It wasn’t until our third day in Glacier National Park that we finally got to see what charms this awesome park contains. We did hikes on our first two days here and saw some of the areas, but weather and wildfire season were not cooperating to allow us to view what we knew was here.
The first day we were on the west side of the park and the smoke-filled air that had been obscuring our views for days in Idaho and Montana refused to move out of our way. We hiked to a lookout tower and half of that hike was disappointing because it was through a forested area that had been burned over. In the afternoon we did a nice hike to Avalanche Lake.
That evening a storm system moved through, bringing rain and cooler air. The second day we left our motel early in the morning to drive through the park on the famous Going-to-the-Sun road. We could see some of the stunning scenery but the tops of the mountains were obscured in mist and fog. Traffic was so heavy that we didn’t dare stop to take pictures. When we got to the Visitor Center at the top it was an hour before it opened and the parking lot was full of cars already. Everything was lost in a sea of fog. We didn’t stick around but changed our hiking plans to do a couple of hikes lower down the mountain.
But today dawned bright and clear, just perfect for an 11-mile hike to view Grinnell Glacier. I couldn’t stop taking photos. It was so awesome compared to what we saw the first two days. So I’m not bothering to post any of the other pictures here so I can leave more room for the Grinnell Glacier hike–one to remember.
Living Wonderously 