Tag Archives: Glacier NP

June 24, 2018 · 8:16 am

Going-to-the-Sun Road is Open!

A view of Going-to-the-Sun road from the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park

Yahoo! Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park is now officially cleared of snow and open for the 2018 summer season to vehicles in all of its 50-mile stretch, as of June 23rd, 2018.

For those of you who have never visited Glacier National Park and driven along this National Historic Landmark for views of some of the most stunning scenery within a national park, it’s quite a feat to plow the snow from this road every year, starting in early spring. Usually, the road is open either at the end of June or sometimes, in early-mid July. So June 23rd is pretty early.

The history of this road is quite interesting, and if you want to read about it, click on the photo above. The article is a little dated, but the history and trivia remains the same.

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Filed under Glacier National Park MT, Landscape, Montana, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, Photography, Travel, Travel and Photography, Vacation

Tagged as Glacier National Park, Glacier NP, going-to-the-sun, gtts, Highline Trail, landscape, Montana, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, road

June 22, 2018 · 5:10 am

Hiking The Trail And Leaving No Trace

One of today’s newly-published articles in the National Parks Traveler is titled “Leave No Trace This Summer As You Explore The Outdoors.” This article reminded me of this image that I had just reworked, so I thought I’d post it along with the advice to leave no trace and pack in what you pack out. Is it possible to really leave no trace? Well, go read the article in the Traveler to find out.

This image was taken 10 years ago, during the very first photo workshop I’d ever taken, using one of my very first full-frame cameras (Canon 5D). The workshop took place in Glacier National Park, Montana and – while a bit strenuous in terms of hiking for my tastes and physical capabilities – was a worthwhile event that led me to continue joining up in other photo tours and workshops (yes, there is a slight difference between the two and I actually wrote an article about it in the National Parks Traveler back in 2014).

This image is looking back on part of the trail from St. Mary Falls leading onward to Virginia Falls.

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Filed under 24-105mm, 5D, Canon, Canon Lens, Equipment, Glacier National Park MT, Montana, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, Photography, Travel, Travel and Photography

Tagged as Canon, forest, full-frame, Glacier National Park, Glacier NP, hike, hiking, Montana, mountain, mountains, National Park, National Parks Traveler, photo workshop, photography, trail

September 10, 2017 · 7:28 pm

Please Don’t Litter In Our National Parks

As I was returning to my car from a view area just before the summit of Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana, I looked down and saw this adorable little squirrel munching on that icky discarded tissue as if it was starving. I moved a little closer, hoping it would let go of the tissue and skeedaddle, but it didn’t move. Heaven only knows what that tissue will do to its internal system. This is a good example of why people should NOT litter in the national parks (or anywhere, for that matter), and adhere to the tenet of packing out what you pack in. On this particular day, I picked up a discarded chapstick tube, a paper coffee cup and a hair comb.

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Filed under 1DX, Canon, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, Glacier National Park MT, Photography, wildlife

Tagged as 1-DX, 100-400mm, 1DX, Canon, Glacier National Park, Glacier NP, litter, Montana, pack out what you pack in, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, squirrel, telephoto, trash, wildlife

May 28, 2017 · 5:56 am

Three Days In Heaven: Glacier National Park

Sunrise and moonset over Heaven’s Peak in Glacier National Park, Montana

Every year, the National Parks Traveler publishes four seasonal guides to the national parks. One of my images is featured on the cover of the summer 2017 Essential Guide, and I have a photo spread and feature story about spending 3 days in Glacier National Park. Click on the photo to be taken to the article.

On a side note, I will be traveling back to Glacier NP this September, along with my Canons and a brand new medium format camera, the Pentax 645z. I plan on sharing the resulting photos as well as my thoughts about the Pentax and using medium format for landscape photography.

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Filed under Glacier National Park MT, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, Photography, Travel and Photography

Tagged as Essential Guide, Glacier National Park, Glacier NP, landscape, landscape photography, landscapes, Montna, National Park, national parks, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, travel

January 22, 2017 · 11:50 am

Winter In Glacier National Park – A Preview

An afternoon view from the south end of Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, Montana.

