Glacier Park

“The jewel of the American Park System.” The “Crown of the Continent.” I’ve read and heard so much about Glacier National Park. Would it live up to the accolades?

We postponed our trip to Glacier by a week. We had hoped the cooler weather and precipitation would dampen the tragic fires that had closed much of the park. We tracked the park webcams to gauge visibility. Toward the end of September, we decided to go for it. Because the famed Going To The Sun Road was partially closed, our plan was to go to the west side of the park and then loop around to what we could see on the east.

Glacier National Park was named a national park in 1910. It is in northern Montana near the Canadian border and is the US half of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.  The park is massive — 1600 square miles. It is known for spectacular mountains (including 6 peaks over 10,000 feet), lakes, and diverse wildlife. Of course, Glacier is most famous for its namesake — glaciers. But that might not be the case for long. Scientists are saying that the park’s receding glaciers could all disappear by 2030 — if not sooner!

So, did it live up to the accolades? Take a look, and you tell me.

Our drive from Bozeman to East Glacier gave us hope. Skies seemed clear and the weather looked good.

As we got closer, however, the hills began to disappear in a smokey haze.

Our destination was the Many Glacier area, where we saw our first glaciers!

We stayed at Many Glacier Hotel, a historic hotel built in 1917. The hotel is inside the park and sits at the base of Mount Grinnell on Swift Current Lake.

The cozy Many Glacier lobby.

It poured on our only full day at Many Glacier but we still decided to hike.

Rain makes the colors even more vibrant.

These are rocks you would see on the trails when it’s dry . . .

. . . and this is when they’re wet!

The next day, we took the Go to the Sun Road. We were hoping for sun. Would we see it at the top?

The Go to the Sun Road traverses the park along St. Mary Lake

Tiny Wild Goose Island on St Mary Lake

Sunrift Gorge

Our hike to St. Mary’s Falls took us through some beautiful fall foliage . . .

as well as the beauty of burnt trees from a previous fire.

Despite the burnt trees, there is life.

St. Mary’s Falls hike

St. Mary’s Falls

Jackson Glacier overlook

Jackson Glacier

Almost to the top and we didn’t think we would see the sun at the Road to the Sun

408-foot East Tunnel through the mountain

The road was closed at Logan Pass due to the fires on the other side of the Park. It was cold and icy.

But alas, we saw sun at the top of the Go to the Sun!

We’ve been asked if we saw animals at Glacier. Well, there were many cows grazing right off the side of the road. These particular cows seemed schooled in the art of single file.

At Many Glacier, we did see some big horn sheep on the hill.

Did we see bears? Fortunately, when we were hiking, we did not.

At the end of the Go to the Sun Road, however, we saw a huge grizzly!

It would have been nice if he was a little closer but this is close enough!!!

As we approached West Yellowstone, you could smell and see the smoke.

The west end of the Go to the Sun Road was closed at the base of Lake McDonald.

We stayed in Apgar Village, inside the park and one of the only areas open to the public.

I had always seen lovely pictures of Lake McDonald with it’s colorful rocky bottom.

Lake McDonald

In the distance, we could see the fires, which continued to smolder on the northeast corner of the lake.

Although it was still stunningly beautiful, it reminded us of the fragility of our forests and the force that is nature.