at a distance two big
grizzlies foraging on a mountainside. We abruptly cut short our
planned hike in this area! Later we took a steep hike to Appistoki
Falls. After all the great falling water we'd seen, we had to rate
this one as underwhelming, mostly because the trail didn't go
anywhere near it.
What are you looking at?
We returned to Whitefish via Highway 2, which runs along the
southern border of Glacier. Goat Lick is a bluff that provides a
natural source of salt and minerals for the park's mountain goats.
There weren't any goats there this afternoon, so we'll just have to
be satisfied with the one we saw in the parking lot a couple of
days ago.
Goat Lick Bluff
Back to Dos Amigos for dinner tonight, another good meal, but
this time marred by lousy service. It still beats the hell out of
gas-station food.
209 miles.
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