skyandtelescope.com • JUNE 2019 63
and know how to use it, make noise as you
travel down the trail, and preferably hike in
groups of at least four.
For those who don’t want to venture out
very far at night, they needn’t hike into the
wild areas in order to gain a phenomenal
perspective of the night sky. Standing at
the southern edge of Lake McDonald near
Apgar offers amazing views of the north-
ern lights (when they’re active), as well as
a large swath of the night sky. Kintla and
Bowman Lake are equally stunning in the
North Fork valley, and standing at the base of Rising Wolf
Mountain in Two Medicine is just as remarkable. It’s not dif-
fi cult to fi nd a good place to look up.Be Ready for Anything
Just because Glacier is blessed with dark skies doesn’t mean
stargazing is a sure thing.
“Trying to stargaze in the mountains is a delicate dance
between starlight, moonlight, and clouds,” says Ashley. But
stargazers can use the Moon to their benefi t at times. “If you
want to learn the constellations, go out with a lot of moon-
light. It washes out the dimmer stars and makes the brighter
ones stand out,” he says.In more recent years smoke from wildfi res
has been increasingly problematic. “Smoke
can make an astronomical event exceptional
or keep you from even seeing it,” Ashley says.
“It can add a reddish color, or it might make (stars) invisible.”
Ashley believes that the smoke from western fi res is going
to be the new reality for stargazing in the park, particularly
later in the summer. There have been fi res in Glacier nearly
every year since 1910, but the magnitude of the fi res has
increased over the past several years. It’s a consideration visi-
tors need to understand when they’re planning their trip.
Regardless of the season, Glacier National Park is a special
place at night. You might have to contend with the extended
sunlight during the glorious summer days, brave the brisk but
long winter nights, or visit in the shoulder seasons when the
weather is a wild card. But every visit brings a new perspective
and greater appreciation of the spectacular scenery above us.¢ AMY GRISAK is a freelance writer and photographer special-
izing in gardening, cooking, and sustainable lifestyles, as well
as anything to do with the beautiful Montana outdoors.tDANGEROUS REALITY Forest fi res are a fact
of life in Glacier National Park, and the threat and
presence of fi re has only increased in recent years.
Wildfi res often cloak the landscape in dense smoke,
but occasionally their glow can lend an unplanned
element to the scene, as in this view captured of the
2015 Thompson Fire from Hidden Lake Nature Trail
at Logan Pass.qOPTICAL ILLUSION The night sky appears to circle around Polaris,
the North Star, in this time-lapse image over Lake McDonald. But it’s
really the Earth’s rotation that creates the circular star trails.FIR
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