Many Glacier Overlook
One of my favorite views ever
What can I say, it was a long hike in a beautiful place so there were a lot of pictures taken.
On the Highline Trail
I think we were fairly lucky with the weather. The parking lot at Logan Pass was quite windy and a little cold but once you got out of the wind tunnel it was quite pleasant.
Glacier: Sun Road to Highline Trail
I’m finally back in Bozeman, ready for school to start tomorrow.
We snuck up to Glacier for the final outing of the summer. I was in Glacier last Labor Day Weekend so it was interesting to compare the snowpack from the two years.
Saturday we had some excellent weather and did the Highline Trail from Logan Pass to The Loop, it is about 12 miles (almost all downhill though) with a mandatory 0.6 mile uphill side trail to overlook the Many Glacier area.
Here are some pictures from the drive up the western portion of the Going to the Sun Road and the start of the hike.
Rocky Mountain National Park
After a bit of driving we came to Rocky Mountain National Park. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but the road going through the park is quite amazing. Also, the park has more alpine area than any other national park. We took a short walk at the top with epic views in every direction. It was cold in the middle of August and during the winter it must be an incredibly hostile environment.
Wyoming and Colorado
From Yellowstone we went south through Grand Teton National Park and camped about an hour south of Jackson, Wyoming. The next day we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park by way of smallish highways through southeastern Wyoming, a bit of Utah, and quite a lot of Northern Colorado.
Cooke City and Onward
After the Beartooth Highway we camped by Cooke City in what would turn out to be one of my favorite campsites of the trip. The next day we drove across the northern part of the park to the Boiling River, which was open to the public (Unlike when I was there with my sister Rebecca a few weeks earlier) They were doing some work on it though as the Boiling River had apparently “changed course” a little bit.
From Mammoth we went south to one of my favorite spots, the Old Faithful area, where we spent a decent amount of time making fun of how big of a deal Old Faithful is made up to be. We skipped waiting for Old Faithful in order to see the more interesting features nearby.
My old friends the geothermal features were still looking good, as always. I am a big fan of the concept of revisiting places. I’m specifically talking about the natural world but as I sit here in Asheville for the first time in 8 months I think this idea applies to cities as well.
Things are constantly changing with the day to day weather, the seasons, and just the random changes that constantly occur in the universe on any given number of levels.
The Beartooth Highway
One of the first things we did on the drive back to Asheville was head east on I-90 for a short while, then turn south onto the Beartooth Highway down to the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park.
From north to south the road goes from the small town of Red Lodge, Montana, to the way smaller town of Cook City, Wyoming.
I had heard a lot about this road but living in Bozeman it isn’t on the way anywhere so I hadn’t been on it yet. It was an amazing way to begin what would be a fairly epic 3000 mile journey back home.
…more from Glacier
These were all taken the same day as the previous post, but unlike the previous post they are not in chronological order.
…and then we went to Glacier
After a big winter the Going to the Sun Road finally opened a week or so into July.
Lawdy, Rebecca’s in Yellowstone
My sister Rebecca and her boyfriend Scott came to visit me. It was a most excellent time.
Here are some pictures of their first full day here. We drove down to Yellowstone.
Polebridge, Montana
Polebridge is the kind of place I would worry about telling people if anyone actually read this website. A little “town” just ouside the western edge of Glacier National Park. Polebridge is off the grid, the Mercantile there sells some extremely delicious baked good, (think cheesy jalapeno bread and huckleberry bearclaws). Other than that there’s grass, kids, happy tourists, a sand volleyball court, cabins, a bar, and dogs.
My friend Lorrie suggested going there instead of visiting the eastern part again. After stopping for coffee and baked goods we went to the Bowman Lake Campground and did a nice 12-mile loop to Quartz Lake. After being caught in an evening thunderstorm the mosquitoes were basically unbearable. I’d never seen anything like it. The time of year was perfect for the little buggers, warm enough and wet enough.
The Tetons and Cascade Canyon
When my friend Valerie Hastie was here visiting from North Carolina we did an excellent hike in The Grand Teton National Park. You walk around Jenny Lake, see Hidden Falls, continue up to a lookout called Inspiration Point, and if you are motivated you can continue back into Cascade Canyon.
We started at about 6pm and didn’t get back to the car until 10. Although it was not too bright for the walk back, we never needed headlamps and we hardly saw any people, which was fine by me.
