Glacier: John Lake
Went for a short hike that started with a walk to John Lake, then along McDonald Creek, by McDonald Falls, and finally on a short boat trip in Lake McDonald. This is fabulous country, every way you look it is a scenic wonder. But do keep an eye out for the “locals”….
A warning for the hike.... make noise!
Just how does a tree grow like this? Our title: "kis your ### goodbye!"
Somewhat anti-climatic, but here's a view of John Lake
McDonald Falls
My favorite shot
America the beautiful!
Glacier – “Going to the Sun” road
One of the highlights of Glacier NP is the Going to the Sun road. About 60 miles long, it is ultrascenic, high up, and a “must visit”. But don’t drive it if you’re afraid of heights, the roads are narrow with huge dropoffs. We drove it halfway to Logan Pass, then returned. A wonderful day’s drive, even with the somewhat lengthy construction delays.
(Click on a grid picture to see a larger image. Click on the smaller pictures below to navigate backwards and forwards, or click on the large picture for a larger image)
-
- The views are just incredible
-
- McDonald Lake — very scenic!
-
- A long view of McDonald Falls
-
- McDonald Creek’s water is crystal clear (and cold!)
-
- Another view from Logan Pass
-
- And, here we are standing in the snow
-
- Wayne and Judy on the Hidden Lake trail
-
- Do you think the marmot was enjoying the view… or the sun?
-
- At Logan Pass, a view across a field of flowers
-
- While waiting for construction we had a visitor…
-
- The scenery is unrivaled.
-
- A view on the way up.
Hike up Big Mountain
Once we got to Glacier, we found that there was a Charity event for disadvantaged people at Whitefish Resort. This was a 4 mile hike from the resort base to the summit of Big Mountain, about 2,500ft elevation gain. The Charity provided pre-hike drinks and energy food, as well as several aid stations on the way up. It was a good walk, steep in places, and extremely scenic, and we got to the top in about 2 1/4 hours.
At the top there was a nice lunch for all participants, which we enjoyed prior to riding the chair lift back down. We also enjoyed a couple of rides down the Alpine Slide, shades of the Winter Olympics! All in all, a great day and for a good cause, too.
Part of the trail on the way up
A view down one of the ski runs
Oops! The last 1/4 mile was definitely the steepest!
Well, this is the last part of the trail...
On the chair lift on the way back down
This is how the cyclists get their bikes up the mountain
We ended the hike with a ride down the Alpine Slide
Go, Romola, go!
On the way to Glacier
We left Yellowstone and are on our way to Glacier. The drive itself is scenic, with the distant mountains as a destination. Here is a photo of our “home” parked in a scenic outlook, about 30 miles north of Missoula.
Yellowstone: geysers, pools, rainbows
Yellowstone is best known for its geysers. There are many on the park grounds, we visited most. Below are some final pictures of geysers.
Also shown is a picture of Upper Mesa Falls, a truly spectacular waterfall about 50 miles outside of Yellowstone.
This one is spouting all the time
Giant geyser has a unique mineral buildup around the spout. It has been known to erupt as high as 300 feet!
You can find these crystal clear hot pools all over the park
Upper Mesa Falls with rainbow
Yellowstone: water falls
Yellowstone has some terrific waterfalls. Also, it has the Yellowstone Grand Canyon — maybe not as big as the one in Arizona, but certainly noteworthy. Here are some pictures taken on a recent walk, featuring Upper Falls.
Upper Falls, taken from far away with a telephoto lens
Looking up river from the falls
Here the water goes over the falls, and down it goes...
A rainbow decorates the bottom of the falls
A look further down the river, and Yellowstone Grand Canyon
Obligatory bison photo, laying in the flowers
Yellowstone and Old Faithful
Made it to Yellowstone and spent the first day at the most well known sites. This includes, of course, Old Faithful (which was 13 minutes late) and the Prismatic Pond. Great photo opportunities:
Old Faithful doing its thing, although 13 minutes late
One of the original Yellowstone tour busses
Inside the all log Yellowstone Lodge, famous in its own right
Fabulous colors at the Prismatic Pond
One of the many hot ponds
Runoff from the Prismatic Pond
Another hot pond showing mineral buildup
Some plants grow anywhere, like this unique thistle
And some plants are strangely delicate
Goodbye, Dinosaur!
We’ve completed our 2 month volunteering position at Dinosaur National Monument. Although we are looking forward to getting on the road again, we will miss the beautiful scenery, the people we worked with, and the many, many visitors we interacted with. We’re hoping to find another equally interesting volunteer position in the future. Here are some closing pictures:
A last sunset, picture taken in front of our motor home, showing Split Mountain and the Green River
Even our shadows (look closely!) are waving goodbye...
A last hike takes us over the high ground....
And finally back to the start at Split Mountain.
Goodbye Dinosaur, and all the great people we met here!
Fantasy Canyon, UT
While Bryce Canyon is the best known for its unique formation, Fantasy Canyon has to have the strangest formations of all. It is much smaller (only several acres) and it is very remote, so it only sees some 5,000 visitors a year. It isn’t that its so far (only about 45 miles from Vernal, UT) but the last part of the drive is on oil company roads… rough and dusty. But we found the trip worth the effort. Take a look:
Most all the formations are named; this one is "Flying Witch"
Strange formations all along the 1/2 mile hike
A different angle shows different details
These formations are quite fragile and won't last forever
Deeper in the canyon reveals ever more formations
And more stuff....
I think this was "Rabbit Ears"
Harpers Corner and Echo Park
Harpers Corner is located in the Colorado side of Dinosaur National Monument. It is a very scenic drive, worth the time to get there. There is a previous blog about this drive; do a search on “Harpers” to find it. Once there you will find a 1 mile hike that brings you over a promontory overlooking the confluence of the Yampa and Green River. You are about 1,700 feet above the rivers, and there is a great viewpoint.
Once we left the overlook, we drove to Echo Park. The road there is 13 miles of very steep, switchbacks, and rough surface that will get your attention. In fact, if it is raining the road is impassable. Along the way you pass the now unused Chew ranch, more Petroglyphs, and Whisper cae. The cave is rather unique in that it does not appear to have any openings yet there is a breeze blowing out of the cave… and it is some 20 degrees cooler. Very interesting!
We made it back up the Echo Park road just before we ran out of gas so we had yet another great day in Dinosaur National Monument. Remember, you can click on an image twice to get a larger image if you want to see more detail.
-
- The road back. You can see the switchbacks up ahead
-
- Inside Whisper Cave. Hope the ceiling doesn’t come down….
-
- Whisper Cave, lots of cool air coming out of the cave entrance
-
- Steamboat Rock, behind the cliff
-
- Steamboat Rock. Here the Yampa and Green rivers meet.
-
- An old hut. Wonder who worked here?
-
- Inside the “motorhome”- bed above the loft
-
- What’s this, an antique horse driven motor home?
-
- And don’t even think about it if it wet!
-
- The “Mittens”, a very strange uplift from tetonic plate movement
-
- A good view of Steamboat Rock from Harpers Corner.
-
- Another view of the Green river
-
- The Green and Yampa rivers, now flowing as one
-
- The way to the promontory takes you along a ridge with serious dropoffs on either side. The promontory is in the distance.
-
- Trees, even dead ones, take on interesting shapes in the desert climate
Laninga's Travel Blog 