In the emotional shadow of 3-4000 foot knife edge peaks, I crain my neck skyward marveling at the 100ft waterfalls coursing down a rocky face. After passing through Moose Pass, a steadier maritime rain fell. On the roadside, majestic Douglas Firs towered 80ft into the fog with dripping bows and moss covered roots. Ostrich and fiddlehead ferns blanket the rich temperate rain forest above a sea of lichen and vivid moss.
I turn right toward Exit Glacier Park pausing along the grey water of a wide braided river. The exit glacier stretches skyward as if clouds still deposit it from the heavens.
A 2 mi hike brought me to the face of the retreating glaciers. Signs along the road and hiking route mark the year in which the glacier's toe existed at that site. Shockingly they begin a mile or more away in the 1800's and continue rapidly along the route. The glacier once extended to the parking lot but now requires a hike to access the blue grey ice.
The churning and dragging of ice over bedrock leaves directional patterns in the dark mountainside.
I walk down to the wide rocky wash to survey the surrounding verdant hillsides emerging from the lively fog. This land reminds me of a scene from Jurassic Park, otherworldly beauty hard to believe.