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| Saint Mary Lake and Boat Tour and Hike, MT | |
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| | Saint Mary Lake and Boat Tour and Hike, MT | | | |
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Saint Mary Lake and Boat Tour and Hike, MT
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| Hiking | 3.70 Miles |
250 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.70 Miles | 1 Hour | | 3.70 mph |
| 250 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | On our way out of the Park we decided to do one last event before heading to the airport in Gt Falls: the St Mary Boat ride and hike to Baring and St Mary Falls. It was a beautiful morning as we left our digs at the end of Lake McDonald and headed up the Going to the Sun Road. And as always on the west side this year, we ended up at a construction stop for 20 minutes as we looked over toward Bird Woman Falls.
We got our tickets at the Dock, drove over to Rising Sun store for some food, and then boarded the Little Chief boat. This boat ride was much nicer than last year as the lake was very smooth. On the way to the Baring Dock, we saw a bear on the side of a hill but by the time we spotted him, even my full zoom was barely able to make him/her out  .
We hiked up to and around Baring Falls before the ranger led the way to St Mary Falls. She set a pretty brisk pace. There wasn't much in the way of a lot of wildflowers. We arrived at the Falls only to see a few crazy folks jumping into the swirling  and I'm sure VERY COLD water of the St Mary River. We didn't spend too much time at the bridge except to take the obligatory pictures (and video in my case) before heading to the area above the falls. I just love standing at the river where it rushes down the falls. The power is just so awesome  .
Before you knew it, we had to head back already. It's a wonderful little hike in spite of the crowds. This was the most crowded I had seen this trail in the last 3 years. But I don't find it that big of a deal and I'm glad folks are outside  enjoying this magnificence.
We finished off the trip with the relaxing trip back on the lake to the boat dock. We got fairly close to Wild Goose Island. I GPSed the whole boat ride/hike/boat rideas I thot it would be fun to see on the map. One thing today is the smoke from the various fires was lingering to the west so the views weren't quite as awesome as usual.
And so our trip to GNP came to an end, but a happy one as we had a marvelous time and got to see wonderful views, get up close to the flowers and wildlife... oh and restock a lot of my huckleberry goodies.
Here are the videos from this day:
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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