New on 500px : Spring Thaw by PerriSchelat by PerriSchelat

I rode my bike 12 miles through the Many Glacier Valley to Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park this year during early Spring. My main concern was avoiding Grizzly bears just waking up from a long winter. Nothing will make a girl pedal faster or sing Jingle Bells louder than the idea of running into a hungry bear.

There is a very small window in which to capture ice melt on Swiftcurrent Lake. I hoped to get Mount Grinnell reflecting in open water. The park experienced a very cold Winter with lots of snow, so I knew melting would be late this year.

The first day I rode my bike in I scouted and found conditions close to what I wanted, but the light wasn’t any good and the wind was whipping through, so I rode my bike back in a second day and found much better sunrise light and still waters.

I rode a total of 48 miles over the course of 2 days to get this shot. I like it, because I’ve never seen another one like it. Trying to be a photographic pioneer in this day and age is hard, because everybody is trying to do the same thing. I lived very close to Glacier and had photographed in the park for 6 years, so I knew nobody would be there and I’m pleased to have something that is uniquely mine.

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