Saint Mary Falls

Saint Mary Falls is a striking two-tiered, 35-foot waterfall tucked into one of Glacier National Park's most scenic valleys, surrounded by jagged peaks, dense vegetation, and wildflowers that add color to your foreground in summer. The falls have a natural viewing platform area where you can shoot straight on to capture both tiers in a single frame; a wide angle lens in the 16-24mm range works well to pull in the surrounding canyon walls and give the scene scale. Polarizing filters help cut glare and deepen the greens in the lush foliage. Midday light can be harsh, so aim for overcast conditions or early morning when the canyon walls diffuse the light evenly. The trailhead sits just off Going-to-the-Sun Road and the roughly three-mile round trip is well worth it; continuing to Virginia Falls nearby makes for an efficient shooting day. (Glacier National Park, Montana, United States)