Glacier Park at the end of summer...

[ljm2002]

...we drove up to Logan Pass on the last weekend the road is open, they're closing the Going to the Sun Highway early this year for repairs.

These are some of my favorite shots:

Lake MacDonald reflecting the light breaking through the clouds:



Cloud shadows on the mountains, seen from Going to the Sun Highway:



Sun streaming into the valley:



Black and white trunks of trees damaged in the 2003 fire make a contrast with the bright green of the forest floor:

[Blue_In_AK]

1. These are marvelous shots.

Where is this park located? It must be in the northwest somewhere -- these scenes look a lot like Alaska, especially the first one and the last one. I have similar photos from interior Alaska, but the trees are burnt black spruce instead of birches.

I like these kinds of shots because you feel the melancholy of the lost forest, and yet there's the new birth underneath that now has a chance to grow. It's kind of a Zen thing, I guess.

[elleng]

3. Montana/Alberta, British Columbia

Glacier National Park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_National_Park_(U.S.)

Took Amtrak there some years ago, to begin our 'western' vacation.

[ljm2002]

5. Glacier Park is in Montana

I was visiting family in Whitefish, Montana, in the north part of the Flathead Valley about 40 miles from the entrance to the park.

The park is part of the Glacier Waterton International Peace Park, Waterton being a smaller area north of the Canadian border.

[DrDan]

10. was at Glacier and Waterton in July - stayed at the Many

What a beautiful place . . . .

[Blue_In_AK]

11. Thank you.

That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure. I always get it confused with Glacier Bay National Park, which is in Alaska.

[JeffR]

2. My God.

My older sister is going to be retiring to Montana soon. Looking at these, I can understand why.

Great, great photos.

[ljm2002]

6. What part of Montana is she moving to?

Just out of curiosity. It's a big state, I grew up there but on the plains rather than near the mountains. There is natural beauty in every part of the state -- I've never since seen skies like I used to see there on the northern plains.

[JeffR]

9. Bigfork, which I think is pretty close.

She's had a vacation home there for years.

[ljm2002]

13. Yes, Bigfork is close...

...on the north end of Flathead Lake. It's a beautiful spot too!

[JeffR]

14. I'm hoping to get an invitation when she moves there permanently.

I think I'll have to get another handful of memory cards if I do, based on what you've shown here.

[Mira]

4. Utter magnificence. I'm so glad to get to see these.

Thank you so much. One more gorgeous than the other.
I was in Yellowstone after a huge fire, this takes me back to seeing such devastation from which the new arises with a vengeance.

[ljm2002]

7. So glad you liked them!

It's so funny, you don't expect a forest full of burned trees to be beautiful, and yet that part of the forest really did have its own beauty.

[Dallas Dem]

8. Very cool.....

.....especially that first one. Brooding, moody, yet powerful and majestic. Great shot.

[Ptah]

12. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, ljm2002. Beautiful pictures.

I also grew up on the prairie and Glacier Park was a frequent destination
for us.