Naturally the Campbells wanted to visit Glacier. It’s a given that our guests– whoever they are and whenever they visit– want to go up to the park. Fortunately we love it too, so we bundled everyone into the cars and drove north. We ended up visiting the park twice during their stay, because it’s hard to fit everything into a single day.
Because it’s still June, wildfire season hasn’t begun in earnest and the views were clear. The drive up Going-to-the-Sun Road never disappoints.
As we neared the high point of the road, at Logan Pass, we saw a flurry of snow on a huge, steep hillside of snow and ice. We thought it might be a mini-avalanche, with some snow and rock rolling down the incline. It turned out to be two mountain goats! I guess they didn’t have a better (or faster?) way down the hill, so they just rolled and slid. Once they arrived at the bottom, they picked themselves up, shook off the snow, and sauntered along like nothing had happened. One of them walked right past our car as we waited for them to clear the road.
We spent some time enjoying lunch on the shore of St Mary Lake, which is always beautiful.
Following that, we went to St Mary Falls. For most of the Campbells’ stay, their ten-year-old son Sebastian was my little companion. He was always asking me to play foosball and ping-pong and spikeball with him, or to use my camera to take some photos, or demanding I sit next to him at meals, or just walking alongside me on the trail. He nicknamed me “Coco” and I called him “Sparky”, and we had a good time together.
The trail isn’t beautiful at the start, but when you get to the falls the hot, exposed walk is worthwhile.
Continuing along, we passed the three other (unnamed) waterfalls along the trail.
The end of the line is Virginia Falls, which is about fifty feet high and wonderfully refreshing as it blasts cool air and misty water on all of our hot, dusty bodies.
Just below Virginia Falls is a cascade, and I managed to get a good shot of it.
Here’s the full shot from a little distance down the creek:
This has become one of our go-to hikes for visitors, and one of our favorites in Glacier.
After a long day of hiking and stopping at a bunch of spots, the kids were pretty tired. On our way out of the park, we were rewarded with a gorgeous rainbow (actually a double rainbow, if you look closely enough).
What a way to end another glorious day.