East Glacier Revisited, then Lake Louise and The Icefields Parkway

Because Lynda did the East Glacier post I didn't get to put up any of my pictures.
This is my favorite wildlife pic from the park:

The Brown Topped Nikon Shooter, in it's natural habitat.

OK, enough of this foolishness.

We left Glacier National Park and a few miles later, the U.S. We entered Alberta just south of Waterton International Peace Park and because we were the first "customers" of the day we had to wait for the customs agent to turn on the lights, computers, etc. Unfortunately we didn't get to stop at Waterton because we had a long drive to Lake Louise.

Canada at last!

It was still winter in Lake Louise and the lake was frozen and the trails still had some snow on them.

 A view down the lake to the glacier on the cliffs at the far end of the lake. The hotel clears a skating area on the lake creating the berms in the foreground.

A small opening in the ice at the far end of the lake. Click on the image and you may be able to see that the water and ice are blue green in color.

                                                       At the far end of the lake is a cliff face that is a favorite for climbers. There   was a team of two, one climbing, one    belaying, practicing moves on the face.

There's that Nikon Shooter again!     

The view from our campground.

We then headed over to Moraine Lake on the recently opened road. There was still quite a bit of snow at the side of the road. We saw a number of cyclists putting in early season miles on this mountainous road.

As with Lake Louise, Moraine Lake was frozen over but still spectacular. Unfortunately we couldn't see the blue waters under the ice. We could, however, hear an icefall or avalanche crashing down the mountain unseen.

 We tried hiking around the lake (we were told the trail was open at the visitor center) but didn't make it far without our snowshoes.

I found out about "postholing" the hard way!


















We left Lake Louise and made our way up The Icefields Parkway to Jasper. In 2004 Lynda and I did a Rocky Mountain Cycle Tours ride from Jasper to Banff along this same highway. I left that trip with the impression of a fairly benign ride with a few climbs and two mountain passes. After our drive I realized how wrong my memory was! The terrain was rolling with big climbs every few miles. We both marveled at the length and steepness of the passes and the fact that we were able to climb them.

Of course one of the attractions of the parkway is the scenery.

This is one of the Waterfowl Lakes. The color is olive green. 

I always thought this row of mountains was unique. They are like a table with two legs sawed off, absolutely flat but tilted. You can see them for miles.

This is the reason the road is called the Icefields Parkway. These glaciers are across the road from the Icefields Center. In the past some of these glaciers reached all the way to the road, now they're miles away.

Above is Mt Athabasca. A 10,000 foot peak that our cycling trip guides scaled under a full moon as the rest of us slept!


Just a few miles north of the Icefields Center is the new Glacier Skywalk which juts out over a canyon. If you choose to pay $25 per ticket, stand in a line and take a short shuttle ride, you can walk out to get a view through the glass floor to the glacier 918 feet below. Yikes! This wasn't here 10 years ago so when we got to the top of a long climb we stood at a pullout and looked over the guardrail.

We stopped at Athabasca Falls, our first stop on the cycling trip, to see if it had changed. The falls was described by early explorers as "a roaring torrent topped by a perpetual rainbow". The rainbow is still there!

 A few miles further we turned right at Jasper and headed along the beautiful Rt. 16 to Hinton, AB where we ended the day with this gorgeous sunset.

Stay tuned for more in our adventure as we travel to Dawson Creek and up The Alaska Highway. 3500 miles down 1400 to go to Fairbanks!

East Glacier National Park, Montana

Tuesday, May 27th
It's Tuesday morning and I'm still catching up from last week. For some reason, my computer is the only one getting access to the campground wifi which is making Lee very frustrated. I was hoping we could both post so we'd catch up faster, but it's not happening! I'm trying to do a bit more before heading to Dawson Creek, BC this morning.

We had decided to go to West Glacier even though we were coming from the east, because we had read that not much was open in East Glacier yet. The Going-to-the-Sun Road on the east side was being repaired and you could only go about a mile in, and the hiking trails were still snow covered. But when we went to the visitor's center in the west, the ranger told us that on the east side, the area called Many Glaciers was open and that it was a favorite spot for many people and that it was the best place for seeing wildlife. (Groan) Well, we couldn't miss that, so we decided to trek back across Route 2 that runs along the southern boundary of the park. (The alternate route when G-to-the-S is closed)

So on Wednesday, we headed over to East Glacier and stayed at Johnson RV Park, which sat up on a hill almost right across the street from the main entrance to East Glacier. It was a decent campground with a beautiful view of the mountains and Lower St. Mary Lake.

