Glacier National Park

On our roadtrip to San Francisco, we took a slight detour and headed up to Glacier National Park. We knew it was late in the season to go there, but were hoping for a break with the weather so we could enjoy the park without the mid-season bustle. Glacier gets about 2 million visitors over the 3 peak summer months. Sounds like a nightmare.

Driving up to Glacier, we passed through seriously snowy country in Idaho and feared that things might be really cold and snowed over up in northern Montana, and that the roads maybe closed in the park. But when we got to Flathead Lake, we could see no snow and the temps were moderate. We got a motel room in Kalispell and used that as our base for the next three days. The owner told us it hadn't snowed up there yet and that the roads were mostly open. So things were looking good.

The next day we spent exploring the western side of the park, including driving up the 'Going to the sun' road until it was closed due to icy conditions. We walked the last several miles from the closure to Logan Pass. It was a spectacular walk along this dramatic road, with sweeping views of the glacier carved valleys below, frozen waterfalls, brief snow flurries and big horn sheep. Here, and in most other parts of the park, we were all alone. It was magic. Below some pics from the day.

About to start walking up to Logan Pass

On the 'Going to the sun road'

Looking out over the valley at a snow shower moving our way

Bighorn sheep

As the snow hit us the wind picked up and temps dropped quickly.
At this point one of us decided it was time to return to the car ;)

Made it!