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The following morning, I finished up some business in St. Mary and then headed out. On my way to the trailhead I drove halfway down the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which cuts through the heart of the park in a general East-West direction. The views from the road are spectacular, and I wish I'd had the time to drive the whole thing. As it was, I got this great view of St. Mary lake. Like most of the lakes in the park (but less so than many), St. Mary has a bluish, slightly opaque cast to it due to the presence of fine glacial sediments in suspension.
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Another view, looking south from the Going-to-the-Sun Road across a big cirque toward a glacial horn.
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The rest of the photos on this page are from a hike I took through the park for a few days at the tail end of the trip. This shot was taken from a footbridge at the beginning of day 1 of the hike. The stream carries a fine load of silt as it flows over the multicolored cobbles, hence the slightly milky appearance.
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A view across a wide swath of meadow, likely an avalanche scar.
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Looking northward from the tail end of Gunsight Lake. My campsite is in the trees to the left of center; if you look closely at the larger image you may see my gear hung out of grizzlies' reach between two trees. Several years ago there was a major avalanche on this slope, which buried a ranger cabin and reshaped the drainage of the lake. You can see evidence of the slide in the large treeless scar on the slope and the mound of debris to the right of the picture, in line with Going-to-the-Sun Mountain in the distance.
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Looking up the lake from a bit farther up the same trail as I was on for the previous picture. The trail continues on to Gunsight Pass. You can see the talus slopes forming at the bases of the cliffs, and the delta being formed in the lake where the stream enters. If you look closely, you'll see meltwater streams coming down the cliff face from various snow patches.
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A helicopter coming in to airlift out a hiker who broke his ankle in a slip on some ice. His companions carried him two miles to this camping area and found a ranger who was passing through. Made me watch my step.
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Looking down at the head of Gunsight Lake. Unbelievable. The color of the lake, the grass, snow, sky, the banded, folded rock... really spectacular. Notice the steep talus cone at the base of the little stream at the right edge of the photo.
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Crossing a very steep snowfield. The part you can't see is the 500 foot slide and 800 foot drop to my right. Glad for my trekking poles, but wished I'd brought crampons. These were the first people I saw on the trail that day. I liked them. They kicked out good steps.
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Another, smaller snowfield from a distance. You can see the "trail" people had kicked out over the previous few days. Toward the other side it became a thin crust of snow hollowed out by meltwater. It's difficult to get a sense of scale on these from the photo; this one was probably fifty yards across.
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Looking down Gunsight Lake from the head of the cirque. Another good view of the avalanche scar at the foot of the lake.
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A marmot. Related to the rabbit, about a foot and a half long, and not too shy. A friend of mine once had his boots chewed up by one, apparently for the salt. Another good reason to keep your boots in your tent.
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Here I am at the top of Gunsight Pass, before my body realized how cold it was. I'm standing at the side of the trail just where it begins to descend down the other side of the pass.
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Me again. Standing on the snowfield overlooking Gunsight Lake.
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The mountain goats have zero fear. I first saw one as I returned to my pack from a one-minute stroll around the pass area; it was trying to get to my food. I quickly realized that people must feed them--they'll almost come right up to you.
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A marmot sitting on the lip of the pass. This may be a forbidding landscape, even at this time of year--but these guys make it look easy.
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Fossilized mud cracks, with a trekking pole for scale.
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The same four mountain goats followed me halfway down the pass in vain hope for a snack. A little unnerving, when I'm negotiating steep icy sections of the trail with a full pack and I know there's a large animal who will practically bump me if I stop.
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