After capturing sunrise at the Wild Goose Island overlook, head over to the Glacier Park Boat Company. On the Saint Mary Lake tour you can either walk the short distance to Baring Falls or take the ranger-guided tour to Saint Mary Falls. While on the tour boat enroute to the falls, you will have great panoramic views of the terrain surrounding the water. The boat operators are very knowledgeable about the area and point out the many flora, fauna, and geological highlights.
The tour boat passes right next to Wild Goose Island (the island was abeam the tour boat when I took this image). With more time, I would have gone back to the Wild Goose Island overlook and tried capturing the tour boat close to the island. I think capturing the first tour boat of the day near Wold Goose Island in calm waters would add a nice element to the composition.
We were a bit time limited so we opted for the quick hike to Baring Falls. The falls were not overly photogenic, but worth the walk.
Saint Mary Lake, Glacier National Park N48 41 09.29 W113 32 23.03
Here is my take on the iconic image from Glacier National Park. Sunrise at Wild Goose Island is the image taken by every photo tour group at Glacier National Park. There is an overlook beside Going to the Sun Highway that provides a great view of the island and Saint Mary Lake.
I recommend visiting this overlook during the day and looking at various compositions to determine where you would like to set your tripod for sunrise. Should there be a photo tour group in the area, they set up at the top of the overlook in a tight group. It is slightly humourous to see 10-15 photographers crammed together taking identical images.
Based on my scouting the overlook area the day prior, I setup to the left and slightly down from where the photo tours set up their tripods. As the sun rose, I moved around to other spots I had looked at the day prior.
I arrived well before sunrise. The photo tours seem to arrive 30 minutes or so before sunrise. So if you want that spot at the top of the overlook where the photo tours normally gather, get there early!
My wife and I stayed just outside the park in West Glacier. My wife chose to drive that morning, departing about 0330. It was a very dark drive, and not for the faint of heart. Don’t think about the drop-offs just over those stone walls.
This would also be a good daytime image if there were clouds in the sky. Too bad for me, there was not a cloud in the sky during my daylight visit to the overlook.
Wild Goose Island Overlook: N48 41 30.15 W113 31 53.44
I took this image at one end of the Highline Trail at Glacier National Park. This end of the trail is at the Logan Pass Visitor Center in the heart of Glacier National Park. This image is a panorama composed of three different images. The original size is about 40 inches wide by 13 inches tall. The Photoshop psd file is a whopping 378mb.
The road in the center of the image is the Going to the Sun Highway. The highway runs along the high ground and into the valley on the left side of the image. The Highline Trail essentially parallels the highway and ends at “The Loop”, a prominent section of the highway.
There is a small parking lot at the left end of the visible section of the road. This has a great overlook of the valley frequented by mountain goats. This parking lot is a short walk to the Logan Pass Visitor Center in case the visitor center parking lot is full.
One end of the Highline Trail: N48 41 50.80 W113 43 08.91