July 2013
Logan's Pass, Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park.
When you reach the end of the shuttle ride, you are at the Visitors Center, Logan's Pass. (Remember, we are coming in from the west, but, the same is true if you ride from Saint Mary's on the east.)
Where to look first?? Oh, just start looking in all directions, snap photos, fast and furious. One direction:
The opposite direction:
Oh, there is a hike, it goes to Hidden Lake, but, before we wander up that way:
It's snack time. I'll admit, it's really (sarcasm alert here) hard sitting with some food and drink surrounded by this beauty.
From signage in the Visitors Center, I believe this is Sitka Valerian.
Looking out over the parking lot at the mountain side. We noticed other visitors pointing and taking out binoculars and their cameras. Sony and I went to work, zoom zoom, ohhh, what HAVE we here? Look hard, serious camouflage by Mother Nature at work here.
Yes, they are Bighorn Sheep. Here, Sony is past it's max zoom, the photos show how far I am pushing, but, I do have a bit of an image to share.
The scenery just begs for panoramic. Can't do it justice, but, we do try.
There are water falls to woo me.
And, some mountain goats having a meal of fresh foliage growing on the meadow-like areas.
Awww factor!
The yellow avalanche lily was blooming. (That's what I believe it is, per this page.)
Another panoramic.
Sometimes the best action is NO action. Just sit and smell the roses, as they say. The views are hard to argue with.
Still working on the identification of this. Wonder if it is Rocky Mountain dwarf-primrose? After some study, I believe it may the the pink mountain-heather, as seen later on this post.
When there is a protrusion of rock where the board walk is going, build said board walk around said protrusion.
Looking back down towards the Visitors Center.
Man just HAD to have a photo in the snow. This is no longer a glacier in the true definition, but, oh, hey, we can pretend!
He convinced me, it was a "must" do!
Our park staff at work, hiking in to rescue a hurt visitor. I over heard the ranger saying they were 30 to 45 minutes from the injured party. Four staff, gurney and a LONG hike to bring out an injured visitor, that staff is going to be tired.
By this time, Man and I had done all we could for hiking UP this mountain. We never made it to the top, nor did we see Hidden Lake. The trail is 1.5 miles from the Visitor Center to the overlook (crest) with a gain of 450 feet. The lake itself is another 1.5 miles (one way) with a drop of 780 feet. Now, remember if you hike in the 3 miles you will have to hike out 3 miles, and gain the 780 feet you went down and then, drop the 450 feet to the Visitor Center. Not being acclimated to the elevation, and the heat of the day convinced us, we were happy with what we had done and seen.
The views, the flowers. SIGHHH
This may be pink mountain-heather.
On the way back down to the Visitors Center I stopped to take more photos of the Yellow Avalanche Lily, I could not help myself.
This is most likely a Columbian Ground Squirrel. Not too shy.
And, almost at the end of our hike I found these, probably growing right around the Visitor Center. They are purple, maybe? AHHHHHHHHHH. They are Gentiana glauca, thanks Cate for the ID.
They are described as "blossoms of the clearest blue". Note, I did NO color correction on these photos. All I did was resize the photos for Reflections.
We had been at Logan's Pass for about 2 hours. We were ready to catch the shuttle back to the west side of the park. It was a long wait for buses, we had to switch at Avalanche Creek, another long wait. More on our ride down from Logan's Pass next time.
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