The morning after fierce winds brought waves crashing to shore, the glasslike surface of Lake McDonald returns to its peaceful stillness.

I had a rough 36 hours.  On the evening of Friday the 13th, my car overheated driving up Going-to-the-Sun Road to catch sunset.  I spent the better part of that night in a tow truck with an amazing driver.  Tony learned how to drive in Alaska with ice truckers, and the way he maneuvered his 40 foot flatbed truck up a two lane highway with protruding rocks on one side and a cliff on the other was nothing short of exquisite.  After securing my car, he executed a two point U turn that in my sleep deprivation left me completely astounded.  Tony seemed to think the issue was a broken radiator cap, and in the middle of the night we made a stop by a roadside waterfall to fill my radiator with water.  My car seemed to handle fine the one mile drive from the main road to the last minute hotel I had to book that night, so I was optimistic I could drive it into town the next day but dismayed that no mechanics would be available until shops opened Monday morning.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of crashing waves against the shores of Lake McDonald, a foreshadow off the tumultuousness that would become my Saturday.  I made the 12 mile drive into the closest town, intending to buy a new radiator cap.  However the store clerk told me there was a Toyota dealership another 15 miles away that would be open for several more hours this Saturday.  Since my car had no problems with the previous drive, I bought two gallons of antifreeze and headed towards Kallispell.  Three overheats and two gallons of coolant later I finally managed to limp into the dealership when it was too late for them to service it.  I got a car rental and made the long drive back, just feeling completely defeated, isolated, and frustrated at everything that happened.  Mentally I was in no mood to hike or photograph anything, and ended up wasting an entire day.  It wasn’t until encouraging texts and a dark cloudless sky filled with twinkling stars that my mind slowly began to settle.

The next morning was completely different.  I decided to sleep in for sunrise, but went back to Lake McDonald walked into this completely tranquil scene.  The sidelight was incredible and the water surface was calm and silent.  In that serenity I left the previous day behind and continued my exploration of this amazing park.

To wrap up the story it really was just a broken radiator cap that caused the overheat, a simple $20 repair.  I did spend an extra few hundred bucks to perform some additional maintenance for my own peace of mind prior to making the 10 hour drive back to Salt Lake City, but the worst part of all of this?  I missed an absolutely incredible, vibrant sunset the evening my car broke down.