Glacier National Park Trip

I met my sister and her husband for a visit to Glacier National Park. I arrived at the Glacier International Airport near Kalispell at 3:30 PM on Aug. 27 and met them at the airport. We stopped at Columbia Falls for dinner before heading into the park. We spent 5 nights at McDonald Lodge on lake McDonald on the western side of the park. We then drove over to the eastern side and spent 4 nights at Many Glacier Lodge on Swiftcurrent lake. We headed back on Sept 5 and spent the night in Kalispell and flew out on Sept 6.

Glacier National Park Map
Glacier National Park Topo Display
Day 2 - McDonald Lodge	This is a shot of the lake facing side of McDonold Lodge. This was our first morning at the lodge.
Day 2 - Our Rooms	We actually stayed in motel style rooms about 5 minutes walk from the main lodge. The far vehicle in the shot is our (really big) suv rental.
Day 2 - By the Docks	This the dock below the main lodge looking east and up the McDonald river canyon.
Day 2 - By the Docks
Day 2 - At the General Store	There is a general store between our rooms and the main lodge. Bill and Mary Ann met this old guy there.
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River	Our first day hike started at the inlet of McDonold Lake and followed McDonold river up stream.
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River	Bill and Mary Ann posed before a reconditioned Ford tour truck at the start of our hike.
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River	Bill and Mary Ann turned around and went back to the car. I continued up the river and came to this meadow with the river flowin through it.
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River	I saw a number of places with old trees nocked down and scattered in random directions.
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike Along McDonold River
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike at Johns Lake	I walked back to the Lodge. The trail leaves the river and there is a side trail to Johns Lake. By this time a light rain had started. I got pretty wet, but it was a mild day and made for good walking.
Day 2 - Our First Day Hike at Johns Lake
Day 2 - Apgar Village	After I got back to the lodge, I found Bill and Mary Ann and we drove down to Apgar Village to eat.
Day 2 - Apgar Village	There is a small park that looks east across McDonold Lake, up the canyon, and into the mountains beyond.
Day 2 - Apgar Village
Day 2 - Back at the Lodge	We got back to the lodge late that afternoon. This is a view from the dock before our evening boat ride.
Day 2 - Evening Boat Trip on the Lake	We took an evening boat ride on the DeSmet, built in 1930. This is a shot, looking at the lodge, while we were still at the dock.
Day 2 - Evening Boat Trip on the Lake
Day 3 - Morning at the Lodge
Day 3 - Morning at the Lodge	Bill and Mary Ann are in front of a rebuilt Ford touring car.
Day 3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - McDonald River	We drove up the canyon along the McDonald River
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - McDonald River
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Trail Head
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Along Creek	The trail to Avalanche lake follows the creek up a narrow side canyon.
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Along Creek
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Along Creek
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Along Creek
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Along Creek
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Along Creek
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Along Creek	This is a canyon branching off from the Avalanche Creek canyon. It leads up to Hidden Lake, which we will see tomorrow from an overlook.
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - The Lake	The lake sits at the head of the canyon. Here we are looking across the lake to streams flowing off the canyon walls and into the lake.
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - The Lake
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - The Lake
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - The Lake	I walked around the lake and got a shot of one of the streams flowing off the canyon wall.
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - The Lake	This is a shot from the head of the lake with one of the streams flowing into it.
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - Back Along Creek
Day3 - Avalanche Lake Day Hike - McDonald River
Day 4 - Morning at the Lodge	This is another shot from the dock, across the head of the lake, and into the mountains.
Day 4 - Morning at the Lodge	This is a shot of the DeSmet from the lodge.
Day 4 - Morning Drive	We took a morning drive a short way up the McDonald River.
Day 4 - Back to Apgar Village	Later we headed back to Apgar village, on our way to a day hike. I took a few more shots of McDonald Lake.
Day 4 - Back to Apgar Village
Day 4 - Meadow off Camas Road
Day 4 - Fish Creek Day Hike	We did a short hike starting at the Fish Creek trail head. This is on the North side of the lake, just outside of Apgar. The trail follows the lake.
