Callie's Trip to Glacier National Park: Day Five

Going Home

Callie decided to spend a little time at Two Medicine Lake before she headed back home.  Two Medicine is on the east side of Glacier National Park, but has a separate entrance from the Going to the Sun Road.  It's at the base of the mountains, nestled in the valley.  

The first place that Callie stops is Running Eagle Falls.  This is Callie's favorite waterfall of the entire trip, because it is so unique.  It is actually a twin waterfall.  

The main part of the falls comes out a hole half way down the rock cliff, while a small falls comes off the top of the cliff.  When the snow melt is high, the top falls gush with water.  

Later in the summer barely anything goes over the top  of the cliff.  Callie feels lucky that she gets to see the falls with both waterfalls together.

As she walks along the path she stops to look at some of the wildflowers.  There are bright orange flowers that look spiky, called "Indian Paintbrushes".  

A purple flower that she really likes is called a "fireweed".  

And of course there are lots of the "bear grass", a group of small white flowers in a puff or cone at the top of a long stem.

When she gets to Two Medicine Lake Callie's jaw drops.  The mountains are amazing from this point of view.  The lake looks like glass and reflects the mountains like a mirror.  

She can even see the moon in the water.  It is AMAZING!  She wants to stay there all day, but that means delaying the drive home.  

So she marvels one last time at the beauty of Glacier National Park, then gets in the car for the trip home.  It's a long drive back to Minnesota!

Hope you enjoyed Callie's trip!

Callie's Trip to Glacier National Park: Day Four

Callie Goes Fishing

The next morning, Callie is up bright and early to go fishing.  The sunrise is beautiful against the mountains.  The light coloring the mountain tops and the sky behind them.  What a wonderful way to start the morning.

The streams and rivers in this area are great for fly fishing especially.  Callie is not going to fly fish today though.   After driving down from camp, she finds a spot with a short hike to a wonderful spot where two streams come together.

She hikes up river on the smaller stream, hoping to find a good spot to fish.  As she crosses a bridge, she spots a great area to fish from.

After baiting her hook and getting her pole ready, she makes her first cast up stream.  As soon as she does the current takes the fishing line and pushes it downstream.

She waits, reeling the line in slowly.    She pulls her line in all the way as it gets closer to the rocks on the edge of the stream, then casts out again.  As she reels in, she thinks she feels a nibble.  She gives the pole a quick yank to try and set the hook, but feels no tension.

When she reels it back in her worm is gone...but there is no fish.  She spends an hour or so fishing, never catching anything, but having loads of fun anyways.

Before leaving the stream are she walks along the bank, sometimes throwing rocks into the stream.  Like most of the water here it is clear and cold.  The water temperature is only about 55 degrees ferenhiet.  She is careful not to fall in.  She does not want to get wet!

The stream weaves it's way in and out of Glacier National Park.  She follows it to a trail that goes out of the park and into the national forest.  The scenery drastically changes as she comes to acres and acres of burnt trees.

In 2003 a fire burned almost 136,000 acres of land in the area.  Barren pine trees line the mountains sides for as far as Callie can see.  But little pine trees and other vegetation is slowly making it's way back.

The stumps of the trees seem more contorted from the fire, twisted and mangled black masses  Some still have their bark on them, singed but hanging on.  The burnt trees are creepy and beautiful at the same time.

Callie take a closer look at the scorched remains of some of the stumps. The blackened outsides still leave black marks on her hands as she touches it.

She wonders what caused the fire.  Was it someone being careless or was it something more natural like a lightning strike.  She finds out later that the fire was most likely started by lightning.

It is amazing  how the forest survives though.  Callie goes back to her camp.  She builds her fire, very carefully, and roasts some hotdogs for dinner.

Before she goes to bed she makes doubly sure that her fire is completely out.  Tomorrow is her last day in Glacier National Park.  It will be a little shorter so that she can start on her trip home.

Check back for Callie's last day in Glacier National Park

Callie's Trip to Glacier National Park: Day Three

Callie's Trip to Logan Pass

On Callie's third day in Glacier National Park, she travels back up Going to the Sun Road, going the short way to save some time.  She wants to spend some time at the highest point that she can get to on the road.

As she is pulling up to the visitors center she sees a group of mountain goats coming down the side of the snow covered mountain.  There are three adults and two little babies.  The goats do an awkward looking run/walk down the steep embankment, never loosing their footing.

Once they are flatter ground, they wander around a little, studying Callie and the other tourists that have gathered to see them. The adults are loosing their heavy winter coats and look scraggly because of the lumps of fur hanging off of their bodies.

