Glacier National Park – A Little Wildlife
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I had hopes of seeing and photographing my first ever bear at Glacier National Park.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. It turned out it wasn’t easy finding much wildlife at all during our smoky visits.
While walking around Logan Pass, I kept my eye on a gentleman off alone, intently scanning the distant elevations with what looked like an expensive pair of binoculars. I figured if he locked on something, there was something to see. 😉 But he kept moving on, walking the paths.
I finally met up and asked him if there were any bears out there. He grinned and said bears was exactly what he was looking for; but he’s been quite disappointed not seeing any recently there, they were probably starting to shelter from the incoming smoke, or heading out along the river areas looking for clearer air while staying fed. He said, “Bears are smart.” I agreed.
So what did I see and capture besides the American Robin two posts back?
One butterfly…..
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Compton Tortoiseshell
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One squirrel…..
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Columbian Ground Squirrel
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and three deer…..
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White-tailed Deer (doe)
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White-tailed Deer (doe)
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“Well, hello there!”
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With the conditions and too many people every where we went, I felt fortunate to find these! 🤗
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Scenes Along Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park
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During our Glacier National Park entrance reservation time frame for last week of July and first week of August, we had disappointing smoky skies from the distant wildfires. Here’s two of the days’ conditions.
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Glacier NP – August 3, 2021
Glacier NP – August 4, 2021
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Thankfully, our first day into the park on July 27th was the best day, and the day we drove the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass and back. One way distance was 31 miles.
Here’s my series of photos of scenes in the order as shot as we road the side of the mountains and gained elevation into some clearer skies at Logan Pass. Sorry for so many, it was hard to cut down to these! 😏
Enjoy the ride!
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Here we go, we’ve already climbed some elevetion!
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Heavens Peak (elevation 8,986 ft / 2,739 m)
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Heavens Peak close-up
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Haystack Creek Falls that we are getting ready to drive pass
(a close-up further down)
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Mount Oberlin and Mount Cannon surrounding a glacier remnant that feeds Bird Woman Falls faintly visible falling between them
(bottom right is a river, not the waterfall)
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Looking back at the on-the-edge road we just traveled
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Towards the top of the Bird Woman Falls (shot with my telephoto lens)
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Zoomed in further a small section of the Bird Woman Falls
(I sure do like that name! 😉)
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Cruising along, approaching the Triple Arches Bridge
(This three-span, sixty-five foot long bridge was designed in 1927 as an alternative to a large retaining wall. It is constructed of reinforced concrete and was built to span deep rifts in the mountainside where the Going-to-the-Sun Road traverses the continental divide, known locally as the Garden Wall.)
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Going-to-the-Sun Road behind us, crossing on right
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We’ve reached Logan Pass! Elevation 6,646 ft (2,025 m).
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Logan Pass Visitor Center
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Clements Mountain (8,760 ft / 2,670 m)
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Clements Mountain (8,760 ft / 2,670 m)
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Reynolds Mountain (9,124 ft / 2,781 m)
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Garden Wall (and part of the Continental Divide through Glacier National Park)
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Time to follow back the roads we just cruised, shown here along the Garden Wall.
(Note that white pile of snow; we passed it already but it wasn’t on my side of the car…)
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One-third up this photo, note the faint line of a trail across left to right.
Now see next photo…..
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There’s eleven people walking along that trail in this photo! Yikes!
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Here comes that piece of glacier I mentioned above that broke off and slid down to the road
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Still melting end of July
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Cruising back to the west entrance
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Some of the road was twisting and tight!
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Haystack Creek Falls close-up
(on my side of the road this time!)
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Back down the elevation and into the smoke
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The Going-to-the-Sun Road was a beautiful drive, even a little white-knuckling at times!
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More Glacier National Park posts to come……wildflowers and some small wildlife!
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American Robin at Logan Pass
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Wildlife sightings in Glacier National Park were scarce for me, including birds. I imagine they were sheltering as necessary to avoid the smoke.
Throughout the entire park, my only bird capture was at Logan Pass’ 6,646 ft (2025 m) of an American Robin foraging amongst the wildflowers in the distance.
I’ll be honest, I surely wasn’t expecting a robin!
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American Robin
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After finding something ‘good’, the robin took flight, probably to head back to a hungry youngster nearby. 😊
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American Robin
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More of Glacier National Park to come!
P.S. My posts and blog reading is sporadic now as we’re on the road again! A recent massive mudslide onto I-70 that crosses the Rocky Mountains has closed a 46-mile stretch on the interstate indefinitely, thwarting our next two destination plans to Grand Junction and Colorado Springs. Trying to reschedule dates is impossible last minute, everywhere is booked. So we’ve decided to take our time and make our way home over the next couple weeks. I know getting home earlier than previously planned will make three grandboys real happy! Post cards and videochats with Grammy just isn’t the same…. 😉
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Going-to-the-Sun Mountain
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Time to start sharing Glacier National Park! For our two weeks’ entrance passes, there was only one day that provided some clearing of the smoke in the park. From that day, it went from bad to worse with heavy smoke and air quality alerts, and we quit going in. It was disheartening to know why there was smoke in the first place, they’re saying this year’s wildfires for the U.S. have been the worse ever.
Thankfully, we drove the park’s famous Going-to-the-Sun Road that clearer day, and found Logan Pass the clearest. Logan Pass is located along the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park and is the highest point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road at 6,646 ft (2025 m).
Here is the famous Going-to-the-Sun Mountain, as seen from Logan Pass looking east. This mountain is 9,642 ft (2939 m).
