Day 7, August 19

Day 7, August 19

Locations: Glacier NP: Swiftcurrent Lk; St. Mary Lk; Logan Pass; Kintla Lk

Miles driven: 225

Click map to enlarge

I woke up around 5:45 and got to Swiftcurrent Lake between 6:00 and 6:15 where I waited for sunrise. There was plenty of wind, so I didn’t get any mirror reflections. The skies were clear, so it was less than ideal conditions, but certainly still worthy of a number of pictures, especially closeup ones of Mt. Gould which had a tiny cloud overhead. I left the lake about 8:15.

I got over to the park gate at St. Mary around 9:00. I scouted out the Wild Goose Island Overlook where I was planning to shoot sunrise tomorrow. A little further up, I pulled into one of the big pullouts overlooking the lake and stayed there for quite awhile enjoying the view. Around noon, I went further up the road and parked at one of the small pullouts below Logan Pass on the east side and sat for awhile longer just taking in the views there as well.

I drove on down the other side and stopped at the Sprague Creek Campground just west of McDonald Lake Lodge. Just prior to arriving here, I discovered not one, not two, but three bags of beef jerky in the goody box that mom and dad prepared! They were buried under other goodies, so this was a real treat to find! I never buy this stuff for myself, so I had a smile from ear to ear. Mmm, jerky! After calling the folks thanking them for the jerky and letting them know about the now positive weather/sky situation, I made a couple of sandwiches and relaxed for a bit. I went on into West Glacier around 4:00 to fuel up and get a couple of bags of ice ($1.50 each) for the cooler for the first time.

I figured I'd head up to Kintla Lake for the first time with the possibility of shooting sunset there, or possibly even Bowman Lake again, or even back at Lake McDonald. On the way to Kintla at 5:16, in the forested section right before Ford Creek, I saw my first black bear of the trip, though I just saw its tail end for a split second as it was scurrying off the road. I didn't see him again after slowly passing by. I arrived at the lake where the campground was full. I ended up taking a few snaps and decided I would skip this scene for sunset. I would like to shoot it if I had more days to play with, but I preferred the scenery of Bowman or McDonald better. I went back down the road and passed up Bowman Lake. Being that I had nice puffy clouds there last night, I know I couldn't improve upon that under totally clear skies today. I ended going back up to Logan Pass, a bit short of the summit, for sunset. I drove down the east side and made camp the same place I did last night, just outside the park entrance near the Lake Sherburne dam on the south side of Many Glacier Road.

6:39 AM — Sunrise on Mt. Gould above Swiftcurrent Lake