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| Saint Mary Lake Montana |
The Going-to-the-Sun Road, located on the eastern side of the park, runs parallel to the Saint Mary Lake along its northern shore. At 4,484 feet (1,367 m), Lake Saint Mary's water is colder and nearly 1,500 feet (460 m) higher than Lake McDonald, the largest lake in the park, which sits on the western side of the continental coast. Here the Great Plains end and the Rocky Mountains begin with a dramatic 5,000 feet (1,500 m) vertical drop, with Little Chief Mountain being a formidable southern slope above the western end of the lake.
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| Saint Mary Lake Montana |
The Saint Mary Lake is 9.9 miles (15.9 km) long and 300 feet (91 m) deep and covers an area of 3,923 acres (15.88 km 2 ). The lake rarely rises above 50 ° F (10 ° C) and is home to a variety of trout species. In winter, the lake is often completely covered with ice up to 4 feet (1.2 m) thick. The opening scene in the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film The Shining was shot in Saint Mary. Wild Goose Island rises only 4.3 m above the lake. The island is overshadowed by the lake and the surrounding mountains, but it is one of the most photographed locations on the Walk to the Sun Road.