It is a bumpy muddy ride up Going to the Sun Road to the trailhead about 5 miles beyond McDonald Lodge.  Our early start pays off as we get parking in the front row and are on the trail by 7:20AM, just right for a quiet start to the hike. We wind through the colossal cedars along The Trail of Cedars boardwalk, pass a rocky, moss-covered waterfall, follow the sometimes babbling sometimes crashing stream, then turn up and into the dense pines.  It is overcast and the shadowy, towering pines are beautiful but a bit foreboding. The trail is steeper than we anticipated but lovely. We spot the distinctive white profiles of mountain goats mixed with bright red and yellow fall foliage on the cliffs high above the creek bed.  At about 2.5 miles our path opens onto the foot of Avalanche Lake.   Muted colors of the surrounding mountains and waterside foliage reflect in the still lake waters. A Stellar’s Jay comes begging while we relax on the gravelly beach.  It doesn’t look like it is going to brighten up and it’s getting to be prime hike time, the once peaceful beach is getting busy.  We retrace our steps back to the truck.  This was well worth the walk.

It is still early.  We head on out Going to the Sun toward Logan Pass. Kent has not been on the west side of the divide this trip.  It is hard to capture fall colors with grey skies but it is beautiful.  We are classic Glacier visitors, stopping at pull-offs all along the route scouring the mountains for goats and sheep (we see an impressive looking bighorn ram) and attempting to identify glaciers.  Traffic gets annoying and we turn back toward the west side.  Construction is in full swing, leaving us to wait for the pilot truck and rolling through splattery mud.  There is a car wash in our not-to-distant future.  We make a quick stop for firewood and are back at camp with our feet up.   It’s been a full day.