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Cedar Forest along McDonald Creek, Glacier National Park, Montana    ID# 617-TR-3
Glacier National Park, Montana. The steep mountains towering above McDonald Creek act as huge barriers to moisture-laden prevailing westerly winds. As these air currents are forced up and over these high mountains, the air mass cools causing the moisture to condense out. The resulting rain and snow here on the western side of the continental divide supports a rich variety of plants and groves of huge old-growth cedars and Douglas fir along these valley bottoms. If you were to travel a mere 15 miles to the east, on the rain-shadow side of the divide, you would see plant communities which reflect the much drier conditions found there. McDonald Creek runs clear and cold behind this grove of cedar as it drains the huge upper McDonald Creek valley on its way to glacier-gouged Lake McDonald. In the last decade, some of the worst drought conditions in the last 150 years have allowed huge fires to consume thousands of acres on this normally-wet side of the divide. All photos in these galleries may be ordered as fine art framed prints or for stock photography usage.

This image is from James Kay Gallery 4 - Rocky Mountains of North America