Day 2 in Glacier National Park
We started our second full day in the park as early as the first. This in itself was an amazing accomplishment since we had 4 people using 1 bathroom! And some of us (who shall remain nameless!) are not exactly morning people. But I must say, they were always good sports about the early wake up call. So, all things considered, we thought our 7:30 departure time to be pretty darn good!Luckily this day promised to be much sunnier than the previous but off to a cooler start. So bundled in fleece and jackets we headed in search of another good breakfast. This time we ate at the West Glacier Restaurant which I think we all rated a little ahead of Eddie's.
Today our game plan revolved around heading back up to Logan's Pass to explore some of the trails in that area. So we loaded up the Explorer and headed back along the Going to the Sun Road. Which, if I didn't say it yesterday, is truly a remarkable and breathtaking road. Literally cut out of the sides of the mountains, parts of it are not for the faint of heart or height phobic! Being height phobic I was happily relegated to sitting behind the driver. This meant that there was always at least a lane between me and the sheer drop offs. Another nice thing about the road is the number of pull offs and observation areas provided. Since we were usually on the road by 9:30 we never experienced a problem with traffic jams. However, we did notice that activity on the road did increase as the day went on. But it never seemed to approach traffic jam levels, although parking at Logan Pass can get tight. Just for general information, while the Going to the Sun Road is only 52 miles long, the 25 mph speed limit as well as the narrow and twisting course mean that you should allow at least a couple of hours to drive the road.
Also, keep your eyes open. When people are standing on the side of the road looking and pointing, chances are they've seen some wildlife. So hurry up and pull over so you can see it too! We saw a grizzly, a mountain goat, and some big horn sheep that way. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
As I was saying we headed up to Logan's Pass. Of course we had to have a photo commemorating our crossing the Continental Divide.
And right when we pulled up to Logan's Pass we saw a mountain goat just munching away on the side of the road. So of course we had to take a picture of him too. There was a marmot running around on the side of the hill too but he was to far away to get a good picture. But fun to try to spot.
We then proceeded along the Hidden Lake Trail. This trail is about 1.5 miles to the overlook. The first part of it is boardwalked. It actually has a steady uphill gain but the fact that the trail cuts back and forth makes it pretty easy. Along the way we saw an animal called a pika. He was sitting beside the trail checking everyone out. He resembled a grey prairie dog. The trail proceeds to a spot that overlooks a beautiful blue lake nestled between mountain peaks. Once there you can opt to climb a fairly steep 1.5 mile trail down the the lake shore. We opted to turn around at the overlook so we could try some other trails, but the views from the trail and overlook were gorgeous.
After we left the Logan's Pass area we continued on down the Going to the Sun Road to St. Mary's. Being ever vigilant we saw people standing on the side of the road looking up a hill. When we pulled over we realized there was a grizzly bear on the hill! He was up the hilll a good ways but luckily we had binoculars (a must have when visiting Glacier) and were able to spot him pretty well. Even better was the view through a telescope someone had set up on the side of the road for wildlife viewing.
Before we reached the end of the Going to the Sun road in St. Mary, we stopped to access the trailhead for St. Mary's and Virginia Falls. This is a short hike of only 1.5 miles each way over pretty easy terrain. St. Mary's falls proved to be a great spot to stop and eat a lunch of breakfast bars, pretzels, and bagels. It was very peaceful and the water so clean and clear.
Virginia Falls were equally beautiful.
As we were leaving St. Mary's Falls we paused a moment to enjoy the mountain views before heading just a little further down the trail to Virginia Falls.
After returning to the truck we continued along the Going to the Sun Road to St. Mary's. The east end of the road at St. Mary's is not like the west side at Lake McDonald. There are no shops or restaurants that we could see at the east entrance, although there are apparently a couple of good restaurants outside the park. Since it was still daylight we decided to take a couple of short trails that have trailheads on the Going to the Sun road just west of St. Mary's Lake. First we did the Sunpoint Nature Trail. This a short trail that offers some beautiful views of St. Mary's Lake and Goat Island. It eventually leads to Baring Falls (yes! more waterfalls!). Along the way you'll notice we made a new friend who I unknowingly tried to poison! I kept trying to feed him berries which we later found out were poisonous. I think he was glad to see us go!
After we finished the Sunpoint trail we traveled just a little way to reach the trailhead for the Sunrift Gorge trail. The map indicated it was a .3 mile trail to the gorge. It's really only about 50 yards off the Going to the Sun Road. Good thing we decided to leave the backpacks and bear spray in the truck or we might have been laughed out of the park! 
Also, at some point during our journey up and down the Going to the Sun Road we again saw people parked on the side of the road looking back up the hill. Of course we had to stop and see what all the fuss was about. There were Big Horn Sheep on the side of the mountain! They were a good ways up the hill but neat to watch. Again, binoculars came in handy.
We then continued back down the mountain to West Glacier for dinner at the West Glacier Restaurant. Then home to the hot tub to soothe tired muscles and on to bed.
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