We arrived in North Fork Idaho after a beautiful drive up the Salmon river valley and having followed the trail of the American explorers, Lewis and Clark. We stayed in a log cabin hotel on the Salmon river, it was perfect. The next day we rose early and headed off on another long drive up to Glacier NP. We drive on through the Bitter root valley and into Montana. Montana, Idaho, Wymoing etc are all beautiful and rugged and are such a nice change from suburbia.
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Our Days drive from SLC to Bonneville and up to North Fork, Idaho.
The drive up to Glacier NP, almost in Canada
When we arrived at the Western entrance to the park (Going to the Sun Road) we were told we had to turn back and go around he park as the road was closed due to snow. The Going to the sun rd traverses the park from west to east and climbs up very high and so the road is often closed late into summer form snow. We drove around the park and made our way to the Swift Current Motor Inn in the Many Glacier region of the park. We also stopped on the way for some huckleberry pie – not bad, like blueberries but bears eat them.
When we arrived at Glacier the weather was terrible and there was low cloud and fog all around us, so we couldn’t see much. When we awoke the next day everything had changed.
Inside the Many Glacier Hotel. A nice place to have dinner and some drinks and admire the views.
Bears are scary and even more so when you are walking along a track and find bear poo, with bones in it. We made some friends with a young amercian couple and walked with them to Grinnel Glacier. It is extremely uncommon for bears to attack groups of 4 or more so we felt better with our new friends
Lake Josephine at about 8am. Not a ripple on the lake.
Big Horn Sheep. These guys look like goats but are sheep and the boys have big horns that they use to fight with and impress the girls. We were lucky to see these two at such a low altitude as they are usually high above the treeline.
Corinne with Grinnel lake in the background. I think it is Mt Wilbur behind Corinne.
Just a stream with some mountains in the background, nice spot though
Least Chipmunk. These guys are super cool and fast. we found some relaxed ones on the Eastern side of Logan pass on Going to the Sun road. They sat there and ate dandelions whilst i filmed them. So small and cute.
Moon rise from our hotel car park
The lake just below Iceberg lake, secret lake i think.
Oreamnos americanus – The Mountain Goat. Large weird shaped goats that have huge shoulders and front ends and tiny back ends, shaped like a Bison but smaller and white. Once again these guys are usually at very high altitudes, above the Big Horn Sheep. This one however was sitting on a ledge above the Grinnel Glacier trail casually watching everyone walk by.
Columbian Ground Squirrel – super inquisitive and our favourite animal on the trip.
Panorama of Lake Sherbourne
Panorama of Grinnel Lake, Mt Wilbur behind it and the Ptarmigan wall to its right, clouds billowing over it.
Pretty streams and mountains