On our first day there, we drove to the Many Glaciers area. It wasn't exactly around the corner...9 miles north and then a 12-mile drive into the entrance from the main road! But we were determined to find wildlife.

The drive in from the main road was very scenic, running along a river on one side and rugged cliffs on the other.










Along the way, we spotted this young mountain goat. Not exactly the moose or grizzly we were hoping for, but we were still hopeful.

At the end of the 12-mile road we arrived at the beautiful Swiftcurrent Lake.

The ranger at the visitor's center in St. Mary, told us that there were a few trails we might be able to try. The first one didn't get us too far before we ran into deep snow, so we headed for another. We ran into another hiker who asked if we had seen any bears or moose. We hadn't, but HE had! He proceeded to show us the pics he had on his camera. ARGH, how come everyone else finds them and we don't! We set out on the Swiftcurrent Lake trail in hopes of seeing the moose that he had mentioned was sitting on the side of the trail. The trail was snowy, but it was packed down enough for walking. There were some nice views of the lake and the mountains, but no moose!

We went as far as we could until the snow got too deep, then headed back. On the way back, we finally spotted the moose. It was so hidden in the brush that we never would have seen it if that hiker hadn't mentioned it. It was so hidden, that it isn't even worth posting the photo!

We called it a day and decided to try again on Thursday. When we headed out on Thursday, the weather was beautiful but very windy. We drove the road into the park again hoping that today was the day. When a few different people asked if we had seen the bear on the road right after we passed that spot, we were about to scream! We were about to give up when I looked across the street from the parking lot and spotted a moose coming down the mountainside. I screamed to Lee to come and watch. We were the only ones there at the time, so we claimed it as "our moose"!

We watched it as it came right down to the road, crossed and headed down to the river.

A little while later, we spotted it again walking along a trail that we had considered hiking a little earlier. I'm glad we didn't. I wouldn't have wanted to run into it at such close range. These animals are huge and can be aggressive, and this one wasn't even as big as they get.

We found a spot beside the road that we thought was the prettiest spot and planted ourselves there. We watched as two golden eagles and an osprey flew around above the river. Pretty soon we drew a crowd as we were pointing out all the wildlife we'd been viewing, including another moose. At one point, we spotted a bald eagle sitting in a tree near the golden eagle's territory. The bald eagle doesn't seem phased by the approaching osprey.

While we were sitting there, we even spotted a bear way across the river along a distant bank. Not sure whether it was a grizzly or a brown bear, it was too far away. The ranger had said that sometimes the grizzlies can be black and the black bears can be brown. A grizzly has a hump on its back and its claws are longer. Not sure I'll be measuring that any time soon!  I'm hoping to see another one a little closer next time....Maybe once we get to Alaska.

We left the park, happy that we had finally seen so much wildlife. We were driving along the main road back to the campground when we spotted this osprey sitting on a fence. Of course, we had to pull over and check it out. It was busy enjoying a fresh catch!

We capped off the day with a view from our campground of a beautiful sunset on Lower St. Mary Lake.

Next stop, Canada--Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway to Jasper.

West Glacier National Park, Montana

Monday, May 26th
We're in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada tonight in the Rotary RV Park. It's right in the heart of the city, but located next to a college in a large park with a running/biking path. It's really pretty nice. Lee and I got a short run in this afternoon. We haven't done enough of that and I fear we'll be sorry when we get to Fairbanks for the Midnight Sun Run!

The campground has wifi, YAY! It's amazing how dependent I've gotten on this technology. So I can finally go back a few days to catch you up on where we've been.

Last Monday, we arrived in West Glacier NP. We stayed in Glacier Campground about a mile outside the entrance to the park. It was a "no frills" campground in the woods. Their slogan was "camping the way it used to be." We did have water and electric, so it wasn't that rustic. A nice alternative to the park itself, since the park can't accommodate any RVs that are over 20-something feet long.

