Banff to Glacier: The Rainy Season

Aug. 24-29, 2004

Backing up a few days, the weather has been:
Sunday -         It rained most of the day. We spent the day mostly reading or watching the Olympics on TV.
Monday -       We drove to Banff and did some shopping, laundry, etc. The sun was shining so we left some items on the picnic
                      table to dry out. It started raining before we got back, so they were wetter than when we put them on the table.
Tuesday -       We saw fresh snow on the mountains near Banff as we drove to Radium Hot Springs; this is in Kootenay
                      National Park. It was sunny in the afternoon, so we spent some time in the hot springs. It rained that night.
Wednesday -  We drove to Kalispell, MT. It rained most of the day.
Thursday -      We drove to Glacier National Park and camped at the west end of Lake MacDonald. It rained most of the day.
Friday -          Took a drive in the morning to see some old forest fire burn areas. It rained most of the afternoon.
Saturday -       It was supposed to be clear today, but it was more clouds and rain.
Sunday -         It was supposed to be clear today also, but dark clouds loomed overhead most of the day. It rained during the night, but at least did not rain during the day.

We have been waiting for good weather to do the Going to the Sun Road drive to the east side of the park. Tomorrow we will go regardless of the weather; we are tired of laying around here.

Not much in the way of photos this time. I did find the forest fire burn areas interesting, to see how quickly trees and other vegetation returns.
 

This area burned last year, so the green you see is all the re-growth in one year. Not much!
 

This area burned in 1967 and again in 2001. The large, heavily burnt snags are probably left over from the 1967 fire. The smaller trees are what has grown in the area between 1967 and 2001. The green bushes are what has come back in the last two years. They were up to four or five feet tall in some areas.