Day 23: (26 Sept.) Glacier National Park / Parque Nacional de los glaciares

Lake McDonald / Lago McDonald

We woke up without an alarm clock today! Except we woke up early anyway, but at least it was nice to not hear the alarm clock :-) We took things easy today, and slowly got up and showered. We then headed to the main lodge to grab some coffee and plan our day. It was cloudy in the area, and part of the going-to-the-sun road was closed due to weather (besides the construction closure from Logan's Pass to St. Mary's, it was closed from Big Bend to Logan's pass), so we were thinking of a plan B. We decided we would try to see what the east side of the park has to offer, even though it meant taking the long way around through the southern tip of the park. Our final destination was many glacier, where we hoped to see some wildlife, but we also had a few stops along the way. 




Hoy nos hemos levantado sin alarma, por fin! A pesar de que nos hemos seguido despertando temprano ha sido agradable hacerlo sin el dichoso sonido de la alarma :-) Nos tomamos un café en el salón principal y planeamos el día. Estaba bastante nublado y parte de la famosa carretera Going to the sun estaba cerrada por el mal tiempo, así que pensamos en un plan B: ver lo que la parte este del Parque nos podía ofrecer. Nuestro destino final será Many glacier donde esperamos ver animales como la cabra blanca, alces, osos, etc.

Our first stop was Goat lick, where we hoped to catch a glimpse of the mountain goat. No dice there, so we continued towards East Glacier, where we stopped at Two Medicine. We saw quite a bit of snow on the way, making for some beautiful views. Two medicine itself was very nice, although we didn't stay very long. 

Nuestra primera parada fue Goat lick, una zona donde nos dijeron que se podían ver las cabras blancas, pero no tuvimos suerte, así que continuamos nuestro camino hasta Two Medicine. 

Two Medicine

We then headed towards Many Glacier. We had a short stop at St. Mary valley, but the road was closed due to construction so there wasn't much to see there. Many Glacier was just incredible. The snow-capped mountains, the lake, everything was amazing. We even saw some mountain goats and big-horned sheep on the way in! They were pretty far away, up in the mountains, but we managed to snap a couple pictures.

Llegamos a Many Glacier, una zona preciosa de ríos y lagos, y de fondo las montañas cubiertas de nieve. Allí sí que tuvimos suerte y vimos varias cabras blancas; estaban bastante altas en las montañas, pero pudismo hacer alguna foto decente. 

 
                            

                       

We went all the way to campground, hoping we could maybe see a grizzly or some moose, but no such luck. We toured the area a bit, and finally headed back home. On the way back, we kept a watchful eye out for more wildlife. Just as we were exiting the park, Idoia saw, somehow, something moving way on the other side of the lake. We stopped, and with the help of the camera zoom we were able to see it was a bear! It looked like a grizzly, but we definitely aren't experts. In either case, we saw it on the shore, milling around, even playing a bit before disappearing into the forest. Just as it left, we saw a bird right overhead, circling us, only to realize it was a bald eagle! What luck! All in all, it was a well worth stop, as we got two beautiful animals for the price of one. 

Paseamos por el camping de la zona para ver si veíamos por casualidad un grizzly o algún alce, pero nada (casi que mejor... para mi). Cuando ya volvíamos a "casa" pude ver que algo se movía al otro lado del río, así que nos paramos y gracias al zoom de la cámara pudimos ver que era un oso!!! Creemos que era un oso grizzly, pero no somos expertos, así que... si hay alguno en la sala que se pronuncie! Justo en ese momento, pasaba por encima de nuestras cabezas un águila de cabeza blanca, la típica que aparece en un montón de cosas americanas, banderas, escudos, etc. Vamos que tuvimos dos animales al precio de uno! Realmente una casualidad increíble ver dos animales así en un mismo segundo!  

  

We then happily made our way back home, to eat some dinner in our cabin before heading to the main lodge to sit by the fire and relax.

Otra vez felices nos volvimos al hotel para cenar algo y relajarnos delante de la chimenea en el salón principal.