Another frosty tent, and a dark sky met us as we greeted the morning. At this point in the trip we were actually starting to sleep pretty well in the tent under the stars as the busy days and long hours were preparing us well for rest. However, it will never be easy to wake up in the dark and venture into the cold morning air.

Our goal this time was to catch the sun rising against the beautiful peaks and lakes of the Many Glacier area. I had read a few days prior that you can often get either a beautiful glassy lake surface or even fog rolling over the lake bed.

As with many mountain parks it is not easy to get around, and so we had to drive out of Glacier National Park, and then back in again at the Many Glacier entrance just north of us.

With little planning (yep… that whole planning thing) we had to rush, find our way there, and setup my gear in the dark. Trying to figure out compositions and lighting on the spot is challenging and can sometimes ruin a moment, but this view is literally impossible to ruin.

All vacations have their stressful moments, but if you’ve ever done photography or live with someone who does (sorry wife!) you’ll know that a rushed sunrise shoot 1,000 miles from home is very high stress. You always assume you have less time than you do, and I made the typical mistake of grumping out at my family and rushing off ahead of them to hope to capture the light.

In the middle of moments like this I do truly need to learn to stop and take it all in.

After profusely apologizing to my family, we did end up letting the scene play out before us. The kids throwing rocks off into the lake, and my wife and I (in between composition changes) watching the sun light up the peaks and burn its way down to the lake before us.

From a photography perspective, the sky and water were not ideal. Though the low clouds rolling over the peaks were fantastic, the sky did not have enough high clouds for color, and the lake below was being hit with a fairly strong wind, limiting the options for reflections. Overall though I was pleased with the results.

I’ll let the pictures and time lapse below speak for themselves.

Time lapse of Grinnel Point and the Garden Wall as the sun rises to meet the earth. Taken with an iPhone X and the Skyflow app.