East Glacier

Because Going to the Sun Road was still closed & snow covered, we drove around the southern end of Glacier to the east side of the park the next day.  The drive was beautiful.

After some extremely sharp turns (with steep drop offs), we wound down to one of the famous lakes in the park.... Two Medicine.

 It's a beautiful place....and was mildly, slightly, extremely windy that morning.
We walked around the lake a bit, then kept moving.

We headed on up Going to the Sun Road & had a great view of Jackson Glacier.

 Then we reached the metal barricade that prevented any more vehicular traffic on the road.  You could walk, or bike, on the road as far as you liked...or until you reached the snow.

 Kieran & Kevin walked a bit on up the road; Keenan & I walked a little way, then returned to the car.  The rain was quickly moving down the mountain to us.
And it was grizzly area.

 On our way back down the road we spotted waterfalls all over the place.

 And stopped to take a hike down to St. Mary's Falls.
The wind was howling as we started down the trail.
But looking at the trail ahead, made it all worth it....

 Wildflowers were blooming everywhere!  And they were gorgeous!  The contrast of vivid colors against the charred remains of trees from forest fires was just lovely.

And the falls were fantastic!

 And along the hike back up we enjoyed the views & the flowers again....

 and this kid belting out his new favorite song...."Jolene."

Think he heard it on a Canadian tv show one night, and it stuck.