A Trip West - Glacier National Park (3 of 4)

     We made the last legs of our trip on our legs, for the sake of getting in some mileage! We did a 10 mile hike on day 5 to Iceberg Lake in the Many Glacier Section of the Park (East Side). And on our final full day we started with an easy hike to Avalanche lake, combo'd with the Trail of the Cedars then took the shuttle to Logan Pass to do a little bit of the breathtaking Highline Trail.

When you know the drive to Many Glacier is a long one-- but you just can't pass this view and NOT pull over! Cloudy and wildfire haze over St. Mary Lake.
The #1 rule in Glacier: When you see something that makes your jaw drop, you find a pull off and soak it all in.

Now THIS, this is a chipmunk! A Lesser Chipmunk to be precise- note the stripe that continues through the eye. This chipper is feasting on the coveted berry. Prized by small chipmunks to the largest grizzly-- a sweet little reminder that we are about to walk through their buffet line...

The trail cut through (shady) pines, wetter forests, then to scrubby mountain sides, and eventually to those beautiful alpine meadows... But in that more scrubby section-- I was super stoked to see this not-so-shy spruce grouse. Looks to be a male, not as flashy as the one we saw at Hidden Meadow, possibly younger and a bit immature.

He scraped around the ground and even took a (cute) little hop to reach a low hanging berry -- wings are overrated. H e was clearly on a mission: breakfast.

Grouse are popular game birds- but I suppose in a park where guns are not allowed and no one is trying to shoot you, you become quite comfy around the large, gawking, bi-pedals mammals. Although I found far less people gawk at birds- most people were not impressed to know I was looking through my binoculars or camera at a bird. 

"Oh. It's just a bird."
People come to glacier to see wildlife, but I find it ridiculous that birds are dismissed. If one tried, your wildlife list in the park could rack up when you throw birds and if you're really cool-- insects! into the mix to really rack up a nice list of species encountered in the park.
Yeah, everyone saw the goat chewing its cud on the trailside... but holy crap, did they totally miss that HUGE golden eagle that felt so close over our heads? Yeah, they did-- heck, I nearly did too (I found it's good to sometimes turn around-- even you think you saw everything on the first pass).

And oh yeah, I SAW A GOLDEN EAGLE! And wow, it was SO AWESOME.

Spruce grouse is really happy it did not see the golden eagle.

Like I said, insects-- I loved that this grasshopper/cricket had long body length lines that looked so much like the alternating dark and light green lines on the blade it decided to perch upon.

A blurry- but really happy to see this life bird- DIPPER!
Want to see a bird that walks with some serious swagger... to you I introduce the American Dipper. It walks with a little dip in its step like it owns this mountain creek.

Also, this tiny little thing DIVES into the stream, even flapping and swimming underwater to catch its prey-- insect larvae even small fish. It's an aquatic songbird-- the only one in North America at that!

At first, I thought this was iceberg lake-- and figured ah, it's been warm... the ice melted... but hey, pretty flowers.

Little did I know.

A golden mantled squirrel welcomed us to the end of our hike... or begged for food- one can never tell.

I love the wilderness in its eyes.

Oh.
THIS is Iceberg Lake!

I wish I could share the dumb look on my face. My sisters call it my "Child of wonder face," like a kid seeing something for the very first time. This place was magnificent. Photos do it zero justice. And thinking about it, and all its beauty makes me feel good and at peace.
The perfect place to enjoy a well deserved lunch and literally just bask in this scenery.

I really was thinking about how not surprised I would be if there was just a few penguins living here, using the ice as a place to rest from a long swim hunting and avoiding orca whales... Then I had to remember we were nearly 6000ft in elevation in Montana. 

Was the water cold, you ask? Oh yeah, frigid!

These icebergs are really just the snow pack that melts and slides down from the mountainside into this lake, in a bowl of slopes. The shape of this place, this lake is caused by, you guessed it, glaciers!

More lush bear grass in bloom.

This is the only area I really noticed these diurnal moths. They fluttered and landed on flowers to feed, they are called police car moths as their black and white patterns evoke images of those old-timey police cars.

The red at their... shoulders? even looks like sirens!
A nice close inspection reveals those feathery antennae- which reminds you that this is a moth, not a butterfly. Not all moths are noctournal- there are quite a few that are out by day-- some even mimicking diurnal flighted creatures.

