# GNP 2017



## Greg G (Aug 21, 2017)

So went to Bowman Lake yesterday.  Took me almost an hour in my rental car to travel the 6 mile gravel, bumpy, winding, pot hole ridden, 1.5 car width road from the ranger station to the Lake.   I wanted to take it very slowly to not ding up the car.  Very quiet at the lake and only saw a hand full of hikers while hiking.  There were stretches of time of an hour or so where I didn't see anyone while hiking.  I did encounter a black bear on the trail while hiking.  Good thing I was regularly clapping my hands and shouting "Hey bear" while hiking otherwise I might have really startled it.  It was around 75 or so feet away and went running uphill into the woods thank goodness.
Saw some kayakers and a paddle boarder while there.   
I thought I would use this hike as a warm up to start off the trip as I had believed it was fairly flat.  Well it turns out 13 miles of round trip rolling hills had me dead tired when I got back to my car.  I was really struggling to make it the last mile back to my car.  I should have turned around at the 3 mile point to make it a nice 6 mile warm up hike but didn't do that.  My right ankle was bothering me at the end so I'm resting it today.  Hopefully I can still do some more hiking on this trip.
The following are early morning shots at Bowman lake  (assuming I have the correct links)


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## WinniWoman (Aug 21, 2017)

Very beautiful, but you shouldn't drive a rental car on gravel- it is against the rules. if something had happened to the car, you wouldn't be covered.

Also, we just learned a lesson while taking what we thought was going to be an easy walk in a White Mountain Estate property and turned out to be more of a muddy, slippery, bush whacking hike where we had to call for help to get back. We did start to back track but I was getting hot and tired and my bad leg was starting to hurt. Lucky we had cell service.


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## Greg G (Aug 22, 2017)

mpumilia said:


> Very beautiful, but you shouldn't drive a rental car on gravel- it is against the rules. if something had happened to the car, you wouldn't be covered.
> 
> Also, we just learned a lesson while taking what we thought was going to be an easy walk in a White Mountain Estate property and turned out to be more of a muddy, slippery, bush whacking hike where we had to call for help to get back. We did start to back track but I was getting hot and tired and my bad leg was starting to hurt. Lucky we had cell service.




I didn't realize that about the rental car.   Thx for the heads up.


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## Greg G (Aug 25, 2017)

So, saw the strangest thing in Many Glacier a day ago.  There was an SUV up ended at a 60 degree or so angle with its left front nose in a hole where apparently the road had given away.  This is by that very rough, bad stretch of road in Many Glacier right around where the dam is.  I should have gotten a picture of it but I didn't want to have an accident myself.  Just bizarre. Looked like something out of one of those earthquake movies.  They are doing lots of construction in that area, as well as sections on the west side of Going To The Sun road.

Greg


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## Greg G (Aug 25, 2017)

A few more pictures (still trying to figure out how to display the larger resolution for an embedded image.  It's a real pain getting the single image address as you have to run it thru a lookup app).  The bears were at full zoom (approx 40x optical).
The rays of light pictures I lucked out on as that day it was rainy and cloudy most of the day and then as I was coming back down the mountain later on the sun started to break thru the clouds in dramatic ways and I just so happened to be at the photo spot for Wild Goose Island and got those pictures.  The deer picture was a fluke as I snapped it just as it was opening its mouth to eat something, I didn't even realize it until I looked at it later on.  Run the album in More Options (the three vertical dots) -> Slideshow mode.

Album at https://goo.gl/photos/Rw1yUodXzfshkMnf9



Greg


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## Helaine (Aug 26, 2017)

Greg G said:


> Album at https://goo.gl/photos/Rw1yUodXzfshkMnf9
> 
> Greg



Those photos are wonderful!


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## b2bailey (Aug 26, 2017)

Always love moments when we see rays of light -- even better when captured by photo.


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## taffy19 (Aug 27, 2017)

Your pictures are beautiful, Greg!  We haven't seen that National Park yet and I doubt if we will see it now.  I love YouTube movies so can see it through other people's eyes.

Movies show so much more if they are done professionally or someone who knows how to edit them.  This is how I saw the total eclipse hours later the other day.


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## LisaH (Aug 27, 2017)

Great pictures! We went to Waterton National Park one day last year when visiting GNP. It was at least as beautiful as GNP. We also saw more wild lives there: bears, antelopes, and bighorns...one bear was on the road in very close proximity while we drove by. Quite exilerating


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## WinniWoman (Aug 27, 2017)

Love the pics!


