| MONTANA Day 2 |
| We got up before sunrise (still doable, as we were still on East Coast time), packed up, and headed into the park. Guy joined us, arriving from the local KOA campground (or is it Kampground?). We drove along Lake McDonald again as the sun rose, and again stopped several times along the creek hoping we were up early enough to see wildlife. That didn't happen, but we did get to the Loop (above) and then Logan Pass-- the focal point of the park and EXTREMELY crowded by noon-- before the rush. We stopped along the way to look at beargrass and snow, and at one overlook, after straining through the binoculars for a good while, I'm pretty sure I saw a mountain goat on a distant slope. |
| Continue to Day 2, part 2. |
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| Maddie and dirty snow. |
| Beargrass, looking toward Logan Pass. |
| Well, I needn't have strained; just before Logan Pass we stopped at an overlook that was riddled with mountain goats, and they didn't give Crap One whether people were around or not. They'd hop right on the walkway with you. We stopped short of posing Maddie on their backs, but they sure didn't mind 5 cameras clicking away 10 feet from their faces. |
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| Logan Pass is a beautiful, open meadow where you climb up to an overlook of Hidden Lake. Lots of wildflowers, and we saw a couple of marmots on the walk up. I forgot to upload my marmot photo, but I used somebody else's below. Probably the same marmot, hired to work the crowd in much the same way as Disney character breakfasts. Also a few more mountain goats. We had to step aside to let some by on the narrow path. And a bighorn sheep in the distance. |
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| Hidden Lake (below) is "hidden" in the sense that not all of the 40 gazillion visitors to Logan Pass are willing to walk a little over a mile to the overlook. They should. It's a beautiful vista, significantly more beautiful than this shot indicates-- I'm still trying to tweak the panorama software so I can coax this picture into harmony with its two brethren. |
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| Continue to Day 2, part 2. |