Glacier National Park is so BEAUTIFUL. The dramatic topography in Glacier was mind blowing, and the wildlife was INCREDIBLE.
We (5 of us from the Landmark crew) did some backpacking by the Canadian border along Belly River for three days. The entire time we were surrounded by steep mountains that rose so quickly out of the U-shaped valley floor. The stratigraphy on the rock faces were continuous as far as you could see with vibrant patterns and colors. Trees, lakes, meadows, waterfalls, mountains, valleys, stars, sunsets, rocks, stromatolites, glaciers, snow, ice, Narnia, rivers, critters, ahhh Glacier has it all!
We (5 of us from the Landmark crew) did some backpacking by the Canadian border along Belly River for three days. The entire time we were surrounded by steep mountains that rose so quickly out of the U-shaped valley floor. The stratigraphy on the rock faces were continuous as far as you could see with vibrant patterns and colors. Trees, lakes, meadows, waterfalls, mountains, valleys, stars, sunsets, rocks, stromatolites, glaciers, snow, ice, Narnia, rivers, critters, ahhh Glacier has it all!
After spending time in the back country, we headed to the more touristy places in the park ....along with thousands of pushy people. As beautiful as those sections of the park were (sooo beautiful!), there is something precious about the less traveled sections of the park. The solitude of the back country is a huge part of its appeal, especially with such beautiful landscape. To mitigate against the crowds, we visited the more popular sections of the park during the evening and early morning.
Here's a list of the animals I played with:
Moose
Black bears
Yellow-bellied Marmots
Hoary marmots
Mule deer
Mountain goats (!)
Big horned sheep
Martens
Ground squirrels
Bald eagle
Coyote
Birds birds birds
I now love mountain goats because they are devastatingly cute and completely defy the laws of science. They can climb 72 feet in 60 seconds! That's on a near vertical slope, on a loose-rock surface, with HOOVES.
Here is a photo of my new best friend and I gazing into each other's eyes:
Backcountry views in the Glens Lake valley
Not the best photo quality of our moose friend who visited our camp site at Glens Lake. He hung out with us for about an hour, munching on his evening snacks.
Pretty flowers that were along the trails
Buck Mule Deer along the Hidden Lake trail ~9pm.
Hiking up the Hidden Lake trail on snow and ice in my Birks and shorts. (Note: sweet sock tan)
Mountain Goat along the Hidden Lake trail
Mountain goat friends along the Highline Trail at 7:30am. This trail was along a cliff edge that was hundreds of feet above the valley floor. At some points the trail was only 3 feet wide..
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