vacation re-cap day 7

Our last day at Glacier. Once we finished breakfast & clean-up we headed out on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Visited Logan Pass and other scenic stops I wish I remembered the names of. Seriously, people, it's been a month and a half since the trip. It gets kind of fuzzy up in my head after awhile.

Wild Goose Island

Jackson Glacier

view from Logan Pass

fearless ground squirrels at Logan Pass

witch's butter

I became mildly obsessed with the macro function of the camera. Glacier is just breathtaking. It's in the huge vistas, but it's also in the details. Indulge me for a minute:

After we finished up the Going-to-the-Sun Road, we drove out to Two Medicine Lake. We took a hike out to Running Eagle Falls and then a boat ride across the lake.

A baby bird we saw out in the middle of the trail. He was calling to his mama and we heard her answering. Hope he made it back to the nest safely.

Mike & Thomas at Running Eagle Falls

This started off as a rock skipping lesson and quickly deteriorated into straight up hurling rocks into the water for maximum distance and splash.

more rock hurling while waiting for the boat

After the boat tour, we found a picnic area with a fire pit and prepared supper. Salmon with leeks & zucchini in the Dutch oven (thanks, Kamas!). We finished up just in time to go to the campfire program. It was entitled "An Evening with an Old Goat". We weren't quite sure what we were in for when we decided to go, but the lady working the entrance booth at Two Med sure was excited, telling us we would really enjoy it. We thought maybe a Native American was going to be story telling or something. Oh no. They meant "old goat" almost literally.

Pat Hagan - the old goat

This was the best campfire program I've ever been to. Pat Hagan is a seasonal naturalist ranger in the summer at Glacier and has been for over 20 years. He, apparently, can't get enough. He wrote a book about Glacier, Seasonal Disorder, which he claims is what he gets the 3 seasons he is not in the park. The man is passionate about this place and it shows. For this particular program, he did a striptease, complete with music, from his ranger uniform to a goat costume. He proceeded to tell about the life cycle, adaptations, etc. of the mountain goat. It was highly entertaining and informative. Much more interesting than the usual "millions of years" talk we normally get. He had people who came to the program specifically to hear him, not just for any old ranger program. There was a grown woman with a Junior Ranger guide for him to sign. Dare I say it came off a little groupie-ish? When we turned in Thomas's Junior Ranger book the next day, the young woman who checked it said in a rather dreamy voice "Oh, I see you had Pat Hagan." Ranger Hagan is a Glacier National Park rock star. I don't know if you ever google yourself, but if you ever see this -- Hat's off to you, Ranger Hagan!

the last bit of light over Two Medicine Lake on our last night at Glacier

Of all the places we've been, it's my favorite. I can understand why Ranger Hagan does what he does.