A 1.5-mile hiking trail takes you to one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the park, Virginia Falls. You reach it by traveling the Going-to-the-Sun Road from Saint Mary on the east side of the park. The trailhead starts at the St. Mary Falls Trailhead.

All along the trail to Virginia Falls you'll find scenic areas, mountains above you, colorful rock formations and, always, a stream of water leading to somewhere.

The next several shots were taken along the hiking path.

Wild Goose Island is another overlook along the Going-to-the-Sun Road from east Glacier. It sits in Saint Mary Lake. Some photos, taken on the return trip later in the day, have a totally different cast.

Jackson Glacier can be seen from one of the overlooks on the Going-to-the-Sun Road on the east side of the park, from Saint Mary.

It's said that based on the current melting rate, by 2030 all the glaciers in the park will be gone. In the mid-1800's, there were 150 glaciers in the park. Today there are 26.

A mountain scene from the Going-to-the-Sun Road on the east side from Saint Mary

Rising Wolf Mountain towers above the Lower Two Medicine Lake in east Glacier.

Otokomi Mountain as seen from the Saint Mary Visitors Center in east Glacier

Taken from the Sun Point Nature Trail, overlooking the Saint Mary Lake. The Sun Point Nature Trail is a .07-mile hike that travels along the lakeshore. The next few pictures were taken along that trail.

Sunrift Gorge is another interesting stop along the Going-to-the-Sun Road in east Glacier.

I was surprised and delighted to find a small field of cairns, or inukshuks as I believe the Canadians call them, on the beach behind McDonald Lodge in west Glacier. I may have gone overboard on the number of pictures I've posted of them (below), but hey....it's not as many as I took!!

And if you want to see a field of cairns on a much, much larger scale, go to my Neist Point, Scotland, page. That was my introducion to cairns, and I have been charmed by them ever since.

The shot above and the two below were taken along the shore of Lake McDonald, looking south.

Less than a minute after I took this picture, a little boy no older than four came along and in one fell swoop tumbled the whole thing. And this cairn was one of the most detailed. When I went back a couple days later, I noticed that the piece of driftwood had been used on another cairn (below).

Some of the cairns are built quite large, as you can judge by the guy squatting to take a picture.