St Mary's

We reluctantly loaded the truck and headed across the Going To The Sun Road on our way to Waterton, Alberta. We stopped again at Logan Pass where we found an accessible viewing platform with a commanding view of the valley below. Mr. Purse did a fantastic job driving the challenging route.




We stopped for a few hours on the east side of Logan Pass in the St. Mary's Lake area. We hiked an easy but rewarding trail that follows the St. Mary's River (pictured). The trail takes you past St. Mary's falls (pictured) and Virginia Falls.





The east side of the park is different than the west side. The west side is green and lush, kind of like Oregon, while the East side is much drier. We passed by Triple Divide Peak where water can flow in three different directions: to the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or Hudson Bay. This is of particular interest to me as my current project involves watershed analysis.

Avalanche Lake

We rushed out of Apgar this morning to catch a ranger-led hike to Avalanche Lake. Unfortunately I read the schedule wrong so we were either a day late or a day early. On the bright side, we had an early start for our hike. The trail meanders along Avalanche Creek with a pretty cascade before arriving at Avalanche Lake. One interesting thing is that the lake looks like a completely different body of water depending on which end you are standing at. It's worth your time to walk to the far end.

Avalanche Lake/Creek are glacially fed. As you've probably heard, the glaciers in the park are retreating due to climate change. Sadly, the glacier that sources Avalanche Lake/Creek is also getting smaller and will soon cease to exist. This means that the ecosystem in this area will likely change dramatically.

Speaking of drama, on the way back we saw a black bear about 20 feet from the trail. It was more unsettling than scary as there were several other hikers in the area taking pictures of the bear. But he seemed a little perturbed so we moved along faster than I might have liked. If you look closely at the bottom photo, you can hopefully make out the ears and nose.

Logan Pass and Hidden Lake

It's our first full day in Glacier NPK. We're staying in Apgar Village on the west side of the park. The main attraction in Glacier is the Going To The Sun Road. We're "lucky" to be visiting in the midst of a multi-year construction project to repair and rebuild the road. We are actually lucky because there are free shuttles in service to minimize the number of private automobiles on the road and reduce construction delays.



We had a shuttle bus to ourselves on the trip to Logan Pass. Mr. Purse enjoyed taking in the views as he didn't have to drive. Upon arriving at the Pass, we hiked to the Hidden Lake overview through alpine meadows. We heard and saw this little guy about halfway through. I believe he is a marmot. We also saw a few mountain goats clinging to the surrounding cliffs.



The third photo is an example of the many superb vistas we soaked up on our walk on top of the world. Logan Pass straddles the continental divide.

Our visit to Zoo Town

This morning finds us in Missoula, MT aka Zoo Town. It took us a full day to drive here from Portland, OR. We had the pleasure of spending yesterday with a dear friend of mine from Middle School and her family. To the left, you'll see one of our gracious hosts entertaining us during our visit. We spent much of the day wandering around town and enjoyed a lovely dinner from the CSA produce we picked up earlier that afternoon. Fresh corn! We capped off the night with a visit to Big Dipper for some huckleberry ice cream. A Montana specialty!

Our hosts took us to the Missoula Smokejumper visitor center. This
is forest fire season so we thought we might see a lot of action but it was relatively quiet. The smokejumpers are the first line of defense and are deployed with surgical precision to stop small fires before they become big fires. To the right, is the parachute room where they maintain the quality of the parachutes.

We also got to take a look inside a plane that is used for firefighting. It is normally deployed in Alaska but their fire season is over so it has been re-deployed to Missoula.