Winds Howling

In the 15 months between when we first thought about going to Glacier National Park and actually arrived there, our anticipation was greatly enhanced by live webcams dotted around the park, pointing at various trailheads, vistas and parking lots. We used them to watch the progress of snow melt, determine good times to get a parking spot, and nervously monitor rising floodwaters.

Here are some of the images we captured and discussed in the months before our trip.

Watching ice melt at the Hidden Lake Trailhead:

Once we got there, I’m pretty sure I saw this particular webcam in person, pointing out from inside the Logan Pass Visitor Center.

Watching snow fall, melt and get plowed at the Logan Pass parking lot:

Then, once the season got into gear, monitoring the times that the parking lot got full:

Based on these, we decided to get there around 6:30 a.m. and ultimately succeeded in getting a parking spot at 6:44 a.m. on July 20, with plenty of available space, though it was full by about two hours later.

At one point, heavy rains led to severe flooding and evacuation of the area we were staying, shutting down our lodging, activities we’d booked and trails we’d planned to hike.

“The hotel staff started coming down and knocking on all the rooms and telling everybody to be gone by 2:30.” (KRTV)

All of it ended up reopening in time for our trip, but in the meantime, we anxiously watched the water level on the webcams, particularly whether it would rise over the bridge providing access to the Many Glacier Hotel.

We eventually saw guys in hi-viz jackets who seemed to be gauging the situation:

The rains came with some dramatic clouds visible from the St. Mary camera:

Along the way, some frames were just ridiculously beautiful:

There were also some quirks of a 24/7 feed of nature, like spiderwebs and precipitation:

I originally thought all these water droplets were on the lens of the webcam, but now I know (and can see) they’re actually on the window in front of the webcam — the one I took a photo of above.