Today we traveled up into Canada and skirted Waterton Park and then back into the US before cutting across Glacier National Park on the "going to the sun" road. Here is the summary of todays travels.
Then as we enter the Glacier National Park "going to the sun road" the first major feature that you come upon is a very large lake, with a small tree toped island (the island is "wizard island"). Here is a couple pictures of the lake and us in the area.
Then as you advance further up the road there are many small creeks and falls along the way. Here is one that we stopped at and took a walk back to view.
And here is a wonderful looking flower I happened upon on the hike back to the falls.
The road up the mountain is just amazing. Here are some of the views.
When we reached the top of the pass we were stopped at the visitors center and informed that there had been a mud slide and the road was closed until it was cleared. We were "stuck" at the pass for about 2 hours. During that time I explored the area, learned some interesting things about the mountain, and the vegetation and animals, and even had a close encounter with one of the yellow bellied Marmots. Click on this link for a real neat 3D panorama of the top of the pass.
Sign at one of the trail heads (note the pole next to the road - It is so they can find the road edge in the spring)
Here is the sidewalk leading up to the visitors lodge from the parking lot. Over the last winter they recorded winds of over 100 mph, snow drifts 70 feet deep, and temperatures reaching the half century mark below zero. The roads had in fact just fully opened a couple weeks earlier. Here is the side walk leading up to the lodge.
Here is one of the busses that they used for tours thru the park.
And here is one of my favorite animal encounters of the trip. This little marmot walked right up to me as I stood watching and got up on my shoe before wandering off.
