Logan Pass and the First Two of our Big Three…

Armed with all the info given to us at the Apgar Ranger Station  we decided  first to simply take in the drive to Logan Pass on the Highway to the Sun. As we drove along the cobalt blue Lake McDonald we enjoyed all the magnificent scenery Glacier has to offer. They had a lot of snow here this past winter and as a result we are now being rewarded with hundreds of gushing waterfalls adorning many of the craggy mountainsides.

Driving along the green forests of  Western Hemlock , Black Cottonwood and Western Cedar we followed a rushing and frothing river until we started ascending the climb to Logan Pass. Numerous switchback each with their own breathtaking views were encountered until we finally made it to what appeared more like winter than summer, Logan Pass, adorned with brilliant white snow.

We parked at the pass and hiked around a bit on the Hidden Lake Trail where we saw the first of our big three wildlife sightings shortly after arriving. Sharon saw her first Mountain Goats as we found a pair of them, mother and baby. Interestingly the mother was donned with a radio collar as we found out later that scientists are studying the Mountain Goats in the Logan Pass area. What a cool sighting we had on our very first day…

No sooner than we had scored the first of the big three we noticed a group of large mammals moving across the snow on the mountain across the road from where we parked. After looking though our binoculars we had scored the second of the big three… A large group of seventeen Big Horn Sheep were ambling across a snow bank en route up the mountainside. They were so nimble as they scrambled up the talus slopes. Super cool…

We spent the rest of the day looking at numerous waterfalls as the snow melt is still in full force all the while keeping our eyes out for the signs of bear. Before leaving  the park we stopped at one of the pullouts near Lake McDonald and spent time relaxing and gazing out over the still blue waters… what a beautiful park this is…