These Mountain Goats were on a faraway distant slope. Very difficult to see with the naked eye and hard to focus on so I just pointed where I thought they were and hoped for the best. It was hard to tell what was goats and what was rocks or patches of snow. Cropping the photo brought them in closer, but it is a bit fuzzy.

Same with these Mountain Sheep! Now we can see the curly horns.

These goats were at a different location, GoatLick, where the goats come to lick the rocks, I suppose for the minerals they contain. Here we were able to get much closer, but it was a steep and slippery trail to get there! This rock face is nearly vertical and they navigate it with ease. Amazing!

This Crow? Raven? came right up to the car looking for a handout I guess.

We saw this Loon family in a roadside pond, quite unconcerned at our presence.

The handsome Daddy Loon stayed between us and his family and treated us to several choruses of his loony laughter. Or maybe he was saying “Don’t come any closer”.

Mama Loon meandered nearby with her babies alternately swimming and riding on her back.

It was a long day Monday, starting out at 8am and returning around 10pm, but what an amazingly beautiful place! Joan H, owner of the Quilt Gallery drove Ruth McDowell, Del and me around the park and we were so lucky to see lots of animals. The weather was overcast on the Kalispell side of the mountains, but on passing the summit to the other side it was immediately sunny. The vegetation reflected those conditions with large evergreens and other trees on the wetter side and more open grasslands on the other. This shot shows a sampling of the beauty around every curve of the road.

It is spring there, and the Road To The Sun was not yet open as the rainy week that we had had in Kalispell had dumped 10 more inches of snow up there!  We saw LOTS of wildflowers, some familiar to me and others not.

We saw so many animals! Mountain Goats and Sheep, Mule Deer and Whitetails, Grizzly and Black Bear, Coyote, Ground Squirrels and many birds including Golden Eagle. We did not see Moose or Elk. Hmmmm – may just have to go back!

More tomorrow!!