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Going-to-the-Sun Mountain (center)
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This is one of the most famous and sacred mountains in the park. The Blackfoot Indians tell the story of Napi, their Sun God, “who actually came down to earth to help his people during a period of great misfortune. When his work was done, Napi began to climb Going-to-the-Sun Mountain, and he was last seen on the upper cliffs as he disappeared back into the sun.“
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Going-to-the-Sun Mountain
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Going-to-the-Sun Mountain is not the tallest peak in the park (Mt. Cleveland is the tallest at 10,466 ft (3,190 m). Glacier National Park boasts more than one hundred summits that rise above 8,000 feet (2,438 m).
More of Glacier National Park to come!
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White-tailed Deer Family
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At the Billings, Montana, campground we were at several weeks ago, our site was at one end with concrete boundary barriers to unwalkable woods. Often, we would have a family of white-tailed deer hanging around the barriers, some times coming over them to eat the grass.
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White-tailed Deer – Buck “Dad”
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White-tailed Deer – Doe ‘Mom’
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White-tailed Deer – Fawn ‘Cutie’
(who was scolded by Mom and chased back over the barrier immediately)
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Because we were more alone at our end, they would wander around, ever so cautiously. Anyone coming around on the road, whether vehicle, person, or dogs, and the deer would launch over the barriers and disappear.
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Clear jump, up…..
And over!
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Yes, I took too many photos of the deer. 😏 I had the most fun watching the doe feed on tree leaves.
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White-tailed Deer (doe)
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White-tailed Deer (doe)
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Wow, she could really stretch her neck!
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Hmmm….those leaves look good…..
If…I…can…stretch…just…enough….
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Yummmmm…….
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“I do love these leaves!”
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chomp….chomp….chomp….
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“And that’s the truth!” – pffffffft
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Flicker Feeding
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I’ve really had some wonderful encounters with Northern Flickers (Red-shafted) this past month.
At this instance, I was watching several young ones hammering at the soil, foraging for insects. Not quite self-sufficient just yet, because a parent swooped in alongside one of the juvenile males for a feeding.
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Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) parent beginning to feed a juvenile male
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“Down the hatch, one….”
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“Two….”
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“Three!”
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It wasn’t until the parent turned did I find out it was the male parent. 🙂
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“Burrrrppppp….”
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The juvenile could look a little more pleased to had have dinner fed to him, you think? 😏
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Northern Flickers Courtship Display
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I caught sight of an odd display going on between a pair of Northern Flickers on the ground that I’d not seen before. As I started photographing, the female took flight up to a tree branch and the male followed her.
It was time to take it to the trees!
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Northern Flicker Pair (Red-shafted)
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What I was seeing was the courtship of Northern Flickers. With a little dance in time while nodding, bowing and swaying, they suddenly freeze with bills pointed upward and stay that way for several seconds.
This is the same ritual that goes on when two male rivals face off while a prospective mate looks on, sometimes called a “fencing duel.”
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Northern Flickers (male on right with his red ‘mustache’)
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As always with birds, it’s over as quickly as it begins.
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The female took flight again, and the male followed. He wasn’t giving up!
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Beartooth Highway Wildflowers
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Here’s a gallery of wildflowers captured along the Beartooth Highway that winds through both Montana and Wyoming, taken earlier this month. Many were living above the 9,500 feet, beautifying the alpine tundra with color.
Any help from anyone that may know one or more names is much appreciated!
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Purple Monkey Flower
Lupine, possibly Silky Lupine
Wildflower #3
Wildflower #4
Wildflowers #5
Wildflower #6
Bladder Campion
Wildflower #8
Sticky geranium
Yarrow, possibly Achillea
White flowers are Snow-in-Summer; Wildflower #10 – purple?
Wildflower #11
American Bistort (also called Western Bistort)
Cinquefoil
American Bistort (also called Western Bistort)
Wildflower #13
Wildflower #14
Wildflower #15 – yellow? White flowers are Mountain Phlox
Wildflower #16
Wildflowers #17
Daisy, possibly Dwarfed Shasta
Wildflowers galore!
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I hope these brightened your day!
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A Peek At Glacier National Park
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After trying daily at 8:00 am MDT for weeks to purchase an online $2/7-day ticket to enter Glacier NP, I finally succeeded for this week, whew. The 375 tickets available each day would sell out in the first minute.
The park is beyond crazy-crowded, and the Visitor Centers have long lines; so we’ve only been sight-seeing from our car and at viewpoint parking areas/pullouts. Which, of course, does not disappoint!
Here’s a peek through my lens into Glacier NP, taken at an unmarked pullout along the famous ‘Going-To-The-Sun Road‘ scenic drive. You can see the road we came from on the right, half way up the foreground mountain. The skies are oh-so smoky….
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Late July Wildflowers and Smoky Skies – Glacier National Park
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It’ll take some time to review my 800+ photos already taken, and I really want to wait. There’s not much hope with the smoke forecast that one of the next couple days clears up to go back in, so I’ll be trying again on Sunday to buy another ticket for another week before we leave the area. To get clearer photos would be so much better to share, we’ll see!
In the meantime, I’ve got plenty to go back to and share of photos taken in previous weeks….. 🙂
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Two Dragonflies and A Butterfly
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I always welcome the distraction and challenge of dragonflies and butterflies catching my eye! For sure, I’ve taken many more this past month, but these three are the only ones that made the cut.
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Autumn Meadowhawk
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Twelve-spotted Skimmer
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