Staring Skyward: Glacier National Park Day 3

Logan Pass is an elusive path. For only about two to three months a year is it actually passable, and this is because of the determined efforts of the Glacier Park employees and the contracted construction workers. Each winter the area gets up to 100 ft of snow fall, due to drifting over the divide. Then in the summer, torrential rains in the mountains can bring down great piles of rock and scree.

This was the case when I initially arrived at the park. A storm a few nights before had trapped vehicles on the pass when it brought down a rockfall. I decided to be patient and hope that the Park officials determined the road to be safe in my first two days. Luck finally showed itself on the night of my second day when the road reopened, just in time the planned morning journey over it on the third day.

From left to right; Mount Oberlin, Bird Woman Falls, Mount Clements (rear), Mount Cannon.

Mount Cannon

Lunch Creek Falls

My plan had also included securing a camp site at Many Glacier to use as a base camp for the rest of the trip. Much to my surprise, Many Glacier was completely full by the time I arrived, apparently it is much more popular then I realized. Knowing St Mary was already full I drove to Rising Sun and got a campsite there for the night. This wasn't so bad in that I was planning on hiking to Virgina Falls which was in the area, and I would be able to shoot sunset and sunrise in St Mary, which I had never done before.

Camp set up completed I hiked to St Mary and Virginia Falls. I believe it was on this hike that it finally set in how much water I was photographing on this trip. Undoubtedly it was linked to the temperatures in the 80s every day. As I finished the hike a rain storm was closing in so I headed back to camp and decided to wait out the rain on the porch of the nearby camp store. The night died down quietly and my easy day with it. The next day would be another easy one, but not nearly as rewarding in photographs.