Going to the Sun Road at the West Glacier National Park Montana
The sky is the limit and it is very true about Montana, the Big Sky Country, home to some of America's most beautiful skyline drives and an unobstructed skyline.
We took a trip to Glacier National Park last September. After a good night's sleep, we woke up with the bright light peeping through our cabin's window. We were unbelievably lucky to be waking up to such a spectacular sunrise.The blue sky and its reflection on the water turned the whole atmosphere azure.The clouds were playing hide and seek with the sun and the swans were creating ripples in the water by dipping their heads up and down.
Watching this panorama was a thing of beauty. We spent some time by the lake and after breakfast we were getting ready for a Mountain Majesty Tour. This tour starts at West Glacier, travels along Lake McDonald, and hugs the cliffs up to where it crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass and then heads down to St Mary Valley.
This scenic bus tour was a day-long trip. The bus carried 8-10 people and it was moving through the mountains and the higher the altitude the more breath-taking the scenery became. The bus was moving up with wide curved turns at every corner and stopped regularly at lookout points so we could take some pictures and stretch our legs a little bit and just enjoy every bit of the scenery.
Our hearts seemed to stop when the bus came close to the U-shaped Hanging Valley where glacial ice leaves a distinctive signature on the landscape and beautiful waterfalls follow the patterns of the nature of the glacier. The journey reached its highest point when we crossed the Continental Divide at Logan Pass.
We stopped at the Continental Divide, where the tourist centre was bustling with visitors and the mountains stood around us all tall and grand. It was windy and chilly, and my fingers were getting numb, making it hard to take pictures. We were about 7000 feet high and it was scary and heart-stopping to look below and around.
When we stood at the edge of the mountaintop, the big blue sky and the mountains were all we could see. Some mountain peaks were still covered with snow. The Mountain Majesty Tour really captures the beauty and grandeur of this landscape.
After the stop at the Continental Divide, the bus headed down into the cirques of the St Mary Valley for a lunchbreak. Along the ride, we saw some goats and a grizzly bear up on the mountains. The grizzly bear was so high up that it looked likea black dot, even with binoculars.
The National Park Service celebrates its centenary on August 25, 2016.
By Aeman Tehseen Rasul
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