If you're only going to have one road go through the heart of Glacier National Park, it's only fitting if the project is big, and the result, stunningly beautiful.
The ranger told me it would take about two hours to leave the park on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, depending on traffic and how many drivers stopped to look at bears.
The views from my driver's side window were so magnificent that I frequently stopped to take photos. Consequently, the drive took me seven hours, not two.
I know a couple of you will appreciate this, remember when Forrest Gump says to Jenny, "Like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny. It looked like there were two skies, one on top of the other." The footage was him running on the Going-to-the-Sun road in front of a lake right after the sun drops below the mountains, when the blue sky still lingers around a bit before turning black. A field of golden grasses swirl around in the wind. I've seen that movie a dozen times and every time I saw that scene, I wished I could find myself in such the right place, at such the right time.
In Logan Pass, where snow drifts up to 80 feet high in the winter, I got out of the car to stretch my legs on a 3-mile hike to Hidden Lake. When the lake was in view, the sun was about to tuck in behind the mountains. The color in the sky warmed up a bit and rays of light shone through the clouds, reaching between the mountains toward the lake. I setup my tripod for a picture.
I heard hooves on the rocks behind me. It was a mountain goat. Then it was two and a baby, then a half dozen walking all around me. My camera never clicked so much, well not since 24-hours earlier when I found myself in a herd of Bighorn Sheep.
I love being in the right place at the right time.
Below are more photos I took while traveling down the Going-to-the-Sun Road:
com-s.jpg "Going to the
Sun Road, Glacier")
com-s.jpg "Mount Rainier, From the Wonderland Trail")
com-s.jpg "The Rocks at Ryan Mountain, Joshua Tree")
com-s.jpg "Deer
at Mokowanis Lake, Glacier")
