St Mary, MT - Jun 2007

We began our drive to St. Mary, Montana after an overnight stop in the town of Havre, Montana. From there, we went to Browning, Montana and then took Hwy 89 into St. Mary -- it was a gorgeous drive. This shot of St. Mary Lake was taken as we dropped down into the valley -- about 5 miles from the town of St. Mary. The trees had been burned in a huge fire just last August. It was scary to see how close the fire came to the town. It was a cloudy day, so not the greatest of pictures, but still a nice view.

Upon arriving in St. Mary, we checked out a couple of campgrounds and decided to stay at the KOA since we could get an end site with a nice view. We generally try to avoid KOAs because they are expensive and they crowd folks in like sardines, but this was a pretty good one (for KOAs) and we opted to stay here three nights. We had toured the western side of Glacier National Park a few years ago, so wanted to check out the east side this year. It was also along the way to Alberta, Canada and Waterton Lakes Park -- our next destination.

The "Going to the Sun" road is another "must-do" activity for those visiting Glacier National Park. It is a 48 mile road that traverses the park from west to east and, in many places, is little more than a thin strip of asphalt that barely hangs on to the side of the mountain. When we visited Glacier a few years ago, we took the road from the west side of the park up to the summit at Logan Pass, but did not go further. This time, we took the road from the east side of the park, but were only able to go about 13 miles -- not far enough to reach Logan Pass. The severe winter had heavily damaged several sections of road and the repairs had not yet been completed. Nevertheless, we saw lots of lovely sites along the way.

This is the creme de la creme of views at East Glacier and one of the most photographed locations in the park. This is St. Mary Lake with Wild Goose Island in the middle. We caught it on a still morning when the water was calm enough to capture the reflections of the mountains.

Another view of St. Mary Lake from a point further up the road and yes, the water is really that lovely shade of teal green. Note the road at the edge of the cliff on the right in this photo. For some perspective, there is a car going around the bend and two other parked cars at the pull-out area.

We took several drives on the Going to the Sun Road - mostly because the weather was being fickle and would cloud up - making picture taking a challenge. This is Frank enjoying a view of St. Mary Lake as the clouds were building up.

We took a drive out to the Many Glaciers area of the park -- certainly one of the most scenic spots in the park. We checked out the campground, but found it to have a very closed-in feeling because it was tucked into a heavily forested area. The Lodge at Many Glaciers, on the other hand was gorgeous. Almost 100 years old and still looking as pretty as a scene right out of the Swiss Alps. The red bus in this photo is one of the "Jammers" -- the official tour bus of Glacier National Park.

The lodge overlooks picturesque Swiftcurrent Lake -- this is the view from one of the decks.

It was cloudy and rainy about half the time we were in St. Mary, but one afternoon, we were rewarded with a lovely rainbow. Another score for "The Rainbow Chasers."