Hi all......

On our way to Glacier we passed several cherry orchards near Flathead Lake. In fact, these orchards line the hillsides of this area. I (Jeanie) love cherries so we stopped and bought some. They were so delicious!

Flathead Lake is the largest lake west of the Mississippi River. It is very clear and bluish green in color. This side of the Glacier Park area is much more populated and commercialized than the east side. It is still very beautiful and we are looking forward to exploring it.

We woke up Wednesday morning and it was cloudy and drizzling, but we decided to go into Glacier Park anyway. We found out they had just opened Going-to-the-Sun Road this morning so we decided to drive it.

The road is beautiful with lots of pull outs to take pictures. It runs by McDonald Lake for a while and then McDonald creek. McDonald Lake is the biggest lake in Glacier. It is also that beautiful bluish green color and of course very clear. Along the lower end of the lake Western Hemlock trees and Western Red Cedar trees grow in abundance. There are also lots of pine, spruce and aspens. It is very heavily wooded in this area. We did see some mule and white tail deer early in the morning.

We stopped to look at McDonald Lake Lodge. It looks like a swiss chalet on the outside and on the inside like a hunting lodge. It had all sorts of mounted animals on its walls…elk, moose, deer, mountain goats, etc.

We drove to Logan Pass which is 6646 feet in elevation. There was snow everywhere. The locals keep saying this is the most snow they have ever seen here. The trail to Hidden Lake was still covered in snow so we were unable to hike it. It is supposed to be a great hike and we were disappointed we could not hike it.

THIS IS FOR ALL OUR "HOT" SOUTHERN FRIENDS!

We drove all the way to Jackson Glacier Overlook which was as far as we could go when we were staying on the east side of Glacier the first part of June. So we can say we have driven the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road!

Almost forget, there was quite a traffic jam at the top because of all the construction. We had about 20 minute delays both ways. It was one way traffic in the construction area. They road was steep and winding but worth the drive.

Later that evening we watched the sunset over Lake McDonald at Apgar Village. We also enjoyed eating Huckleberry ice cream as the sun was setting. You have to try Huckleberry ice cream….it is the best (yes, according to David, the ice cream "expert").

Thursday we drove back to Glacier to hike Avalanche Lake Trail and the Trail of the Cedars. We hiked about 6 miles that day.

Avalanche Lake trail is one of the most popular hikes in the park. It starts at Avalanche gorge and then begins climbing up the gorge past large boulders some of which had a beautiful pinkish color to them. It was really an incredible hike! As we walked past the gorge area, the trail turned in towards the woods and went through pine, spruce and aspen forests.

As we got closer to the lake the vegetation changed to ferns, moss covered rocks and lots of green bushes. It reminded us of a rain forest. The trail opened up at Avalanche Lake which is a pristine mountain lake (crystal clear and green in color). We could see large waterfalls at a distance that appeared to be caused by the melting snow near the tops of the mountains that surrounded the lake.

Chipmunks were everywhere and they were really pests! They apparently were used to people feeding them and they were not afraid of us. We walked to the far end of the lake. The lake was even prettier there. It was also very cold!!

We walked back and then hiked the final part of the Trail of the Cedars. Some of these cedar trees were over 100 feet tall. They were huge!

On the way back to our campground, there was another traffic jam. People were looking at a Bull Moose! We had not seen a bull moose yet on this trip so we were very excited and of course David took lots of pictures as you can see.

Also, as the moose was eating in the water, someone spotted a black bear nearby. We could see it, but couldn’t get pictures.

We spent our 4^th driving back to the Going-to-the-Sun Road because the weather was better and David hoped to get some good pictures.

We stopped at McDonald Creek where David took a lot of pictures. The lighting was very good at that time of the morning. The clear greenish colored water was cascading down the beautiful creek . The rocks were pink, gray, white, lavender and many other colors. The creek was bright blue / green because it is full of glacial dust from the melting glaciers above. It was so beautiful to see.

We drove all the way to Siyeh Pass trailhead, ate lunch and then headed back. On the way back near Logan Pass we saw 2 mountain goats. That was our first sighting of goats and once again, David took lots of pictures as you can see.

We are having a great time, but we have to start heading back home tomorrow. We will continue to keep in touch on our way back.

MORE PIC'S.....



GOING TO THE SUN ROAD


LUNCH STOP AT "LUNCH CREEK".....TIME FOR A PIC



God Bless……until the next time!