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## Greg G (Aug 27, 2017)

Yep,  Waterton National Park is on my list to visit in the future.  Canada has exceptionally beautiful parks.  I didn't bring my passport this time as I planned on more hiking in Many Glacier.  Right now I'm looking out the balcony of my St Mary Resort room and seeing a very smokey GNP (the picture below was taken a few hours ago and the nice sunset one where St. Mary was just fine was taken at sunset two days ago ).  There is even a faint smokey smell.  The wind is blowing the smoke from the fire over to St Mary's.  Reminds me of that line in Apocalypse Now where the Lt. Col says " I love the smell of napalm in the morning".   It looked fine yesterday as I drove Going To the Sun road the full length and back .  I drove over to Many Glacier today to see how it was affected and it looked fine.  I plan on hiking to Cracker lake tomorrow (all day) in Many Glacier


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## Greg G (Aug 27, 2017)

And another two from yesterday where the park looked fine.


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## taffy19 (Aug 27, 2017)

Greg G said:


> Yep,  Waterton National Park is on my list to visit in the future.  Canada has exceptionally beautiful parks.  I didn't bring my passport this time as I planned on more hiking in Many Glacier.  Right now I'm looking out the balcony of my St Mary Resort room and seeing a very smokey GNP (the picture below was taken a few hours ago and the nice sunset one where St. Mary was just fine was taken at sunset two days ago ).  There is even a faint smokey smell.  The wind is blowing the smoke from the fire over to St Mary's.  Reminds me of that line in Apocalypse Now where the Lt. Col says " I love the smell of napalm in the morning".   It looked fine yesterday as I drove Going To the Sun road the full length and back .  I drove over to Many Glacier today to see how it was affected and it looked fine.  I plan on hiking to Cracker lake tomorrow (all day) in Many Glacier


How awful to see the fires.  I hope people are safe but what about the animals.  So sad.


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## Greg G (Aug 28, 2017)

Well, the East side of GTS road looked to be very hazy looking from my balcony early today and when I get back after my Cracker Lake hike in Many Glacier.  Many Glacier seemed to be just fine as I had great views on the hike.
A few of the photos from that hike starting at the Many Glacier Hotel parking lot with a picture of Grinnell Point early in the morning are https://goo.gl/photos/Rw1yUodXzfshkMnf9 .  Start at the photo shown below in the album, click on it, and then hit more options (the three dots) ---> slideshow to see the few I added from that hike  (got lots more but require some post processing and cropping)


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## taffy19 (Aug 28, 2017)

All beautiful photos!  Most likely not taken with your phone camera.  I love the photos with the light rays too.  Thank you for sharing.


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## Greg G (Aug 28, 2017)

The good thing is the fire is a very small part of the park.  The bad thing is the smoke from it can extend well beyond the fires  boundaries.  Not sure what the animals do.  Some probably get trapped while others move, sad, although  part of this is nature renewing things.  I was getting Huckleberry ice cream after my hike and the server, said,  "do you see smoke", and I told him as I was coming south down highway 89 ,  I could barely see more than one mountain on this side of the park due to the smoke.
Boy, I felt old, hiking the Cracker lake trail.  Some younger hikers passed me going up and then on my return hike they passed me as well (although I'm more of a weight lifter, as opposed to a jogger/hiker)  I did however take it easier this time, also stopped for lunch at the lake for at least 45 minutes to rest, and didn't feel dead tired after the hike.  I babied my one ankle on the return hike (old injury).  Didn't see any wildlife other than chipmunks and squirrels on this hike. Probably a good thing as bears would notice I was the lagger and pick me off first..  I did use a sun hat this time which has a wide brim and that worked really well.

Greg


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## Greg G (Aug 28, 2017)

I was over at the Many Glacier Hotel/trail parking lot by 7:15 am today for the hike  and I'd say it was at least 80% full at that time.   I think possibly people think that the east side of the park on GTS road is going to be smokey and head to Many Glacier as it isn't.  At Cracker Lake I saw a guy and a gal in bathing suits (she in a bikini) at the lakes edge.   Pretty daring.  Again, youngsters, compared to me. Decorum prevented me from snapping a photo of her.

Greg


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## Greg G (Aug 28, 2017)

I can smell smoke from my balcony at St. Mary's Resort.

Greg


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## Greg G (Aug 28, 2017)

You can see live pictures from the webcams at the GNP site  https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm
Right now the St Mary web cam shows a pretty smokey park.

Greg


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## Greg G (Aug 28, 2017)

Thanks for the comments on the pics.


