September 3-5, 2007 - Traveling east from northern Idaho, we visited Glacier National Park in
northern Montana. There had been terrible wildfires for most of the summer. Rangers told us
that two weeks before we arrived you couldn't see any views in the park. Luckily the smoke had
cleared somewhat by the time we got there, but the air was still very hazy. We drove from the
west side of the park up to Logan Pass and back down again.
At Logan Pass there is a beautiful 3 mile round trip walk that you can take to the summit.
Some of it is on a boardwalk that stairsteps up the hillside and some is a gravel path. At the
summit there is a gorgeous view of Hidden Lake.
Before we embarked on our little hike we saw a lot of
commotion in the visitors center. A tourist had a medical
problem. We ventured on with our hike but stopped midway up
to watch a helicopter fly in, pick up the hapless visitor, and fly
him off to the hospital.
At the summit we watched a mountain goat and her baby
munching the grass. They wandered in and about the many
tourists, unperturbed by our presence.
Making our way back down the mountain road to West Glacier
we spent some time enjoying our luxury accommodations at the
West Glacier KOA. The hot tub and swimming pool were just
what the doctor ordered to relax and ponder the beauties of all
we had seen. Once our internal batteries were recharged a bit
we took to the road again and followed the very scenic south and east through Montana towards Yellowstone National Park in
Wyoming.