Early Autumn In Glacier National Park
Back in April, some buddies of mine and I began to plan a September trip to Glacier National Park. We were hoping against hope that we would have decent weather and that the Going To The Sun Road would remain open until it's official closing date of September 22. We were also hoping that it would be cold enough for the leaves to change before we left.
After four months of waiting, we arrived in Great Falls and drove into the park last Thursday (Sept 18). The air was very hazy and the light was horrible as we left the airport. Our spirits began to sink a bit as we had to pass on shooting Two Medicine Lake as it was far too hazy to photograph. We also passed hundreds of acres of trees that had died, apparently due to some horrible disease.
But as we entered the park and drove around to St Mary Lake, everything changed. For four days we shot in some of the most epic conditions I have ever seen. As we traveled throughout the park, we discovered that we had timed the Fall colors perfectly as virtually all the deciduous trees had changed at once due to the recent cold snap the week before where parts of the park were covered in 8 inches of September snow. And best of all, Going To The Sun Highway remained opened all the way through the weekend. Our rented Yukon was one of the last vehicles down the Western side of the park on Sunday night as we left for McDonald Lodge after a long night of shooting the Milky Way in Logan Pass.
The shot above was taken after waking at 4:15 AM on Friday morning for a quick scramble up the mountainside for one of the most amazing sunrises I've ever seen, followed by an ginormous breakfast at Many Glacier Lodge. After "brunch" we set off for a hike of roughly 12 miles (round trip) up the Grinnell Glacier Trail. The entire trail was lit up by yellow and red/orange leaves as we worked our way up past Lake Josephine and finally past Grinnell. By the time we were on our way back down, we met up with our second bear of the day and had a lively discussion to decide whether to stay for possible sunset color over the lake or to leave early to avoid being eaten. This bracketed shot was taken shortly after we decided to stick it out and after the afore mentioned bear moved on in his search for berries. It was handheld in low light as we were wasting no time getting back down with the last third of our hike predicted to be in complete darkness.
Glacier National Park is beautiful during any time of year, but I was completely unprepared for how stunning it looked in late September. As the sun came out on Saturday, the colors exploded around us between the bright yellow leaves, brilliant blue skies, deep green firs and pines, and the stately red on the vintage buses that moved the guests through the park.
I have so much more to write about regarding our time there, but in the mean time, please feel free to check out some incredible shots by my photo compadres, namely Todd Hurley , Tom Bricker , Don Sullivan and Jeff Krause .
Early Autumn In Glacier National Park
Back in April, some buddies of mine and I began to plan a September trip to Glacier National Park. We were hoping against hope that we would have decent weather and that the Going To The Sun Road would remain open until it's official closing date of September 22. We were also hoping that it would be cold enough for the leaves to change before we left.
After four months of waiting, we arrived in Great Falls and drove into the park last Thursday (Sept 18). The air was very hazy and the light was horrible as we left the airport. Our spirits began to sink a bit as we had to pass on shooting Two Medicine Lake as it was far too hazy to photograph. We also passed hundreds of acres of trees that had died, apparently due to some horrible disease.
But as we entered the park and drove around to St Mary Lake, everything changed. For four days we shot in some of the most epic conditions I have ever seen. As we traveled throughout the park, we discovered that we had timed the Fall colors perfectly as virtually all the deciduous trees had changed at once due to the recent cold snap the week before where parts of the park were covered in 8 inches of September snow. And best of all, Going To The Sun Highway remained opened all the way through the weekend. Our rented Yukon was one of the last vehicles down the Western side of the park on Sunday night as we left for McDonald Lodge after a long night of shooting the Milky Way in Logan Pass.
The shot above was taken after waking at 4:15 AM on Friday morning for a quick scramble up the mountainside for one of the most amazing sunrises I've ever seen, followed by an ginormous breakfast at Many Glacier Lodge. After "brunch" we set off for a hike of roughly 12 miles (round trip) up the Grinnell Glacier Trail. The entire trail was lit up by yellow and red/orange leaves as we worked our way up past Lake Josephine and finally past Grinnell. By the time we were on our way back down, we met up with our second bear of the day and had a lively discussion to decide whether to stay for possible sunset color over the lake or to leave early to avoid being eaten. This bracketed shot was taken shortly after we decided to stick it out and after the afore mentioned bear moved on in his search for berries. It was handheld in low light as we were wasting no time getting back down with the last third of our hike predicted to be in complete darkness.
Glacier National Park is beautiful during any time of year, but I was completely unprepared for how stunning it looked in late September. As the sun came out on Saturday, the colors exploded around us between the bright yellow leaves, brilliant blue skies, deep green firs and pines, and the stately red on the vintage buses that moved the guests through the park.
I have so much more to write about regarding our time there, but in the mean time, please feel free to check out some incredible shots by my photo compadres, namely Todd Hurley , Tom Bricker , Don Sullivan and Jeff Krause .