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## Greg G (Aug 29, 2017)

It was a good thing I took the Cracker Lake hike yesterday because pretty much the east side of the park including Many Glacier was very smokey today as I drove around checking them out. Just read that Lake McDonald Lodge is closing today, a month earlier than usual, due to the smoke from the fires.  I'll see what tomorrow is like at Many Glacier for other hikes and viewing wildlife.

Greg


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## Greg G (Sep 1, 2017)

Had a good day yesterday at Many Glacier on the Red Rock trail for seeing moose. No haze of smoke at Many Glacier today (thought there as yesterday).  The one below was some 30 feet away from the trail and then also viewable from the side from the beach area at Red Rock Lake  (need to do a bit of lightening on these but here they are as is). Also saw a Cow and Calf at BullHead Lake but much further away on the other side of the lake.  St. Mary was hazed over by smoke but got some neat shots of the GTS road during that day with the smoke. 















full size ones in album at https://goo.gl/photos/Rw1yUodXzfshkMnf9


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## WinniWoman (Sep 1, 2017)

Awesome pics of the MOOSE!


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## sue1947 (Sep 1, 2017)

Maybe 10 years ago, we were at Many Glaciers at the end of the season in mid-Sept.  We took the first boat tour in the morning with a Ranger on board and when we got off the boat at the upper lake, there was a bull moose to our right and a female in back of us.  The Ranger kept her eye on the bull and let us know that if she yelled run, we should move it.  Well, the female moose mossed around the end of the lake putting us directly between her and the bull.  The bull charged at her, the Ranger yelled "run" and we did.  It's one of those wildlife moments I'll always remember.  
Before that, we had good views of grizzlies foraging above the lake with hikers on the trail to Grinnel Glacier both above and below bears with no idea they were so close.   

Sue


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## Greg G (Sep 2, 2017)

sue1947 said:


> Maybe 10 years ago, we were at Many Glaciers at the end of the season in mid-Sept.  We took the first boat tour in the morning with a Ranger on board and when we got off the boat at the upper lake, there was a bull moose to our right and a female in back of us.  The Ranger kept her eye on the bull and let us know that if she yelled run, we should move it.  Well, the female moose mossed around the end of the lake putting us directly between her and the bull.  The bull charged at her, the Ranger yelled "run" and we did.  It's one of those wildlife moments I'll always remember.
> Sue


That is a great memory!

Greg


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## Greg G (Sep 5, 2017)

Finally got all my pictures uploaded.  This time I got to see the entire Going to the Sun Road (GTS).   The fire made for some interesting pictures on certain days, with other days very clear.  Several days the park view from along the GTS road was completely hazed over by smoke.  Good thing I spent a lot of time in the Many Glacier area, which I had planned to, as it was much less affected by the smoke and many more clear days than the GTS road views.
Didn't see any grizzlies but did see black bears, and moose on this trip.  Saw all the moose on the Red Rock trail in Many Glacier  (saw lots of bear scat but no bears on that trail).   Saw the black bears in Many Glacier and along St Mary Lake, and the one I startled with clapping at Bowman Lake.  Was fortunate to get a good day for the Cracker Lake hike and got some nice pics of the turquoise colored Cracker Lake and surrounding mountains (12 mile round trip hike, 1400 ft elevation gain).   I wanted to also hike the Iceberg Lake trail but time ran out and I opted for wildlife along the Red Rock trail the last full day I was there, and was not disappointed.  I just happened to choose that trail on the advice of an older local couple that was coming in from kayaking the Swiftcurrent Lake in Many glacier.  The guy noticed me scanning the mountains for wildlife and said,  "see any bears", and I said I hadn't seen much wildlife at Many Glacier this time.   He said if you want to see bears/moose do the Red Rock trail hike.  Well he was spot on (for moose at least).
As always GNP has unbelievably amazing scenery.   Also I think I had a Huckleberry shake at least 5 times during my time at GNP.  Love those shakes.
I left a day or two before they closed the west half of GTS road so I lucked out this time.  Also the day I drove back from St. Mary thru the park on the GTS to my 1 night hotel stay close to the airport in Kalispell, was the day the Sperry Chalet burned down.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/y3VUD5cTKqdkz9pl1
(click on the 3 vertical dots in the upper right hand corner, and then click on slideshow)


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## Greg G (Sep 20, 2017)

I have a GNP annual pass with the second signature box left empty if anyone wants it (simply sign that box and you can use it).  It was purchased August 18 2017.  I asked the park attendant and they said anyone could sign it and use it.


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