Notes To My Mother

It is a real treat to get up before there is enough light to see where you are going, find the location you want to observe, and sit quietly as the morning reveals itself.  This image over McDonald Lake was taken around 5 am.  The lake was still, the air fresh, birds chirping and very little human activity.  A good time to gather your thoughts. Waiting for the sun as it just begins to peak over the cliffs in the background, there are but a few seconds to capture the star bursts.  A small aperture and a tripod helps to capture them.  This is a two for one starburst with the reflection in the water.  In the foreground is a driftwood with colorful rocks under water. This image was taken the night before the previous images, over Lake McDonald with the peaks in the background.  Some brave and hearty souls get on the High Line Trail and then branch off and go up and over that ridge.  On the other side is east Glacier.  If you go to the east side t...

 In 2017 I visited Glacier with my son in law, Francisco.  We spent three days together and then met up with a photography workshop led by Andy Cook, of Rocky Mountain Reflections and photographed for another five days.  This year I met up with eight good photography buddies three days before the workshop then joined Andy Cook for another five days.  We were all completely exhausted by the time we did our last evening shoot after 8 days of hiking in the park. On our first morning, I looked out my window at 5:30 am and the sky was on fire!  I grabbed my camera and tripod and ran for the shore of Lake McDonald.  We were staying, as before, in Apgar on the west end of the lake.  I caught the above scene and within a few minutes the colors faded.  I later talked with a ranger and he said it was unusual to experience such intense sunrises here, so I felt very lucky. Later that same morning we made our way to the Hidden Lake and Mount Reynolds overlook....

Glacier National Park is a great place to visit and a superb place to photograph.  If you have not been there it is good to know there are basically two sides of the park, Westside and Eastside. On the west side you will find Avalanche Gorge, pictured above, and Lake Mc Donald.  Connecting the west and east sides is the Going to the Sun Highway.  It is only open once the snow is cleared and this year, 2023, there is no telling when that will be.  In a normal winter it is usually opened by the last week in June.   At the top of the pass there is a visitor center and a large parking lot.  There are also trails that leave this area going in a variety of directions.  The highline trail is a great one and I got this image early in the morning looking back toward the south as the sun was rising.  Bear Grass is shown in the foreground, a lucky find as it does not stay around long. If the Going to the Sun road is closed you can still get the east sid...