Logan's Pass at Glacier National Park

After leaving Calgary we headed to Glacier National Park where we decided to drive along the Going to the Sun Road to get through the park to Apgar.  This drive is very scenic and beautiful and I think we got pretty lucky with our timing.  There were storms on and off all day at the pass but we never ended up driving in the worst of it.  We did get to hike in some of the worst of it, but that made for a very memorable and interesting experience.

We stopped at Logan's Pass to get out and look around a little.  It wasn't raining when we got there so decided we would start walking the trail.  My dad happened to mention to Alden that there were mountain goats at the top of the hike and that got Alden going.  Unfortunately, it meant that he didn't want to turn around even when it started to rain.  My dad finally tapped out first, figuring he had had enough hiking in the rain but Alden was determined to keep going and find those mountain goats.  However, that was about the point where we heard a loud boom and saw lightning strike maybe a quarter mile away on the hill.  We saw the lightning hit the ground and saw smoke rise from where it hit.  At that point there was no discussion, we picked Alden up, turned around and headed back down the hill.  On our way down the hill it started hailing and raining harder so we were all very wet by the time we got back to the visitor's center.  It was a very memorable hike and even Alden had his own version of what happened.

Here is Alden's story of the hike.  As you will see he thought the lightning was really cool!

These were some of the gorgeous views from along the Going-to-the-Sun-Road.

These were at the Visitor's Center at Logan's Pass.  As you can tell it was very cloudy, but not raining when we arrived.

They have lots of these ground squirrels around the visitor's center that Alden had a lot of fun watching.

These squirrels were not afraid of us and definitely had no shortage of food.

These squirrels would just sit there while Alden watched them.

It was really pretty when we started out on the hike.  Drew, unfortunately didn't have a raincoat.

This trail is just hiking up a boardwalk through a meadow....however that wasn't so great when lighting strikes.

All bundled up and hiking.  Alden was so determined to keep going and find those mountain goats.  I managed to get Anders bundled well enough that he never got wet when it started raining.  He got to stay very warm and dry.

But, when the lighting hit, we were done!  We got down off the mountain pretty quickly at that point.  And, as you can see, with the lightning came more rain.

After our hike we were all thoroughly soaked.  As you can see here Alden's jacket and pants were soaked.  We got in the car and quickly turned on the heater to try to warm up.  We then proceeded to drive the rest of the Going-to-the-Sun-Road to Apgar.  Luckily, the storm let up for the rest of our drive.

 These were the views on the drive down the other side of the Going-to-the-Sun-Road, after our hike.  It really was nice that the weather cooperated and it stopped raining while we were driving.