Day 4 - Fish Creek Day Hike
Day 4 - Fish Creek Day Hike	We followed the trail only about a mile, to a point that gives a good view of the lake.
Day 4 - Fish Creek Day Hike
Day 4 - Fish Creek Day Hike
Day 4 - Horse Stable at the Lodge	We headed back to McDonald Lodge and I went across the main road to get a shot of the horse stable. Although the stable is discretely tucked away, you can certainly smell it at the lodge.
Day 4 - Evening at the Lodge	That evening I took more shots of the mountains from the dock at the lodge.
Day 4 - Evening at the Lodge
Day 4 - Evening at the Lodge
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road	Mary Ann came down with a cold, so Bill and I headed for a day hike at Logan's Pass. We followed the McDonald River up the canyon. The road leaves the canyon and climbs the mountain range that gives the road its name of Going to the Sun Road.
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road	Here we've left the canyon and are looking back on it.
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road	We are still climbing and can see a water fall and the glacier that feeds it.
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road	This is the McDonald River canyon after the point where our road leaves it.
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road	This is another shot of the water fall.
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road	This is another shot of the part of the McDonald River canyon we'd just driven up.
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road	You can see the road we'd driven up on the right.
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road
Day 5 - Going to the Sun Road	Again, you can see the road we'd just driven. You can also bearly see the Garden Wall trail above it.
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike	We arrived at the Logan's Pass visitor center and started our day hike on the Hidden Lake Nature trail.
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike	We ran into a marmot along the trail.
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike	The trail was really an elevated platform to protect the Alpine meadow.
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike	We got to the Hidden Lake overlook which is 1.5 miles from the trail head. The trail continues down to the lake, but we stopped here.
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike	We saw 3 mountain goats from the overlook. There were 2 adults and 1 kid.
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike	There were also lots of ground squirls.
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike
Day 5 - Logan's Pass Day Hike	These guys were brunching on taco chips.
Day 5 - Snyder Creek Hike	We got back to McDonald Lodge that afternoon and later I took a hike on the Snyder Creek trail which starts across the street from the lodge. I didn't have enough time to get to Snyder Lake and only got about 2 miles up the trail.
Day 5 - Snyder Creek Hike
Day 5 - Snyder Creek Hike
Day 5 - Snyder Creek Hike
Day 6 - Last Morning at McDonald Lodge.	We checked out of McDonald lodge on the morning of day 6. I took a few shots of the lodge.
Day 6 - Last Morning at McDonald Lodge.
Day 6 - Last Morning at McDonald Lodge.	This is the front of the lodge.
Day 6 - Last Morning at McDonald Lodge.
Day 6 - Going to the Sun Road	After checking out, we again headed up the Going to the Sun Road.
Day 6 - Going to the Sun Road	This is a last look at the McDonald River valley.
Day 6 - Going to the Sun Road	We are now on the other side of the pass and heading down toward Saint Mary lake.
Day 6 - Going to the Sun Road
Day 6 - Going to the Sun Road
Day 6 - Going to the Sun Road
Day 6 - Saint Mary Lake and Goose Island	We passed by Saint Mary lake, stopping at a restarant at Rising Sun for lunch.
Day 6 - Saint Mary Lake and Goose Island
Day 6 - Park Enterance	We exited the park at its eastern enterance. This is a shot looking back into the park.
Day 6 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake	We entered back into the park at another enterance a few miles north and headed to the Many Glaciers lodge.
Day 6 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake	The back of the lodge overlooks Swift Current lake and the mountains on the far side. This is a spectacular view and I ended up taking lots of pictures under various conditions.
Day 6 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 7 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake	This is what greeted us our first morning at the lodge.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - On Swift Current Lake	We signed up for a trip consisted of a boat trip across Swift Current lake, a short hike to Lake Josephine, about a 1 mile hike to Grinnell lake, and back. Here we are on Swift Current lake, about half way to the dock on the far side.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - On Lake Josephine	We are now on Lake Josephine with Grinnell Glacier and the stream flowing out of it in the distance.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Hike to Grinnell Lake	We got of the Morning Eagle on the far side of Lake Josephine and watched return passangers get on board.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Heading to Grinnell Lake
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Grinnell Lake	We got to Grinnell lake. You can bearly see the glacier and have a good shot of the stream feeding into the lake.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Back to Lake Josephine
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Lake Josephine	I saw this bug on the dock.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Lake Josephine	The Morning Eagle is coming to pick us up.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Lake Josephine	We saw a moose along the shore line.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Lake Josephine	We'd just got off the boat.
