Pictures by Kirk Fratzke (June/July 2004) 

Snow-Capped Mountains of the Northern Rockies
• Select thumbnails to view image galleries of each park •

Glacier National Park (84 Photos)	Grand Teton National Park (28 Photos)
Craters of the Moon National Monument (20 Photos)	Yellowstone National Park (20 Photos)

• Flew to Kalispell, MT.
• Picked up supplies at Walmart and grabbed a bite to eat at McDonalds.
• Drove into Glacier National Park.
• Check into motel - The Village Inn, nice lakeside location with view of distant mountains.
• Drove up the length of Lake McDonald.
• Hiked the trail to the Sacred Dancing Cascades and McDonald Falls (with a couple of detours)
• Had dinner at Eddie's Dinner.
• It stayed light out until 10:45 p.m. (longest day of the year).

• Rainy day!
• Hiked to Avalanche Lake, five glacier feed waterfalls coming down 2,000 foot high cliffs into a turquoise colored lake.
• Had lunch at a pizza place.
• Drove the west side of the Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass, very cloudy but some wonderful views of the mountains and valleys, first goat sighting.
• Dinner again at Eddie's.
• Took Amy into town to get more film, first bear sighting on the way back to the motel.

• Did the entire Going to the Sun Road, much better views with clearer weather, waterfalls everywhere since it is still spring in the mountains.
• At Logan Pass hiked the still snow-covered nature trail to Hidden Lake.
• Sack lunch in the parking lot of the Logan Pass visitors center, goats everywhere.
• Ventured down the to the east side of the park for the first time to St. Mary Lake.
• Hiked to St. Mary and Virginia Falls, Amy's feet got a bit sore and bandaged her up.
• Took a short hike to Sunrift Gorge and Baring Falls.
• Drove the Sun Road back to motel in Apgar, stopped at almost every turn out along the way.

• Left the Village Inn and drove Highway 2 around the outside of the park.
• Stopped at Goat Lick and followed the railroad track through Marias Pass.
• Stopped at the grand Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier.
• Went to Two Medicine area of park, had second bear sighting near entrance (got photo).
• Short walk to Running Eagle Falls.
• Hiked to Aster Falls and then up to Aster Park lookout.
• Pretty drive through the hills of Blackfeet Indian Reservation to St. Mary.
• Had lunch at local restaurant in St. Mary.
• Checked into cabin at Rising Sun Motor Inn.
• Took a drive up to Logan Pass on the Sun Road, spent some nice time at a viewpoint.
• Had dinner at inn restaurant.

• Took some early morning photos of Wild Goose Island in St. Mary Lake.
• Drove up to Many Glacier area of the park.
• Hiked to Red Rock Lake and Falls.
• Had lunch at Swiftcurrent restaurant.
• Took some pictures around Many Glacier Hotel and Swiftcurrent Lake.
• Hiked up to Apikuni Falls.
• Checked out the scenery again along the east side of the Sun Road and fed some chipmunks granola bars.
• Dinner again at the Inn.
• Spent some evening time at the Wild Goose Island viewpoint.

• Left Glacier in route to Yellowstone.
• Long drive along Highway 89, bailed on this route at Great Falls and took I-15 to Butte.
• Had lunch Arby's and then headed east on I-90 for Yellowstone.
• Arrived in Yellowstone and visited the hot springs at Mammoth.
• Drove down the Yellowstone/Old Faithful area stopping at the Artists Paint Pots and through the Firehole Canyon drive.
• Checked into cabin at Old Faithful Lodge and Cabins.
• Had dinner in cafeteria, would not recommend this place.

• Walked the boardwalk in the Upper Geyser Basin all the way to Morning Glory Pool.
• Watched an eruption of Old Faithful.
• Had and early lunch at a burger joint.
• Visited Black Sand and Biscuit basins.
• Drove the Firehole Lake loop and stopped at the Midway Geyser Basin to see Grand Prismatic Spring.
• Drove to Canyon with a detour on the Virginia Cascades drive.
• Stopped and got some cash before heading over to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Lower Falls.
• Stopped at Inspiration Point, Grand View, Lookout Point, Brink of Upper Falls, and Artist Point (learned why cell phones should not be allowed in National Parks).
• Drove through the Hayden Valley stopping at Mud Volcano, got to see some buffalo.
• Continued past Lake Yellowstone and south into Grand Teton.
• Check into cabin at Colter Bay.
• Had dinner at resort restaurant.

• Drove the park roads getting views of the Teton range from every vantage point, the outer park road actually provides better views than the road closer to the mountains.
• Had lunch at Signal Mountain Lodge.
• Worn out and took an afternoon nap.
• Took a short walk before dinner on what we "thought" was a trail with views of Jackson Lake.
• Dinner again at the resort restaurant.

• Drove into Idaho after some taking some pictures of morning fog and clouds surrounding the Tetons.
• Stopped at EBR-1 at Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.
• Detoured around parade in Arco, ID in route to Craters of the Moon National Monument.
• Visited the monument stopping at every viewpoint open.
• Hiked up to the top of Inferno Cone.
• Ventured into Indian Tunnel.
• Had dinner at Pizza Hut in Idaho Falls on way back to Grand Teton.

• Had breakfast in a restaurant for the first time!
• Drove through the park again this time taking the Jenny Lake loop.
• Took shuttle boat across Jenny Lake to see Hidden Falls and hike up to Inspiration Point.
• Hiked a couple of miles back into Cascade Canyon until it started to rain, had great moose sighting.
• Grabbed sandwich and had lunch in picnic area.
• Napped again.
• Finally hiked the right trail and got to see Jackson Lake.
• Dinner at the resort restaurant.

• Took a morning drive up Signal Mountain with some great views of Jackson Hole which were shared with some German and Japanese tourists.
• Drove down to Moose and the Menors Ferry Historic Site.
• Got some sandwiches and drove north for some view of Jackson Lake.
• Went into Yellowstone and stopped at Lewis and Moose Falls.
• Had lunch at lakeside picnic area.
• Napped yet again!
• Had last dinner at resort restaurant, our last bear sighting in the parking lot.
• Drove to some viewpoints to check out the Tetons one last time, walked on the beach at Signal Mountain Lodge.

• Checked out of Colter Bay and headed to the Jackson Hole airport for the trip home.

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