Glacier National Park, Montana

Here are just a few photos of one part of our recent holiday. We followed the tourist trail along Going-to-the-Sun Road within Glacier National Park which is in northern Montana bordering British Columbia and Alberta. And tourist trap or not, it is well worth a visit if you are anywhere near the area but bear in mind that due to altitude and snow, it is only open for a few months during the summer each year. It's a pretty, twisting, sometimes narrow rising route that climbs to approximately 6400 feet above sea level at Logan's Pass. The views in all directions are stunning. The vegetation and wild-flowers will have me Googling for weeks.

The route bans long or high vehicles and I would suggest that nervous drivers need not apply - there are little red 'buses' that will pick up and drop off passengers anywhere along the road if you need to leave your 35 foot camping trailer behind in the car park.

I think the motorcyclists were having the best experience and views as they were weaving back and forth across both lanes to get a better look at the scenery and the American guys were not wearing crash helmets either which must add to that sense of freedom-wind-in-my-hair moments (right up the point they fall off and crack their skulls open - c'mon guys, even when it's not the law ....).

I was saddened to see yet another example of the devastation caused by the pine beetle that has been moving across many western states of the US and has been silently attacking millions of hectares of the landscape in British Columbia and Alberta amongst many other areas.

I guess nature will sort itself out at some point, but not in my time...

There are still little pockets of snow to be seen across the mountain sides and a couple of mini-glaciers left at the road sides, which people were sliding down, my kids included, which was all just a tad weird bearing in mind it was a toasty 32 degrees outside.