Day 7 - Boat Trip and Hike - Swift Current Lake	We are back on Swift Current lake and heading toward the lodge.
Day 7 - Sign Depicting Peaks as Seen From Lodge
Day 7 - Many Glaciers Lodge	This is a shot from the parking lot looking at the lodge and the peaks across Swift Current lake.
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 8 - Hike to Redrock Lake	The next day we drove over to the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and took a hike to Redrock lake. This is a shot from the lower end of the lake. There was a slight drizzle that day.
Day 8 - Hike to Redrock Lake - Redrock Falls	We got to the head of the lake and Redrock Falls.
Day 8 - Hike to Redrock Lake - Redrock Falls
Day 8 - Hike to Redrock Lake	This is right below the falls looking back down the lake.
Day 8 - Mountain Sheep	That evening we saw mountain sheep walking between the ridge separating the lodge and its parking lot.
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake	That evening had a spectacular sunset.
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 8 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 9 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake	This is a morning shot from inside the lodge.
Day 9 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 9 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 9 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake
Day 9 - Many Glaciers Lodge	This shot is from the ridge separating the lodge from the parking lot.
Day 9 - Hike to Iceburg Lake	The next day we again drove over to the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn but this time took a hike to Iceburg lake. This hike is 4.8 miles in.
Day 9 - Hike to Iceburg Lake
Day 9 - Hike to Iceburg Lake
Day 9 - Ptarmigan Falls	Bill and Mary Ann turned around at Ptarmigan Falls. Mary Ann was just getting over her cold.
Day 9 - Hike to Iceburg Lake	Here you can see the canyon head that Iceburg lake lies in.
Day 9 - Hike to Iceburg Lake	This is another shot of the canyon head with the stream from the lake flowing out.
Day 9 - Hike to Iceburg Lake	This is the stream flowing down from Iceburg lake.
Day 9 - Hike to Iceburg Lake	This lake sits just below Iceburg lake (no iceburgs in this one).
Day 9 - Iceburg Lake	This is Iceburg lake and the small glacier that feeds it, sitting right at the head of the canyon.
Day 9 - Iceburg Lake
Day 9 - Iceburg Lake
Day 9 - Iceburg Lake
Day 9 - Iceburg Lake
Day 9 - Iceburg Lake	This is an iceburg with a whole bunch of gravel sitting on top of it. I have no idea how that could happen.
Day 9 - Iceburg Lake
Day 9 - Hike back	This is a shot down the canyon on my way back. You can bearly see Swiftcurrent lake.
Day 9 - Hike back	This is a shot looking back up the canyon. The peaks of the canyon walls just stick out above the ridge in front.
Day 9 - Hike back
Day 9 - Hike back - Almost to the Lodge	Since Bill and Mary Ann took the car, I walked all the way back to the lodge.
Day 9 - Hike back - Almost to the Lodge
Day 9 - Lodge Main Hall
Day 10 - View From Lodge Window
Day 10 - Big Horn Sheep in Lodge
Day 10 - Many Glaciers Lodge - Looking Across Swift Current Lake	This my last shot across the lake just before we check out.
Day 10 - Falls at Swiftcurrent Lake Outlet
Day 10 - Falls at Swiftcurrent Lake Outlet
Day 10 - Heading Back Across Going to the Sun Road	We have left the park through the Many Glaciers exit and have entered the park again through the main eastern enterance. We will backtrack by way of the Going to the Sun Road. It rained fairly heavily through this part of the day. We continued on to Kalispell to spend the evening there.
Day 11 - Kalispell	The next morning I walked from the hotel we stayed at to down town. Later we left for the airport and we flew out that afternoon. It was a great trip.

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