2011 Trip - Day 86
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Tuesday, July 12 - Two Medicine, Glacier National Park, MT - 69.2 miles, 14,241.6 for the trip

I took a photo of the moon rising over the campground around 8:30 last night. Not quite full - according to The Photographer's Ephemeris, an App on my iPhone that gives information on the time & locations of sun & moon rises & sets, it is at 87.7% waxing gibbous!

I woke up at 6:00AM to a thunderstorm. It didn't last too long, but I'm sure glad I'm is a trailer - our old tent usually managed to get water inside when it rained, even with a rain cover & hood over the door. It all stopped by 8:00 and I headed off to Two Medicine, a part of Glacier National Park that I hadn't visited in our last few trips. One reason is you have to drive MT 49 to get there. I'm sure MT 49 is named after CA 49 since it has as many twists, switchbacks & hills as the California road. On top of the curves, much of the road has frost & slide damage - the 25mph limit is necessary in many parts of the road.

Two Medicine has a number of hikes as well as Two medicine Lake, a pretty lake surrounded by mountains. I took some photos at the lake & a couple of waterfalls on easy 1 mile or less hikes. I did a very expensive oops at Running Eagle Falls - I shot the first photo of the stream using my Variable ND filter. It is thicker than a non variable filter since it consists of two pieces of glass and, as you can see in the first stream photo, causes some vignetting (shadows in the corners). So, I replaced it with my thinner B+W 10 stop ND filter. Since I already had the camera on a tripod & the image composed, I didn't bother to screw the filter all the way on. As I picked up the camera it fell off, landing on the rocks in the streambed. Of course it shattered. Oh well, I did get the photo but I will be shopping for another 77mm ND10 filter!

On the way back I saw a couple of horses along US 89. I do mean along - they were on the road.

The Moon From St Mary Campground
Along US 89
Running Eagle Falls
Running Eagle Falls
The Moon From St Mary Campground
Along US 89
Running Eagle Falls
Running Eagle Falls
Stream at Running Eagle Falls
Stream at Running Eagle Falls
Stream at Running Eagle Falls

Stream at Running Eagle Falls

Trail to Appistoki Falls
Appistoki Falls
Two Medicine Lake, Glacier National Park
Two Medicine Lake, Glacier National Park
Horses on US 89
Two Medicine Lake, Glacier National Park
Two Medicine Lake, Glacier National Park
Horses on US 89

After that it was back to St Mary Campground. At the gate the word is the Going to the Sun highway is scheduled to open around noon tomorrow. I'm not sure if it makes sense to line up behind the barrier waiting for it to open or to just wait a couple of hours after noon to hit the road. No matter which, I'm sure it will be busy. This is the latest opening ever, and there are a lot of people waiting for the day.

Until tomorrow!

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Last Update: May 21, 2013