Summer 15

In the foreground, Swiftcurrent Falls. Taken from Many Glacier road.

Redrock Falls trail, with Redrock lake in the distance. I was violating a very basic rule of hiking here -- hiking alone on a trail in bear country where bears had been sited just that afternoon. I wasn't too worried about it since there were many other hikers on the trail, though they were far enough apart that I was concerned at times. It was also at about this point that I met a man hiking with his son and wearing his handgun. We chatted for a few minutes about the trail and the bears, and he mentioned that he wasn't concerned since he was carrying his gun. I didn't tell him that the park says to never try to defend yourself from a bear with a handgun, that it will just make matters worse. (Was I going to point out to a man wearing a gun that using the gun could put him in danger? No.)

Redrock Falls. I took this picture mainly for friends who are geology enthusiast. Looking at one of the larger versions of the picture you can see that much of the rock here, and particularly the large rock shelf on the left center of the picture, has a layering reflecting eons of distinct periods of sedimentation and then later tilting at some time (pardon my poor attempt at geology, I'm sure someone will provide a better description.) FYI the circle just above the center is from a spot on the camera lens that I didn't notice till later.

Redrock Falls...

From Redrock Falls trail, the peak on the left would be Mt Henkel.

On Redrock Lake. The fishermen's children were playing separately a good distance from the man. Right about this time I heard a child let out a very long and loud scream that, in an area with bears, I immediately thought was a child being attacked by a bear. Obviously it was just a child's scream.

Historic Many Glacier hotel on Swiftcurrent Lake. Built in 1914 by the Great Northern Railway as one of their series of lodges for visitors to the park.

Another instance of someone trying to acclimate their dog to the lake. In this case he would stand on the board and paddle with the dog balancing on the front. To me, the dog did not look particularly enthused about the project.

Going east from Glacier NP, you're very quickly in wide-open prairie.

Just barely visible in the distance is Glacier NP.

You can see forever....

Continuing the theme from earlier in the trip of forgotten monuments, at least this one has a placard in good shape -- though see the adjacent pictures.

Monument erected by the Great Northern railroad in 1925, commemorating the point where Lewis, of Lewis and Clark, basically abandoned further northern exploration -- thus the name Camp Disappointment. The actual site of Camp Disappointment is about 4 miles north of this monument.

Though there is access to the monument (unpaved and not very maintained), the monument itself has deteriorated significantly.

"July 26, 1806, Farthest Point West on Capt Lewis Trip up the Marias River."

In keeping with a new practice by some other photographers, I'm starting posting photos where those seeking fame through graffiti have a chance for that fame....Here are the etchings into the back of the monument by Debi Belford and of the Merhar's.

The rail line below the Camp Disappointment monument, now BNSF, formerly Great Northern Railway

Was somewhat of a surprise to be in a remote area and come across a 1953 Cadillac cruising down the road!