Treasured Traditions: #ProjectAlaska: Glacier National Park

Yesterday, I mentioned some facts about Glacier NP along with some of my experiences of the park. Today, I will continue with my stories; adding the fact that while I was absolutely overjoyed at coming back to the park, I was also greatly saddened to see such marked changes in just 8 years. This series of pictures starts out just below Logan Pass on the east side and then progresses west and then south along Lake McDonald to Lake McDonald Lodge.

Tomorrow you will see the smoke get thicker and thicker as I get closer to active forest fires...I had actually avoided any serious trouble along the trip (up to this point) with regard to weather and other issues for the most part, which I was elated NOT having to deal with any detours. Traveling out west has become more fraught with danger over the past decade, with rock, mud, and landslides, floods, wildfires, electrical outages, and heatwaves becoming much more frequent and almost unavoidable. Over the past 5 years, EVERY SINGLE TRIP has had at least one of these situations I had to deal with. In 2012, the Going To The Sun Road (which is the road that traverses Glacier National Park) was taken out by 2 separate landslides which stranded a few visitors. This happened the day before my dad and I were supposed to visit there, and was the second time I was unable to visit the park (see this post for the first time).

Sad to say, 2012 was actually a rather crazy year; as my dad and I fought several different situations all on the same trip. During the first part of the trip we fought a heatwave with temperatures up to 109 degrees (F). Then the landslides at Glacier NP. A hailstorm in Idaho almost landed us into the back of a log truck on I-90. Electrical power in the northeastern part of Washington State had been taken out from powerful thunderstorms that were a part of the same system that caused the hailstorm in Idaho, so finding a gas station that could actually dispense gasoline or sell anything was a challenge. As if that wasn't enough, while we were in Everett (just north of Seattle), a disaster unfolded which stopped our trek dead in its tracks. My dad developed chest pain which resulted in him needing to be taken to a local hospital emergency room! I was really frightened by this turn of events, but luckily, they released him about 14 hours after he was admitted. Despite all these setbacks, this was still an iconic trip for me, as I had never before spent two weeks with my dad on a trip like this.

Anyway, back to last summer's trip. This series of pictures starts out just below Logan Pass on the east side and then progresses west and then south along Lake McDonald to Lake McDonald Lodge.