Glacier Crown at Logan Pass

I was here! I was at the top of Glacier's world. I could look down into the glacier-cut valleys, but was still shadowed by the heads of mountains that stood even higher. I had been here before, but as I now examined the site of my photographic goal, it didn't match my minds image.

I had to rethink my composition, but standing at the top of one of the most beautiful places on the planet, I didn't have to look very hard to see new possibilities. Mt Pollack loomed to the north, Clements and Reynolds to the south and west. The valley to the east contained more distinctive peaks.

I settled on this view of the head of Mt Pollack. Polaris is the center of stellar motion, and there is a light band accenting the sky: the band of the Milky Way, containing the bright stars in the constellations Perseus and Cassiopiea. The remnant of a summer sun that never gets very far below the horizon provides the red glow behind the mountain's silhouette.

The blending of light in this picture is over an uncertain time period. I opened the shutter at 1:30 but found it closed at 2:30, the victim of a chilled battery. Fortunately, it had done its job well enough to yield Mt Pollack's portrait.