Fall Colors Glacier National Park

Chief Mountain on Glacier National Park's East Side and the Blackfeet Reservation during fall. 

It's a rare treat to have the fall colors this good along Glacier National Parks East side. In most years the leaf's ether freeze and fall off or they begin to change and the fierce winds strip them before they get to full color. I captured this image of Chief Mountain (above), along Glacier National Park's north east corner on Saturday October 8th 2011. Chief Mountain is an iconic spire the world over. It's eastern edge is on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation while the west side is in Glacier National Park. Chief Mountain is still cherished today and vision quests and ceremonies are a regular occurrence.

The image below is of a forest of aspens in Glacier National Park near East Glacier Park, Montana, ranging from bright orange to light yellow and green.

Colorful aspens changing from green to orange and yellow in glacier national  park.

Fall colors with snow, Glacier National Park, Logan Pass area 

As these photos show, not this year though. Glacier National Park fall colors this year are as good as I have seen then in the last 5-6 years.

I captured this tree landscape image near Logan Pass in Glacier National Park just after a fresh fall snow storm, notice the range of colors and the contrast it creates with the snow.

The forecast for the next week or so is for rain, wind and snow starting this weekend, so this may have been the weekend to be here - you just never can tell with fall colors in Glacier National Park. On the bright side, if you miss the color on the east side I'm sure you can catch some great color around Lake McDonald, on Glacier National Parks west side. And on of my favorite scenes are the fall larch, and they have not turned yet, so look for better color in late October and early November along the middle fork of the Flathead River along Highway Two on Glacier National Park's south end.

If you're interested in looking at more western tree species please take a look at this gallery of rocky mountain trees on Tony Bynum's website. Tony Bynum makes all of his images available for licensing or prints, please contact him at tony@tonybynum.com to discuss your needs.