In among the amazing and massive vistas of Glacier National Park lives some of this country’s most beautiful wildlife. Throughout our short stay in the park we were thrilled to spend many of these memorable moments right alongside these beautiful creatures.
In the next few blog entries I’ll share with you some extra moments that deserve their own spotlight.
A young mountain goat as it casually explored and played among the many human visitors to the Hidden Lake Overlook of Glacier National Park.
Hidden Lake and the Mountain Goats
All along Logans Pass and the trail up to Hidden Lake Overlook these Mountain Goats live free and in full control of their tough environment. If you’ve read the blog post on Hidden Lake you’ve seen a few of these goats and the story behind how we almost missed seeing them. However, I totally loved following this little lamb as it caused all kinds of stress for its mother, something our kids often do to us!
The goats in these images are Mountain Goats a species that thrives in rough terrain and cold weather, utilizing both elements to avoid prey. Due to changes in the populations of their predators these goats live a pretty care free life seemingly only worrying about the next nap or meal.
This adult goat was in between a winter and summer coat, and though they did come incredibly close to visitors at times, they are very docile animals (in other parts of the country as well) and really we fear them at times much more than they fear us.
The younger goat at one point playfully ran through a picnic a family was having surprising the little kids there and I’m sure giving both the parents and the adult goat a little stress ;-)
Higher up the pass and closer to the overlook an entire family of goats lounged around on a thin layer of snow, cooling of under the sun, many of the goats still working to shed the extra winter coat.
An adult mountain goat resting on the snow during what it would consider a hot summer day.
There is something about getting to spend time with animals and watching their behavior that stirs up the wonders of all that creation has to offer us!
Have you ever been able to spend time up close with a mountain goat before? Let me know about your experience in the comments!
