Corps of Discovery II Road Trip Days 11 and 12

Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park

 Right after breakfast yesterday morning, we drove the short distance to the Lewis and Clark Historic Trail Interpretive Center in Great Falls.  It was one of the finest interpretive and educational centers I have had the pleasure of visiting anytime, anywhere.  From the professionally produced movies to give you a good background to understand the journey of Lewis and Clark, to the exhibits to the volunteer educators that personalize the visit and provide immeasurable educational value, the Center is a place no one should miss.

I suspect many citizens, as well as U.S. Air Force personnel, don't realize what a wonderful gem of an educational experience they have right in town.

We also visited the Great Spring.  The Great Spring is a natural spring that pumps 150,000,000 gallons of pure spring water out every day.  The water has been dated to 3000 years old.  This water becomes the Roe River, one of the shortest in the world, only just over 200 ft. long, before entering the Missouri.

We were disappointed in the falls themselves.  There is a dam built to generate electricity at every falls site on the Missouri.  No images of that.  It is a shame that we had to put technology in such a beautiful place, but on balance, generating power from water is better than burning fossil fuels.

After viewing the Great Spring, we headed north and ended the day at West Glacier, the western entrance to Glacier National Park.  We are staying in the Glacier Guides Lodge, a rustic lodge set back in the woods. It is small and quaint, but cozy.  No telephone service, but the Internet service is very good.

Today, we spent most of the day in the western side of Glacier National Park.  Glacier is one of the few major national parks to which I had never been.  Even though the "Going to the Sun Road" is closed, we could drive in 16 miles and it was well worth it.  The snow covered mountains, Lake McDonald, McDonald Falls, the McDonald River were all sights worth of recording.  This was my best day for photography so far on the entire trip. I have many images that will be submitted to the stock agency as a result of today's efforts.  It was a wonderful day today.

If you haven't yet been to Glacier, go.  I only had a chance to see part of it and I can't wait to come back when the road is open across the pass so I can see all of it.  It is spectacular!

The adventure continues and just gets better.

Thanks for looking.

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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