Fire and Rain

Driving and hiking in different parts of Glacier Park, we came upon a lot of places where fire had changed the landscape. In 2003, about 6 different fires burned a total of about 146,000 acres (13%) of Glacier National Park. These fires followed the driest summer ever recorded.

You can see the burned trees not only in the foreground, but also going up the next mountain.

A burned forest has a certain eeriness and beauty to it.

I love the contrast of the new growth against the dead trees.

This view from near the top of Logan Pass makes my eyes roll back and forth. I can imagine a marble rolling from side to side on its way down.
See that stream way down there at the bottom of the valley?

Driving up Logan Pass is probably a challenge for flat-landers. Okay, I'll admit it - even I, the Brave Carol of Colorado, had a hard time looking down at some points. The highest point of the pass is only a little over 6,600 feet (2,012 meters) high - compared to passes in Colorado that are over 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), but the road is very narrow and the drop off is

straight

down

with

no

guardrail

much of the time.

St. Mary Falls
There are waterfalls and water drips and lakes full of water and rushing streams and water frozen into glaciers and snowy banks all over that park. There is an abundance of water everywhere.

Lake McDonald
This lake, created by the movement of a glacier, is about 10 miles long and 472 feet deep. I took this photo while lying flat on my belly on a dock because I wanted to show how clear the water is.

"We need wilderness because we are wild animals. Every man needs a place where he can go to go crazy in peace. Every Boy Scout troop deserves a forest to get lost, miserable, and starving in. Even the maddest murderer of the sweetest wife should get a chance for a run to the sanctuary of the hills. If only for the sport of it. For the terror, freedom, and delerium..."
- Edward Abbey, from The Journey Home