Call this post a preview of my MLK-weekend trip to Montana and Glacier National Park. I’ll have a longer, different version published in February in the National Parks Traveler.

In a roundabout way, I owe this 3-day jaunt (not counting the day to get there and the day to return to TX) to my company taking away a “floating holiday” (to be used at each employee’s discretion). I always used those floating holidays in conjunction with a planned vacation. In return, the company gave to us what the masses apparently wanted: Martin Luther King Day.

Hey, I have absolutely nothing against MLK day. A holiday is a holiday. But I much preferred that floating holiday to use as I wished, versus a “fixed” holiday. So, I decided in an I’ll-show-them sort of way to take a long weekend and head on out someplace away from Texas (all of my vacations are taken away from this state in which I’d rather not be). I’d been hankering for some winter weather, instead of the humid 78-degree weather here in SE Texas (I want my winters to look and feel like winter, dammit). To that end, I flew to Montana and snow shoed in Glacier National Park.

It was heaven on earth, despite the sub-zero temps.

-4 degrees F and frost on the tripod.

Colorful icicles off the side of Hwy 2 just before entering Hungry Horse, on the way to the park.

Some very long icicles at the West Glacier entrance to the park. I look like a bright pink beluga whale but I’m definitely warm.

Moon set during the pre-dawn hours at Lake McDonald. It was silent except for the ice cracking and the distant hooting of an owl.

The look of sub-zero at Lake McDonald.

A frosty sunrise at Lake McDonald. The mountains were still in hiding that morning.

Scenes while snow shoeing near Lake McDonald Lodge in the park. The lodge was as far as the Going-To-The-Sun Road was open.

Late afternoon brought out the mountains, along with some clear skies and lake reflections.

So, thank you, Company, for the MLK Day, because if you had not taken away a floating holiday and given us this day off instead, I doubt I would have given second thought to a deep-winter photography trip to Glacier National Park. And that would have been a shame.

Good night, Glacier National Park. See you in September 2017.

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Filed under 5DSR, Canon, Glacier National Park MT, Photography

Tagged as 5DS-R, 5DSR, Canon, freezing, Glacier National Park, Glacier NP, January, Lake McDonald, landscape, mountains, National Park, Rebecca Latson Photography, scenery, snow, travel, winter

November 10, 2011 · 6:47 pm

Glacier National Park, Montana – A Photologue: From Logan Pass to Siyeh Bend to St. Mary Falls

From Logan Pass Visitor Center, it’s all downhill….driving, that is. The photography on the eastern side of the pass is just as stupendous as on the western side, if not moreso.

This image taken just a mile or so beyond the visitor center has special meaning for me – some 20+ years ago, I made my first trip back to the park since my family moved to Kentucky when I was 9 years old. I of course only had a film camera, and I photographed this very same spot as you see below; years later, I uploaded the film version to my Flickr site, although the scanner didn’t do the image justice. So when I returned to this spot in 2008, I just had to take another photo with my digital SLR.

Further down the way is a large-ish pullout across the road from Lunch Creek, a glacial cirque with a waterfall far up near the top and a bubbling creek flowing along roadside. I don’t know where they got the name for this place, but as one friend remarked “it is a nice spot to rest and have lunch”. When I photographed this image in 2008, the sun shone and the sky was blue. In 2009, it was raining and the cirque was hidden by the cloud mist.

Just a little further down the road is the hairpin turn called Siyeh Bend (pronounced Sigh-yee by the locals). There’s a much larger parking pullout there because it’s one of the trailheads for the Siyeh Pass hike, which forks off at one point onto the Piegan Pass Trail.

Looking toward Siyeh Bend and the mountains.

From whence I came: looking the opposite way of Siyeh Bend.

The scent of pine.

Onward toward the east, with a stop along the way to hike the short trail (maybe a mile or a little less) to St. Mary Falls. This is an amazing falls with beautiful turquoise waters spilling out and down the St. Mary River.

Flowing downstream from the falls.

The trail to St. Mary Falls extends further to Virgina Falls. Although I made it a little ways further along the trail, I never quite made it to Virginia Falls during either of my visits to the park.