Above The Clouds
We awoke to a perfectly sunny, clear autumn day outside Glacier National Park. This was the first day of our trip and I couldn't wait to get up into the mountains. I could see the majestic peaks rise up quickly in the distance and they got even more impressive as we drove toward the park. But I noticed something else too... some clouds in the middle of the peaks. Probably nothing to worry about.
But the persistent cloud shelf wouldn't leave... in fact it got larger. And as we drove up Going To The Sun Road I started to think the National Park Service had the wrong name for this road. Sure, they had a hundred years of experience in the park and this was my first day... but I was certain I knew better... this road should have been called Into The Clouds Road!
We gained altitude as we gained distance and it started to get brighter... and brighter. The layers of mountain peaks in all directions were revealing themselves as the clouds and fog thinned out. And as we continued gaining altitude, we emerged above the clouds. The tallest peaks stuck out of a bright white foggy floor... thousands of feet above sea level. It was time to make some photos!
Things started changing quickly. Even though we stopped moving, the landscape changed before our very eyes. Light rays shone though thinning fog... unseen pine trees suddenly became visible... and the foggy floor high above the valley started breaking up. I made many images, but this is the one I liked the best. You can see the remnants of the fog and clouds that had earlier obscured the landscape causing me to think I knew more about this park than the National Park Service. Fortunately, they knew better than me!