Fred W Shootout Pics - West & East Glacier

[Fred W]

I started the shootout trip a few days early and headed to the West side of Glacier Park because of the closure on the GTTS Road. The West side would be just too far to travel from the East side after everyone started the shootout at St Mary's.

Mc Donald Lake was nice at dusk and a walk on the stone pebble beaches turned up a couple of pics.

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Yes, I needed to get at least one Muench star. :D
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Travelling further North yielded two more lakes, Bowman and Kintla. Reaching these lakes required the poor Altima rental car to travel about 30 miles of unpaved logging road. She rode well and I rewarded her with a car wash when we made it back to civilization. The views were worth the trip.

This was one of the better unpaved roads. I didn't get a picture of the roads I needed to use my Jeep skills on.

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There were miles of road passing through burnt forrests which are starting to come back to life.
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I was blessed with some great light and calm for these shots. It's unbelievable how clear the water was.

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I met up with a couple of Park Rangers at Kintla Lake. It was a great day at the lake for pics and hiking trails.

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They had a pretty nice cabin on Kintla Lake. It looks like they actually live there.

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Their boat house.

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There were plenty of these signs along many park trails.

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Luckily I saw this guy from my car, not the hiking trails. :huh

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Here is a West side pano, I can't remember which lake it was.

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The next day I met up with Andy, Steve C, and Terrence and we headed to the East side of Glacier but that's a story I will continue later :D

[ian408]

Wow Fred! These are some nice pictures and that bear cub? Da bomb!

[schmoo]

Yay Fred shots!

Looks like the leaves were turning almost faster on the west than they were on the east side. You'd never guess the roads were that rough through your picture. Glad you didn't get stuck :D

The burnt bits were a surprise for me - not having a lot of dry timber out east I didn't know if it was a unnatural phenomenon or what. Some people in Kalispell said that in the last few weeks it was impossible to see a lot through the smoke and I was a bit worried about that as we were driving to St Mary's.

Thanks for sharing these! Great bear shot as well. :thumb

[Andy]

:clap :clap

[Fred W]

Thanks Ian. In the beginning of the shootout I was worried that we would be bumping into bears all over the place. As it turned out just using a little common sense resulted in no worries. :D

Hi Steph, thanks for commenting. These fires seem tragic but they really keep the forrest healthy in the long run. I took a lot of burnt forrest pics but after a while they all look the same.

Thanks Andy


Also, here is one of my favorite pics from the West side that I forgot to post.

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[GREAPER]

How could you forget that last one?:thumb

[davev]

The west side did have some good photo opps, but not enough for me to drive back there after checking in at St Mary's.

Nice shots Fred.

[Fred W]

How could you forget that last one?:thumb

Thanks Greaper, Admin Error on my part.:rolleyes

[Fred W]

The west side did have some good photo opps, but not enough for me to drive back there after checking in at St Mary's.

Nice shots Fred.

Thanks Dave, I knew it was going to be a travel vs time issue to visit the West side so I arrived for the shootout a few days early and solo'ed up there before checking in at St Mary's. Definately thought the East side was more dramatic but both sides were beautiful.:D

[grimace]

How could you forget that last one?:thumb

I agree!! I'd have to say it's my favorite one from your thread.

[richtersl]

Spectacular! :clap

[Fred W]

Hi Adam and Linda,

Thanks for looking and commenting. I just finished processing and uploading my pics from the Eastend of the park. Some of them should be posted soon.:D

Regards,
Fred

[Fred W]

Travelling East from Kalispell required us to drive along the southern perimeter of the park because of the GTTS road being closed for the season. The weather during the next 5 days ranged from snowy winter to warm Autum weather conditions.

My first day travelling to St Mary's had be wondering whether I should turn around and rent a SUV instead of a passenger car. Luckily this was the worst weather of the week.

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Falls were plentiful throughout the park.

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The mountain ranges were high enough to maintain snow while lower elevations were still green and colorful.

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Here are some of the wildlife pictures taken while combing the park.

Roaming Blackbear, and Rangers assuring no one bothers him.
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Ma Grizzly on the move.
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We really didn't want to get in between Ma Grizzly and her cubs.

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Luckily we were 700 yards away. One of the park visitors had a rangefinder to confirm that distance. :D


We took a one day trip to Waterton Canada which was extemely beautiful and abundant with wild life.

We climbed Bear Hump Trail to reach this vista. The Prince of Wales Hotel can be seen in the lower lefthand corner.

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Magpies are very common in this area. We were watching them climbing on the front of parked cars and pulling dead bugs out of the radiator grills for food.:D

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That's it for now. Thanks for viewing. :D