Saint Mary Lake — Attraction in Browning

Saint Mary Lake is the second-largest lake in Glacier National Park, after Lake McDonald.

It's located on the east side of the park, and as you drive along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, you will also be driving along it's northern shore. Saint Mary Lake's waters are cold and clear; they rarely get warmer than 50 °F and are home to various species of trout for fishing. The lake is almost 10-miles long and 300 feet deep. During the winter, the lake is often completely frozen over and the Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed.

We found a pullout where we could park and walk down to the water along a narrow dirt path in a field of wildflowers. The pullout also had a picnic area, but it was too cold and windy for that. From the water, you can see Little Chief Mountain standing guard over the west end of the lake, and Wild Goose Island in the near distance.

I remember visiting this place as a child and many memories flooded through my mind as I walked there. In 2015, wildfires struck the area and the damage from them will be for always. Please be careful. Despite all that it is still a very lovely place to pull over, listen to the silence and...

Located on the east side of the park, the Going-to-the-Sun Road parallels the lake along its north shore. At an altitude of 4,484 feet (1,367 m), Saint Mary Lake's waters are colder and lie almost 1,500 feet (460 m) higher in altitude than Lake McDonald , the largest lake in the park, which is located on the west side of the Continental Divide . Here, the great plains end and the Rocky Mountains begin in an abrupt 5,000-foot (1,500 m) altitude change, with Little Chief Mountain posing a formidable southern flank above the west end of the lake. The lake is 9.9 miles (15.9 km) long and 300 feet (91 m) deep with a surface area of 3,923 acres (15.88 km 2). The waters of the lake rarely rise above 50 °F (10 °C) and are home to various species of trout. During the winter, the lake is often completely frozen over with ice up to 4 feet (1.2 m) thick. The opening scene in the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film The Shining was shot at...

Saint Mary Lake is the second-largest lake in Glacier National Park. The Wildlife conservations would say that GNP is a wildlife park. The Geologists would say it is a Geology Park. But it is neither a Wildlife park nor a Geology park, Glacier National Park in Montana is mainly a water park. Without water, this park would not be what it is today. Today we were hiking to the St. Mary’s Falls, where when on reaching there, we paused for a moment closing our eyes, and assimilating and finding meaning in all the sounds that we heard. I have had never felt a waterfall like that before with my eyes closed. It sounded like a thunderstorm sound with heavy downpour of rain with sounds of water gushing in like how water gushes in floods everywhere....