A waterfalls hike

Since we didn't get to hike (by foot) yesterday, we got an earlier start today hoping the lines into the park would be shorter and the parking easier.  We saw the mountain goats again today at the same pull off right before Logan's Pass.  This goat had just come running off the mountain through the snow.

 

There were some more "kids"(or baby goats) with them today.  Aren't they cute?

 

This goat tried to hitch a ride with us...

...but Chuck told him to go play with the other goats.

We walked up behind the Visitor's Center because we were planning on hiking the Hidden Lake trail at Logan's Pass.  

But we decided not to hike it this morning because it was very cold and windy.  We should have been dressed like this:

But we were dressed like this (can you see Chuck shivering?):

 So we decided to leave Logan's Pass...

 

 and go hike St. Mary's Falls which should be warmer since it is at a lower elevation.

We lucked up and got one of the last parking spots at the trailhead for St. Mary's Falls and began the hike that descends to St. Mary's Falls. 

Big green plants thickly lined the trail.

Before we knew it , we reached the falls.  St. Mary Falls drops 35 feet over three tiers.

We sat on the rocks and enjoyed watching that clear blue water for a while.

Virginia Falls was another couple of miles down the trail.  After talking with some of the hikers coming back from Virginia Falls and finding out that the hike was relatively easy and that there were other falls along the way, we decided to continue hiking to Virginia Falls.

 

We had descended 200+ feet to St. Mary's Falls but were now ascending 250+ feet to Virginia Falls.

There were lots of beautiful  flowers along the trail.

 

We came to the first unnamed falls that I am calling "Gorgeous Falls".

I am calling it "Gorge-ous Falls" because the force of the waterfalls created this small gorge:

 

There were more rocks to hike over as we continued further up.

 

Then, we reached the second unnamed falls that I am calling "Red Rock Falls"...
 

...because of all the red rock lining the bed of the stream.

We continued going further up...

...and finally reached Virginia Falls.

Notice how red the rocks below the water are here also.

We were able to walk up to the base of the falls by crossing over these foot bridges...

...and then out to some rocks at the base of the falls where you could feel the spray from Virginia Falls.

 

Virginia Falls drops 50 feet.

 

After taking one last look at the Virginia Falls,

we headed back down the trail by the two unnamed falls that I am calling "Red Rock Falls" and "Gorge-ous Falls", and by St. Marys Falls, and then on up to the car.  Below is a short video clip of all the waterfalls we saw today for your enjoyment.

On the way back, we met a girl who had seen a black bear that ran off down the hill in front of her.  We had bought bear spray to carry on us earlier that morning and Chuck had his hooked to his belt.  I think I better start carrying mine too!

After completing the 3.5 mile hike, we drove a little further east and had lunch at a picnic area near St. Mary's Lake.

After lunch, we headed back across Going to the Sun Road.  It is so hard for me to not keep taking pictures of the same things; but the clouds were unusual-looking in this picture...

...and Mt. Oberlin was just plain awesome.

At the bottom of the mountain pass, we had to stop and wait at the construction zone again.  Time for a little nap!

What was funny is how many times someone in a car would have to be awaken by the person's horn behind them when the traffic finally started moving again.