Day 3: Glacier NP

Total Miles: 813
Total States: 3

Man, I can already tell this is going to be a hard post to write. I took upwards of 200 pictures today, most of them beautiful, and I somehow have to boil them down to 5-6 for this post! I will probably create a separate web photo gallery for Glacier later.

Anyhow, I woke up at 6:00 or so, broke camp, and drove up to Logan pass, which is the continental divide, and kind of the centerpiece of the park. They have a big visitor center and a few hikes taking off from there. At the ranger's recommendation, I decided to hike to Granite Chalet, up to Switchcurrent pass, up Switchcurrent mountain, and back down to "The Loop" on the main road. All in all it was about an 18 mile hike, with a few strenuous parts heading up to the continental divide. I reached the high point of my trip at Switchcurrent mountain, topping out at around 8500 feet. It's a good thing I am in decent shape... I actually hardly noticed the relative lack of oxygen up there except that my legs got tired quicker on the uphills.

So, enough words. Here's some pics:

The trail, starting off. Not a good place for those with fear of heights or poor balance!

Mountians, mountains, mountains. There were so many...

Lots of wildlife

Interesting rocks. the red and blue were together, sometimes ever sedimented together. Don't ask me why or how, but it looked cool.

Trail up Switchcurrent mountain

Mountain panorama

Looking over the continental divide to a glacier and lake

360 degree panorama from Switchcurrent mtn, up at 8500 feet.

So when I got back from the 18 mile hike, I wasn't ready to be done yet, so I did a short 1.5 mile hike that also took off from Logan Pass to Hidden Lake. This trail was disgustingly tourist-overridden, but I grit my teeth to get the views, which were (of course) absolutely stunning.

Cure little wildlife
Not-so-little wildlife (moutain goats seem pretty gentle, though)
Mountains and bighorn sheep. This is one of my favorite panoramas from the day
and finally, Hidden Lake is revealed.

I got back from this hike, making it a 20+ mile day, hopped in the car, and drove out of the park around to a much less populated entrance to the south by Two Medicine Lake. This driving was actually some of the best the entire trip. The speed limit (out of the park) was 70, but the whole road was corners marked at "suggested" 25 or 35 MPH. Man, I love how that BMW handles, and this was a great opportunity to stretch her legs a little.

Arriving at Two Medicine campground, I set up camp and went to bed early again to do more of the same the next day...