Moose Creek
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We woke to another beautiful morning, but it was a little cloudy
today. We think it did rain a bit overnight.
As always the breakfast served at Moose Creek was excellent,
this time
with Huckleberry pancakes.
We prepared our pack lunches and headed off into the park.
Time | Event | Range Remaining |
10:46 am | Departed Moose Creek | 286 |
Knowing we drove 104 miles yesterday along the entire
accessible length of the Going-to-the-Sun road plus other errands,
I knew the car had much more than enough charge,
so I only charged it to 90% this time.
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Paradise Meadow
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As we headed up the Going-to-the-Sun road,
in many ways the overcast skies made the lighting not as interesting
as it was yesterday, and
the cloud line was a little low, covering many of the peaks.
Still there
were a few sights to behold.
This time we drove to the Logan Pass Visitors Center at our first opportunity.
At mid-day, the parking lot was very full, so I dropped off my daughter and wife
while I spent 20 minutes driving around the lot looking for a spot.
Ugh that took a while.
Finally I was able to find the gift shop and buy a few souvenirs after my wife did.
While I shopped the children and my wife took pictures of wildflowers, scenes, and a few
small wild animals like squirrels and chipmunks darting around the area.
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Citadel Mountain
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We made it out of the Visitors Center area to drive towards St. Mary Lake.
At a viewpoint of Citadel Mountain there was a bathroom,
and my wife
implored me to stop here so we would have lunch here in the car watching the view
with the car in Dog Mode (air conditioning on).
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So we spent some time here over lunch in view of the ever-changing beautiful scenery.
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Saint Mary Falls
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We would have hiked to Hidden Lake this morning, if it was open.
Our now-afternoon plan was to explore the waterfalls accessible from St. Mary's Lake.
It took a while to find a parking spot here, but eventually
I found a decent spot a little east of Sunrift Gorge.
I guided the family out-and-back hiking trail that took us by
Baring Falls, St. Mary Falls, and Virginia Falls,
but along the way it held great views of St. Mary Lake
and Red Eagle Mountain.
I thought it was a pretty easy hike.
My daughter had a mental breakdown on the last
1000 feet of the hike to Virginia falls,
so she did not reach that last point of interest.
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Mount Oberlin
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By this time of day the cloud density reduced, allowing more sun and blue sky through, making for some
more beautiful picture taking opportunities.
It was clear that Glacier deserved a multi-day trip just to allow
time to see the variety of views change with the weather.
On our way back we saw some great views of Mount Oberlin (top of page and right)
with this new lighting.
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Mount Gould
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We also stopped by Weeping Wall, and I drove the car under the natural waterfall,
just for the fun of it,
letting the mountain water wash the car's exterior.
I was thinking of parking the car there, getting out, and taking a picture, but I was concerned
about getting too much water in there with my family inside.
They were all getting tired after our long hike, so I didn't want to push it.
After a few more picture stops, my family was falling asleep.
We departed the park, and made
our way back to Moose Creek,
where it was also time to do some laundry.
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Time | Event | Range Remaining |
8:21 pm | Arrived Moose Creek | 159 |
Range/Distance ratio: 1.165
Conditions: Lunch in the car, Dozens of scenic stops, Too beautiful for words
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Dean E. Dauger holds a Ph. D. in physics from UCLA, where his group
created the first Mac cluster in 1998. Dr. Dauger is the award-winning
author in multiple American Institute of Physics' Software Contests and
co-authored the original, award-winning Kai's Power Tools
image-processing package for Adobe Photoshop.
After founding his company,
Dauger Research, Inc., its debut product,
Pooch, derived from Dr. Dauger's experience using clusters for his
physics research, was soon awarded as "most innovative" by IEEE Cluster
and continues to revolutionize parallel computing and clusters worldwide
with its patented technology.
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