RAMANAM
In the Name of The Father, and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit, Amen.

Countrymen,

There are three BNSF lines before the appointed domicile, not two, which would explain, perhaps, the onset of trains through the night coming from opposite directions at short intervals.  Still, they seem to have become as Jerome said of outgoing arty in Iraq:  the most beautiful sound he ever heard.

It was a beautiful Fall day at Glacier NP, 55 to 63 degrees, fluffy clouds permitting splendid chiaroscuro.

Photos are by the dependable Olympus point-and-shoot Douglas gave us years ago.  She gets the exposures right some of the time.  But she does her stuff, which is all that matters.  The photographer gets his compositions right less often but sometimes.

RAMANAM (2012 Subbie Outback) is a friend as always.  A great horse.

We took the Highway to the Sun towards the now-end point, Logan Pass, and had the light/shadow with us toward it.  Away from it, back to motel at West Glacier, it was mostly shadow, but no matter, we obtained the nice pictures on the towards it leg.

We did not go as far as Logan Pass, the summit where we would have had to turn around and retrace steps.  Reason:  We got about 10 miles from there, looked over the road and decided (I did) we had enough.  Already we had been traveling on road cut out of sheer cliff, long (500-1K feet) drop offs, with very narrow lanes and an 18″ at best rock guard rail.  We looked ahead and saw 10 more miles at least of same, on the outside, peering over the abyss on narrow road cut from rock face, and decided:  ENOUGH.

We had been over even worse — US 550 between Montrose and Durango, CO — two or three years ago with Boogie, with NO guard rails and thousand foot drops, and that was as much terror as I need for a life-time.  RAMANAM too.

Also, the road ahead we could see visualized exactly the valley we already saw from many angles on the ascent.

We turned around at about the 9K foot level.

Highpoint, I think, was quiet moments and pictures at a beach on Lake McDonald between the Lodge and the park entrance.  Pictures included here.

The sun and clouds and temperatures and winds were ideal for me.  Perfect early Fall day in Glacier NP.

Most of the concessions in the Park are closed already.  This motel closes on 30SEP.  The chopper rides are going as of today, but not frequently.

The joint must be jumping in the Summer, when it also is hot.  I could not have been leisurely in the summer as I could today on the road, sometimes stopping in the road for a picture.

There is a distillery on US 2 shortly before West Glacier.  Visited today.  Purchased a half bottle of their 120 Proof Rye:  Bad Rock.     Not bad, not cheap.

The rivers are WAY down.  Lots of creeks are dry.  Where the glaciers are I cannot see.

Still, the main river flowing into Lake McDonald is lovely blue-green, apparently from minerals in the glacial melt.  Pictures next.

“Global warming” may be a cynical myth on the USA East Coast and elsewhere, but it is not on the USA West Coast and West.  Weather, surely, not man-caused, but seriously impinging none-the-less.  At Snoqualmie/Seattle we had an unusually warm summer and we have not had the usual winter snows at our elevations for decades.  Snoqualmie River is almost a creek, as here.

Related 1: RIP: The Great Cholesterol Scam (1955 – 2015).

AMDG – VICTORY