It is easy to stand in front of a spectacular view of natural beauty and be satisfied with that picture. In this photo from August 25, 2014 I'm alongside Swiftcurrent Lake at Many Glaciers, Glacier National Park taking a series of "twin peaks" photos. But the journey (or journeys) to the view is just as important.
This morning's journey included boarding the boat Chief Two Guns to cruise the length of Swiftcurrent Lake, then getting off to take a short hike over a hill to Lake Josephine, boarding another boat (Morning Eagle) to cross the second lake. At the end of the second boat ride you can get off to take a hike for a couple hours in the surrounding forest. Once back at the Morning Eagle, you board and do it all in reverse to return to the Swiftcurrent Lake dock. It was a spectacular morning experience, and I highly recommend it -- just the story of how these boats got to the remote location that became part of Glacier National Park is worth the price of admission.
Leading up to this location was the journey to get to Glacier National Park...a driving trip from St. Ignace, Michigan along U.S. Route 2, a two-lane highway that runs across the northern U.S. all the way to Glacier (and continues west to north of Seattle) providing a view of our country that is always lost in high-speed Interstate driving. The two-lane highway view is always the preferred route of Wild Road Pictures.