My, oh my. I had forgotten how magical and fantastic Glacier National Park is. What a wonderland! I haven’t been here since 1990, and Bob’s only visit was in 2005, but it is SO worth exploring.
We both love Zion National Park, and it has always been our favorite park, but Glacier is a now a very close second. I believe that Zion is the spiritual heart of America, and it has a very special energy and sense of “being”, but Glacier is raw wilderness, mountain peaks, lakes, waterfalls, rivers and an amazing array of wildlife. There are tons of trails to explore and the exciting trip up to Logan Pass on the thin Going to the Sun Road with only a teensy guardrail on the edge that drops off 3,000 feet to the river below is breathtaking.
Glacier also has at least four (more than most) grand old Lodges built around 1900. I just adore looking at the rare photos they always hang in these lovely old structures built mostly out of huge timbers that sport an oversized fireplace in every main lobby. Bob and I discovered the “special” drinks they serve here that always include huckleberry, so we made it an afternoon tradition to stop at a Lodge for cocktails on the deck in the late afternoon. My favorite is the Huckleberry margarita. Bob fell for the Huckleberry whiskey sour. We bought a bottle of huckleberry syrup in hopes of duplicating these gastronomic delights in the future, so if you visit us, please request one.
If you want to see the glaciers in Glacier, you need to get here soon. They have been receding rapidly for many years now. In 1850 there were 150 glaciers in the park and in 2010 there were only 25. They say that there won’t be any left in the park by 2020 or 2030, depending on how things heat up. What a shame, but it will still have those magnificent mountain peaks and most everything else. Perhaps it will be renamed.
Bob and I got out on a trail or two every day and managed to see several areas of the park. We had lots of close encounters with mountain goats that seemed quite used to people. One jumped down on the rocks right next to us when we were having a snack. What a shock! We also saw a moose in a lake along the trail and two grizzlies having a fun time wrestling and playing in a river. Big horned sheep showed themselves at two different locations, and we saw lots of ground squirrels and a marmot close up too. As usual, there were no sightings of mountain lions or wolves, although they are prevalent here. Several trails were closed because of bears and lions and even more were posted as high use areas. This is the only park I have been in where they recommend bear spray if you are hiking.
The altitude varies from around 3,000 ft to over 8,000 ft. The weather has been quite warm (low 80’s) and not too cold at night. There are several places to overnight in the park and at the West and East entrances, but the area is not too over done or touristy. Another great thing is the Red Busses. These are the same fabric topped busses used in the 1930’s. Ford rebuilt several of them for the Park Service and it is great fun to see them on the roads throughout the park.
While here, we spent an evening at Lake MacDonald watching for shooting stars and we also saw some unexplained flashes of light. Maybe low level lightening in Canada? We just don’t know, but we saw bright flashes of light over the mountains at least a dozen times. We also enjoyed watching the International Space Station fly overhead on two nights. You can find out if it’s visible from your location by going to http.spaceweather.com/flybys/. It’s really fun to watch it come up, go over and out of sight in about three minutes. It is much bigger and brighter than other satellites you see in the night sky. We’ve done this many times in our travels and it’s always fun.
If you can, put Glacier on your list of MUST visit places. It is SO worth it!
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