The beauty of the National Park was not to be limited in any way. We decided to get up early to catch the first shuttle up to Logan Pass. Waking up, it was much colder than when we went to sleep. We gathered up all of our stuff and headed over to West Glacier to find WiFi (with no luck). We then went back to the Apgar transit center. While in the parking lot, some deer feeding on flower planters and I was able to get really close to them for some great pictures (coming soon). Because of that distraction we were running late. We scrambled to make up a lunch and get all of our things. In the rush I foolishly forgot to change into my hiking boots. But we made the first shuttle. We were in a bus with an old driver and old passengers. Our combined age was still the youngest.
There is no drive more beautiful than the going-to-the-sun road. The cliff hugging road overlooks the most magnificent mountains, unfathomably tall with waterfalls gushing almost everywhere. You couldn't imagine a more beautiful, breath-taking and serene place. When we arrived in Logan Pass the wind was practically knocking us over with crazy chilly blasts. We had to start jogging up the trail to get warm. Across the high altitude plain we saw a herd of mountain goats. We stopped and peered at them through the binoculars. Further up we saw a few deer and bucks, a wolverine (SERIOUSLY) and an extremely friendly marmot. We just sort of kept following the trail, even though we didn't where it went or how long it was. As it climbed around the mountain, there were more amazing waterfalls and streams. This place seems to just gush water. It is so lush and beautiful, describing it does it no justice. We got to a lookout on the other side of the mountain and saw down to Hidden Lake. We also spotted another mountain goat and accompanying kid. On the way back there were many more people taking the walk and we knew that it was a good thing we went early.
We hopped back on the shuttle and went down to St. Mary. We stopped for some caffeine at the lodge. We then hopped back up to St Mary Falls trail head, seeing a black bear on the shuttle ride right by the road. The short hike led to another waterfall, this one a large two tiered flow. A short hike back and we hit the shuttle.
Another long shuttle ride over the summit, I don't think I could get tired of seeing this huge glacier carved valley. It's amazing.
We arrived back at our spot, made dinner, opened some wine and dragged our chairs to the lake edge and ended the day sipping away with our feet in the glacial melt waters of Lake McDonald. What an amazing day.
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