The babies look so soft and fluffy, Callie just wants to go sneeze them they are so cute.  She doesn't though.  She knows wild animals are not to be messed with...even cute ones.

Soon the goats venture over the steep edge of the cliff, getting away from all the commotion.  Callie walks the opposite direction towards the open space between the mountains.

It is probably a prairie, but it's hard to tell, because there is still snow on the ground.  She walks a little ways up the path, designated by sticks in the ground.

It's important to stay on the path.  Wondering off of it can hurt or kill the vegetation underneath the snow.  When that happens it can take years for it to grow back because the growing season is only a few months long.

So she stays on the path marveling again at the beauty of the mountain tops.  If she continued along this path she would come to hidden lake, which is very hidden today because of the snow and the clouds.  She decides that the 3 mile hike is probably not going to be worth the cloudy view.

As she wonders around on the snowpack she pics up snow and makes a snowball.  But decides it's not a good idea to throw it.

She drops it on the ground and takes another look at the snow covered mountain tops before she gets in the car to go find her next adventure.

Driving down the road she comes upon a beautiful little cascading waterfall.  Runoff from the snow above flows down the mountain, creating a step like waterfall.

Callie sits down by the falls, relaxing as she listens to the water.  There is nothing more relaxing than listening to a cascading waterfall, she thinks to herself.  She could stay there all day just listening to the water.

Eventually she gets up and hikes back to camp.  It's a pretty easy hike through tall grass on nice level ground.

She comes open a beautiful blue-green creek.  It looks like something out of a fantasy book.  It is so clear and the color is just amazing.  Callie finds campgrounds next to the creek.  This is a gorgeous area, but I think I like my mountain view better.  

Even though she had a nice easy day without much hiking, she is still tired and ready to sleep.  Tomorrow she has to get up early to go fishing!

Check back later for more of Callie's adventure

Callie's Trip to Glacier National Park: Day Two

Callie's Drive on "Going to the Sun Road"

Callie is up as the sun rises, getting ready for her second day at Glacier National Park.  Today she is traveling up the "Going to the Sun" road, which is a 50 mile stretch of 2 lane highway that snakes it's way through the mountains. Before starting up the road she stops at the entrance to the park to take a photo by the National Park sign.

At first the road follows Lake McDonald, a clear blue glacier lake that spans almost 9 miles.

The mountain peaks reflects off of the serene lake crating a double image in some places. As the lake narrows Callie can hear the sound of rushing water from the creek ahead.  Beautiful blue falls cascade through the rocky beginnings of the mountains.

Without much warning the road begins to climb.  Callie looses sight of the mountains as the disappear in fog.

Mountain peaks appear and disappear as the road climbs higher, then suddenly the road bursts through the clouds and Callie is surrounded by mountain peaks.

As she gets out to take pictures she looks down into the valley where they had just driven from and sees the thick blanket of clouds.  It looks like stretched out cotton, she thinks.

Each curve in the road brings a different view of the mountain peaks, as the clouds change the scenery as the envelop the mountains.

There are pull out spots everywhere and Callie wants to stop at almost everyone of them.  Each view seems more fantastic than the one before it.

On the right the steep cliff of the mountain shows the majesty of the mountains and the valley below it, while on the left side waterfalls pour down the steep sides from the snowy peaks high above.

As they round one corner they come upon an area where the cliff wall is covered in small waterfalls for a hundred feet.

Callie gets out to explore the area and finds a sign that says this area is called the "Weeping Wall".  At times the wall is flowing with water, later in the season there is a smaller area of the wall that "weeps".  Callie is excited that she gets to see the wall with so much water running from it.

Callie stops at a few more turnouts as they get closer to Logan pass, the highest point on the "Going to the Sun Road" at 6,646 feet above sea level.

Today she is going to skip stopping at the pass, but will come back to explore the peak tomorrow.  Past Logan Pass the road is less winding, but still just as beautiful.  Prairies spread out with wildflowers blooming in them as the slopes are not as steep on this side of the mountain range.

A cascading waterfall goes right under the road.  Callie has to stop and take a photo by it.  It's just to beautiful to pass up.

In places along the road there are still large hunks of snow.  Many times the road can not open until mid July because of the snow fall and the dangers of a snowy road.  This leftover snow is not light and fluffy, but is hard and compact, almost like an ice chunk.  As she nears the snow she can feel the cool air coming from it.

Getting back to her campsite she is extremely tired.  It has been a long day with amazing adventure.

She decides to finish the day by roasting some marshmallows on the fire, then making them into s'mores!  Mmmm...what a great way to end an awesome day!

Check back for day three of Callie's trip to Glacier National Park!