Have been in the St. Mary area of Glacier National Park for almost two weeks (without hookups). It is really incredible, lots of waterfalls and wildflowers. Coming at the end of June this year, it seemed less crowded than last year. Part of this is due to roadwork on Going-to-the-Sun Road, where access over Logan Pass is closed at 9 p.m. There was very little traffic on the road at 7 p.m.. There is still snow at Logan Pass. People were using their skiing gear on my first visit there. The snow is melting fast though, creating waterfalls everywhere
The first two photos above were taken on the way to Logan Pass. The third one is from Many Glacier. It’s the first time I’ve visited that area. Wish I could stay at the campground there, but my rv is too long. The bottom picture is the Two Medicine area. You can see the variety of weather I had.
When stopped near Logan Pass waiting to drive through a one lane road where work was being done, saw the sheep in the top picture. On another visit the sheep in the bottom picture was in the Logan Pass parking lot. He was licking the pavement. Perhaps salt was there from snow removal. There were people all around him taking pictures and he was oblivious to them. It was just when some people let their two dogs out of their car that he looked up.
Sharp-tailed grouse
On one drive down Going-to-the-Sun Road passed people watching a black bear. Went back the next evening thinking it would probably return, and it did. This time park rangers were also on hand. The ranger above was going to shoot it with a rubber bullet and aim a firecracker over it’s head to scare it away, but I think the bear got away that night. I didn’t go back the next night.
A white tailed deer was grazing while keeping an eye on the bear. The bear eventually gave a half-hearted lunge towards the deer and it took off.
The large variety of wildflowers at the park is amazing. There are a mix of prairie and alpine flowers. Bear grass (beargrass?) is shown below in an area hit by fire in the past.
Wikipedia:
X. tenax is an important part of the fire ecology of regions where it is native. It has rhizomes which survive fire that clears dead and dying plant matter from the surface of the ground. The plant thrives with periodic burns and is often the first plant to sprout in a scorched area.
