The Hidden Lake Overlook is quite popular for seeing mountain goats. There were about 10 in the area when we arrived. They are very good at posing for pictures.



This little guy was a real ham and would run from rock to rock posing for pictures.

On Sunday we hiked from the Logan Pass Visitors Center (elevation 6,643) to Hidden Lake Overlook (elevation 7,200). Some of the trail is on a boardwalk to protect the sensitive plants, the rest on dirt. It was quite a climb but we took our time. The scenery was fantastic. To be able to view greenery, snow, glaciers, high mountain peaks and low valleys from one location was a wonderful feeling. The snowpack and glaciers were melting creating streams and waterfalls everywhere.

View of Hidden Lake. Another 1.5 miles to the bottom, then 1.5 back up - we passed on this venture.

Mountain Goat:
I'll introduce this creature tomorrow along with other goat pictures!

McDonald Creek with its aqua color from the glaciers

Haystack waterfall




View of the valley floor from the Going-To-The-Sun Road.

The lake at Many Glaciers on the east side of the park.

Many Glaciers Hotel was opened in 1915. Guests would arrive by train in East Glacier and either travel by car, stagecoach or horse to the grand hotel. If by horse, the guests would stay the night in Chalets that were built mid-way.

On Friday we entered Glacier Nat'l. Park and drove the "Going-To-The-Sun Road". We stopped at all the view points, hiked to a few waterfalls and when we reached Logan Pass (the highest point), we were socked in by clouds and it was 40 degrees. Fortunately we had warm jackets and gloves. There were a few construction delays on the way up the mountain, which we didn't mind, as it gave us an opportunity to gawk at the scenery.

I'm just posting a few pictures today until I can condense down the 166 pictures I took this day.

Entering West Glacier before the official entrance into the park.

Logan Pass is at an elevation of 6,646 feet and is situated along the Continental Divide.

There's lots of mountains, glaciers and waterfalls somewhere out there!

There were 4 mountain goats on the side of a hill. Easy to see through binoculars but my camera can only zoom so far and this is the best I could get.

That's a grizzly on the side of a mountain. I zoomed in as close as I could so the picture is a little blurry. There were 3 grizzly bears on the mountain and one was a cub.

A little history on the park:
Glacier National Park was created in 1910. There are over 730 miles of trails and one road through the park which is called "Going-to-the-Sun Road". Vehicles longer than 21 ft. or wider than 8 ft.,including mirrors, are restricted from driving on the road past a certain point. Shuttle service is available to all points of interest and is recommended due to limited parking. Most of the hikers use the shuttles.

The Going-To-The-Sun Road is an engineering marvel and one of the most beautiful mountain roads in the world. It meanders up steep slopes of the Continental Divide and the highest point of the road is at Logan Pass (6,646 feet).

The road was built mostly between 1921 and 1937. Some of the road was built into the sides of near-vertical cliffs using stonemasonry bridges, tunnels and arches. A rehabilitation project of epic proportion is being conducted for structural & safety repairs and could take another 10 years to complete.

Glacier National Park, Montana

After 3 months of traveling, we finally made it to Glacier National Park, Montana.
Haven't been able to appreciate the beauty yet as it has been raining since we arrived ~ 1 1/2 days. We did make a short drive into the park to Lake McDonald and the McDonald historic hotel.

The glaciers and mountains are back there somewhere behind the clouds.


View of Lake McDonald

Visitors can tour the park on Glacier's vintage red buses, known as "jammers". We plan on taking one of the tours during our stay.

We are spending the night in Osburn, Idaho in an old silver mining area. The town of Wallace, 4 miles away, was considered the silver capital in the 1880/1900's. The entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and whole blocks in the business district have remained intact for a hundred or more years. When the state wanted to build a freeway through the town as the old road was becoming obsolete, the freeway had to be built above the town because of the Historic designation. The state also had to pay for the relocation of the original train depot and some of the restoration costs.

Lana Turner was born in Wallace and lived in the area until she was 6 years old.



Yep, that's an old bordello, which is now a museum. The brothel was in operation from 1895 until 1988....YES 1988!

Restored Northern Pacific Railroad Depot (now a museum). The depot is a two-story chateau styled brick and stucco structure. Upstairs the trainmaster and family lived.

An old silver mine structure in pretty good shape.

River Rafting

We floated one of the rivers near camp today. A company called "Float Leavenworth" provides tubes with backrests that are very comfortable and tubes for dogs. Yes, they encourage you to float-with-your-dog! So all four of us signed up and off we went. For paddles we used frisbies. Total float time was 3 hours.

This is not how a dog is supposed to "float" the river but Sasha jumped off her tube and started pulling Chris down the river.

Chris got Sasha back on her tube and a few whacks with the frisbie, she settled down.

Are we having fun yet Sasha?

Anne & Jasper

Jasper enjoying the ride

Sasha charmed everyone on the bus back to where we started the raft trip. A little girl insisted she sit in the seat next to the window....and she did.

Someone has gone to a great deal of work with this landscaping.

Today was a kick-back day. Cleaned the trailer....the carpeting gets constantly dirty from 2 Labradors and 2 Adults tracking in pine needles and dirt. In the afternoon we took the dogs swimming to the river. The water felt so good. Forgot my camera so no pictures.

During our trip I've been taking pictures of old barns, houses and buildings. It is amazing how many of these structures are still standing and many of them are right next to a new home.

THE IRON GOAT TRAIL:
The story of the Iron Goat began over 100 years ago when a crossing was needed through the Cascades at Stevens Pass which helped open the Pacific Northwest to settlement and trade. The original route over the pass consisted of a set of switchbacks cut into the mountainside. The switchbacks were an engineering triumph but they had serious disadvantages. The old Cascade Tunnel, completed in 1900, bypassed the switchbacks. Several snowsheds were added for safety. Trains were often stopped for days in winter storms.

In 1910, snowslides delayed two trains at the town of Wellington just a short distance from a tunnel. An avalanchbe crashed down, sweeping both trains off the tracks into the river. Nearly 100 lives were lost. After this tragedy, the tunnel was removed and a snowshed was installed.

As rail traffic increased, a new Cascade tunnel was completed in 1929. This eight-mile tunnel is still in use today by the BNSF.

All Concrete Snowshed - two track. This is the spot of the 1910 disaster.



View of Snowshed from the freeway

Concrete back wall of snowshed - the top and front was made of lumber.