Once we got settled, we went over to the park and took a drive on the Going to the Sun Road. This road connects West and East Glacier NPs, but at this time of year, it hasn't been completely cleared of snow yet. We were able to go 14 miles, following along the shoreline of Lake McDonald, the largest lake in the park. It was really so beautiful.

Once we passed the lake, we were riding alongside McDonald Creek. Since the area received a huge amount of snow this winter, the creek was very full and running very fast. The light was just right, and the water was a beautiful blue-green.

On our second day in West Glacier, we took a 5-mile hike on two connecting trails. The Cedar Loop was a beautiful cedar forest with rushing water through beautiful gorges.

The Avalanche Lake Trail was a densely wooded forest that led to a beautiful lake. In this photo, you can see how the trees have been affected by an avalanche from the facing mountain. 

While we were walking, we spotted some mountain goats on the mountain across the valley. There are 8 of them.

The lake and surrounding mountains were beautiful. We would have walked farther around the lake, but we couldn't because the snow was too deep!

And, of course, no hike would be complete without a couple of wildlife photos. 

I've been trying to get a photo of a stellar jay for years. I finally got one! He's eating a cracker crumb that a hiker left behind.

Chipmunks aren't exactly unique, but I couldn't resist this one nibbling on a leaf. I watched him down the whole thing!

When we got back from our hike, we decided to ride our mountain bikes up the Going to the Sun Road, starting from the trailhead at mile 14 where traffic had to stop. Cyclists and hikers could go another 7 up to the portion of the road called "the loop." At this point, the road does a 180 degree switchback before climbing higher through Logan Pass and eventually heading down to East Glacier. 

 When we started, it was pretty warm, so we unzipped the legs from our hiking pants and off we went. 

We got as far as the tunnel, which is just a little bit before the loop, when we were greeted by a group of five big-horned sheep making themselves comfortable inside the tunnel. We didn't know how they would react to two cyclists entering their domain, so we decided to let them be and turned around to head back. 

As we were riding up the mountain, it didn't seem that steep. But when we turned around to go back down, we were surprised at how steep it looked. I thought, "Wow, did I just climb that?" By this time, the sun had started to go down behind the mountains and it started to get cold. We were freezing and starving because we hadn't planned to be gone all day and never had lunch. That just made us ride faster.

When we got back to the car, instead of going back to the campground, we decided that we had to go back to watch the sunset on Lake McDonald. Starving and cold, or not, we didn't want to miss it. And I'm so glad we did. As we watched the sun sinking lower in the sky, two kayakers paddled into the scene. It couldn't have been more perfect. We could go back to the trailer now and collapse until tomorrow!

Next post will be East Glacier.....

 

Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Great Falls, MT

May 22, 2014
I'm falling a little behind on the blog. We've been in Glacier NP for the last four days and haven't had a minute to write. On our way to Glacier, we spent two nights in Great Falls, MT at Dick's RV Park. It was nothing fancy, but was run by friendly people and was conveniently located near a paved cycling/running path along the Missouri River. And besides, it was time to catch up on laundry!

While we were there, we decided to take a drive to the Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge. We were surprised to find a wide variety of birds, some that we had never seen before. To me, that's one of the best things about traveling around the country. I love seeing new and different wildlife.

There's a loop road running through the refuge, winding through fields and around a large lake. Here are some photos of the ones I was able to capture. If you click on the image, you can enlarge it.

I think this is a Western Meadowlark. It looks like a pretty young one.

This is a Marbled Godwit. I also saw this one in South Dakota earlier on our trip. This is a better example.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds were abundant in this refuge. Last time I tried to snap a photo of this bird, it didn't cooperate. This time was different!

A few different varieties of ducks were there. These (right and below) are Cinnamon Teals. The one on the right is the male. Below are the male and female. No, he's NOT trying to drown her!

These are a pair of Shovelers. Looks like a lover's quarrel to me!

 This is a Solitary Sandpiper.

 This is a pair of American Avocets.

This is either a Glossy Ibis or a White-faced Ibis. I'm not sure. It's feathers were iridescent--really beautiful!

And last, but not least, here is a White Pelican. Notice the bump on its beak. This apparently only appears during mating season.









If I've misidentified any of these, please let me know.

Next blog will be about our stay in Glacier NP, both east and west. We head into Canada tomorrow, so we'll have to rely on public access wifi for awhile until we get to Alaska and can use our own hotspot.