Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park, established in 1910, was nicknamed the Crown of the Continent, by the co-founder of the Audubon Society, George Grinell. Glacier National Park in America, and Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, connect together at the 49th parallel, the border of the US and Canada, to form the first International Peace Park World Heritage Site. This is also a geographical point of interest as the park is split East and West by the Continental Divide. Waters from here flow to the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson Bay. In a few miles you can travel from lush cedar/hemlock forest through alpine meadows to the edge of western prairies.

The park planners devised for one main road to travel from East to West through the park, leaving vast untouched wilderness areas. The Going to the Sun Road was completed on July 15, 1933, after more than two decades of planning and construction. We had been looking forward to driving this historic roadway, but it was not completely plowed and opened yet for the 2021 Season. Because of the Alpine section of the road being buried every year by massive amounts of snow, the work required to reopen the road is enormous. Snow plows work for months to clear the road and cranes are brought in to reinstall the guard rails which are removed each year to avoid avalanche damage.  We were only able to access short stretches of the park from the west and east sides of the park.  Driving around the park to the east side, made for a really long day. Even driving to the west side was a long day due to staying about an hour away from the west park entrance.

West Entrance

Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake

 Our first day to visit Glacier, we awoke about 4:30 am to be on the road by about 5:00 am. We hoped to arrive at the park by about 6:30 to avoid some crowds.  We got through the gates without much traffic as planned, and headed out toward Avalanche Lake, which has limited parking.  Due to the fact that the road was closed at Avalanche Campground because of the snow plowing activity further on, the campground was closed and they were using it as overflow day use parking. This was the most popular trailhead open from the west gate, so the crowds were already large.

Trail of the Cedars is an easy loop trail on a boardwalk, which leads to the trailhead for Avalanche Lake Trail. The trail follows the course of the Avalanche Creek through beautiful dense forests with fern and moss growing along trickling water courses at the base of the trees. Suddenly we came to an area where there were many hundreds of trees downed. We learned that this was the result of an avalanche years ago.  We could see how new growth was slowly filling in the devastated area. It was quite amazing to see that all these large trees had been uprooted so easily.

Avalanche Lake

As we came close to our destination of Avalanche Lake the forest had given way to tropical looking plants, it looked like we had suddenly arrived in Hawaii! As we rounded another turn in the trail the  lakeshore opened before us! Stunning!

 

A little surprise at the shore of Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park! Play the video above to see this deer come to within a few feet of Lori!

 

 

Lake MacDonald Lodge

The view of Lake McDonald from the Apgar harbor at the south west end of the lake provided views of beautiful distant mountains and reflections in the lake bordered by smooth colorful stones.

 

East Side: St. Mary and Two Medicines

On our second day-trip to Glacier we drove all the way around the south side of the park via Highway 2, and then up the east side to the St Mary entrance. Here the Going the Sun Road was open to Jackson Glacier overlook. We took a hike to St. Mary Falls, with views of St. Mary Lake opening below us as we descended from the roadway.

 

We walked through the charred skeletons of still standing trees which had been destroyed by the Reynolds Creek fire in 2015; the fallen logs surrounding us were silvery and black reminders of the fire that consumed this area. The stream side valley is now filled with huckleberry plants and wildflowers and new trees growing up around their charred ancestors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a mile and a half hike we arrived at a log bridge which crossed in front of the St. Mary Falls. The power of this great amount of water flowing through a boulder lined drop of about 35 feet was like a physical force around us as it passed below our feet. The water flowing down stream was a beautiful glacial blue hue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our hike we drove to a scheduled boat tour at Two Medicine Lake, arriving just in time to board the historic boat, Sinopah, which had a full restoration last year when the park was closed. We enjoyed a narrated cruise to the opposite end of the lake where we began another hike to a waterfall...actually to Twin Falls, where the water course is divided by a stack of boulders so that two waterfalls come crashing down side by side at the trail's end! 

 

 

 

Someday we will have to return to Glacier National Park to see the parts that were not open to us now! You may remember from our previous post that we said that years ago about Yellowstone! These National Parks are hard to see completely in one visit, even when you plan several days. But, what we did see was amazing!

A special thanks to our friends Bob and Kelly, who allowed us to stay at their beautiful Amen Ranch in Lakeside Montana during this week! 

We finished out our week in Montana by attending Calvary Chapel Kalispell, where we had a great Father's Day service. Levi Lusko and his wife did a great team teaching from the book of Micah, "Walk Humbly with Your God", a great lesson in how to live life!
 

We will be heading out to Idaho this next week, visiting our friends Duff and Bonita. We will fly home on the 25th of June and be home for five days before resuming our Adventures on the Road! Hope to see you soon!