A fat caterpillar crossed our path-- a moth caterpillar, of the elegant sheep moth.
A group hiking behind us was a dad and his two (teenage) kids. This dad was my kind of guy- he was so excited to see this cat, snapped a few pics, kids scoffed and did one of those "oh, dad" eyerolls and kept marching forward. Keep on nerding on dad, never lose that sense of wonder!

So we depart Many Glacier, stop at the (weirdest) roadside bar/supper club/cafe) and get a needed does of caffeine and Ashley at the wheel is all like, "OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THIS!?"
A radio-collared black bear, she crosses the road right in front of our car.

Yeah, light not in my favor-- but not gonna even think about getting out of the car. (stupid idea, btw.)

She pauses to gaze, before she turns back to the direction in which she was originally headed.

THEN THIS.

This is cub #1. #1 Rule with bears... never separate a mama and her cub(s). So we decided it's best to let these guys cross, enjoy the moment then drive off as soon as they make it across. Lingering cars only help to desensitize bears to people. You don't want to make bears feel comfy around people.

A little tongue out as this little cutie makes it across the road toward mom.

BUT THEN. #2!!!!!! 

And then when you thought it was over.... #3!! 3 cubs! Must be a good year to have three cubs trailing mom! And now we officially have a bear jam, but once #3 got across we made sure to get a move on.

On our drive home, Renee who is an air quality monitor was very interested in the haze happening all day today in the park. We pulled over for a view of lake McDonald, and the air smelled like it had a hint of that campfire smell to it. In checking air qualities, Glacier this day was on a moderate alert for the smoke from wildfires drifting from West to East. Yikes, I wonder what it looks like to be in the red!

On our final full day, we got up and out super early to secure a parking spot at Trail of the Cedars (it gets packed quickly). We hiked the trail along Avalanche Creek and then took the trail to Avalanche Lake.
Avalanche creek is fast, winding, and beautiful. The water flows down amazing rock formations carved by fast-flowing water and the lake is fed by three waterfalls.

This forest felt very different from all the others. It was lush, with moss carpeting the ground. There were cedars, spruce, and cottonwood trees, ones we didn't see at all in other parts of the park.

And surprise, surprise, Avalanche Lake is beautiful.

The lake was so still, like a mirror. The only disruptions were feeding fish or a diving Goldeneye. Even the one loon on the lake was tucked up sleeping on this still, place-- water at rest before it rushes down the creek.

Had some great life birds here including Vaux's swift, MacGillivary's warbler. Supposedly its the only place in the park to find Black Swifts, a mysterious bird, if found you should tell rangers- but Avalanche Creek and Lake is one of the few places they have been seen, albeit rarely, but otherwise they are considered a rare bird in Montana.

And another lifer, the chestnut-backed Chickadee. My favorite thing about chickadees is that they all do the "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" call, but each species had different quality to their song, some are more hoarse or nasal. These guys sounded like they had a cold in comparison to the familiar black-capped chickadee.

After our hike at Avalanche Creek, we strategically took a shuttle from there to Logan Pass, to avoid parking woes and sneak in a nap before another hike along the breath-taking, a little off-putting, but worth it even if your scared of height hike along the High Line Trail.

The insect variety in the alpine meadows was amazing, bumble and honey bees were all over the flowers. Some patches of flower even buzzed as you walked by because they'd be covered in bees. The bees are not aggressive in any way, although a few flew face level, perhaps checking out the odd creatures gawking at their food sources.

The Highline takes you along a path carved into the cliffside, above a portion of the Going To The Sun Road providing unobstructed views of the peaks and valleys in one amazing vista. 

You can see a small part of the Going To The Sun Road below us.

Lots of squirrels, as always. Munching close to the trail, not giving a care about you watching as it finds the perfect leaf.

Waterfalls tumbled down the cliffs, right onto your trail. They grew little mossy gardens. In some spots water just simply trickled through rocks creating this sweet little lush spot of moss and flowers, happily growing from the rocks.

Friends for comparison to this HUGE place. We are merely just little creatures in this amazingly gigantic world.

So I did an actual Google search "Lorax tree flowers Glacier National Park," and I found out the ID to these odd things that look like they came from the world of Dr. Seuss- they are the fruits of the Western Pasqueflower. The flower is part of the buttercup family and this is what happens after the bloom which occurs as soon as the snow melts. Here is some video footage of the flower through a whole growing season.

What an amazing world we live in!