Wow.
I drove the 87 miles from Shelby to the St Mary entrance to Glacier National Park. I was surpirsed by how busy the entrance was -- there were probably six cars in each of the two entrance lines. I am one week passed the time when you need a prearranged pass to get into the park before 3 PM. That was luck. I had no idea that Glacier is that popular that it is one of the national parks that has crowd control in the summer. I thought it remoteness would limit the number of visitors. Wrong. Even though parts of the park have closed down for the season and a number of businesses outside the park are closing down by the end of September, I found the park to be very busy -- and you might remember I don't like using the word very!
My intent was to drive the Going To The Sun Road with minimal stops. That is not possible. Glacier may be the most awe-inspiring national park we have. Especially once you get into the peaks, the views are overwhelming in their beauty and vastness. I think it is almost impossible to process and digest the views. That's especially true as a driver once you get into the sheer drops parts of the road. I was saved, if you can say that, by the fact that big dark clouds rolled in and muted the photo opportunities. But I also walked away knowing that even with perfect weather, I could never have captured the immense beauty. There is also the fact that photographing Glacier is clearly time of day dependant as there are parts of mountains that are in shadow at any given time. This is one of the few places I will probably end of buying several professional photographs that do a much better job than I was able to of capturing the beauty of the park.
Note: I realize I write these blog posts as a stream of consciousness. In other word, my words are those of a first draft. That's the best I can do. I run out of either time or energy or both almost every day and just can't spend the time (and effort) to edit my drafts. I apologize for the 9th grade level of my writing. But I hope in some way I capture not only what I think but also what I feel.
Here are my photos from the day -- first the drive from Shelby to St. Mary and then the Going To The Sun Road drive:
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