This remote region on the Canadian border can be a bit frustrating and sometimes expensive to reach, but it’s because of this that Glacier National Park is such an amazing place. Isolated and largely left alone by humans, Glacier National Parks is one of the few places in America that can boast having most of the same wildlife prior to Europeans arriving on the continent. It’s one of two regions of America where Grizzly bears still thrive and home to many other large mammals such as grey wolves, black bears, elk, and mountain goat and sheep. While wildlife is always a challenge to find the spectacular scenery can’t be missed. Beautiful snow covered mountains exist year around, there are plenty of trails to be hiked, rivers to cruise, and endless natural beauty to be explored in all seasons.
Obvious to its name, glaciers are present here in all times of the year. Like most massive sheets of ice these days, the ones in Glacier National Park are also greatly shrinking in size and are on their way to extinction. I visited Glacier in July, and as you can see many of the glaciers were well in tact and there was still snow left over in the upper elevations!
Seeing the Glaciers are one of the highlights to the park, but there are a wide variety of things to do here that can keep you busy for weeks if you had the time. On the left is a man going fishing at a higher elevation, above is a sign I saw while hiking by myself. Grizzly bears are found in abundant numbers here, as a matter of fact there are said to be almost 700 in this park alone! Probably for the best, I didn’t run into any although I’d love to see a wild grizzly.
These two scenes above show the general landscape of Glacier National Park. Extensive mountains and forests that go back as far as you can see. Several of the mountains within the park top 10,000 feet, or 3,000 meters.
Glacier is famous for its “Road to the Sun” which traverses the park right in the center from west to east. This is really the only main road in the park and once I started driving I could see why it got its name. On the left is the stream of cars ascending a steeper part of the drive. On the right is the road traversing the mountain, an area of Glacier known as the Garden Wall.
For those who don’t want to drive their own cars, Glacier does a good job of having its own bus service. Known as the “Red Bus Tours” these tours are essentially shuttles and can take you to some of the best places of the park or even put you with a ranger for a guided hike. There is a good amount of infrastructure here, including several hotels and restaurants, and of course gift shops and ice cream stores!
The lakes in Glacier were crystal clear, but even better the pebbles below were a rainbow of colors. On the left is a photo of some of the colorful rocks just a foot below the surface, on the right is a shot of St. Mary’s Lake in taken in perfect weather. Below are two shots from some of the woodlands in Glacier. Here is where you would found some North American giants like grizzly bears, black bears, elk, deer, grey wolves.
I’ve never been to a national park or wilderness were being on the road itself is enjoyable in itself. In almost every place I can think of the best parts of the trip were always camping, hiking, or just being out in the wilderness. The drive along the Road to the Sun had me pass by several waterfalls along the road and dramatic rock cliffs like these two photos above. One amazing section was lined with glacier run off that created a shower of water on one side of the road. It was like driving through a water park with sprinkles of refreshing cold water getting into the car that felt great on the hot day.
This was one of the first view points I stopped at in the park. The rushing turquoise waters were quite a site. You can see the carved out banks of the river in the upper right photo leaving behind red and black stones. I actually left the viewing area and climbed down towards the banks where it was a little steep. Like a river in Armenia, this river above consumed my lens cap that I dropped.
There is a mountain I’d like to climb in Glacier but I’d need several days to do it and better equipment than I brought with me. I did do a five mile hike. A sign by the trail recommended bringing water, food, sun block, insect repellent and sturdy boots for this hike. Since it was only five miles I brought only my camera, no food, water, sun block, or insect repellent. I also traded hiking boots for $10 flip flops which served me well. The left hand photo is the very beginning of the hike in a dense forest, on the right is a section of the trail that opened up to the sky and was surrounded by thick vegetation. The giant leaves and moss below were also taken in the low level forested parts of Glacier.
The hike I did followed avalanche creek, which I have to admit was boring. The creek quickly turned into a narrow rushing raging river through a tiny canyon it had carved out over thousands of years. You’d need a video to tell have fast this water was, but it was absolutely beautiful and one of the most amazing things I’ve seen! A sign nearby warned about falling in and reiterated how drowning was the number one cause of death in the national park. Above are two photos from Avalanche Creek, below are some close up shots I took while peering down into the water.
At the end of my hike I reached the source of the creek, Avalanche Lake. The lake itself was okay scenery wise, but the mountains and their enormous melting glaciers with waterfalls was the real highlight. Some of these waterfalls are the highest I’ve seen so far in my travels.
I had no idea what these furry creatures were until I looked them up. When I found them outside they looked like some mountain version of a beaver, but they are actually called Hoary Marmots. I saw the pair sunning themselves on some rocks before they climbed up and away.
I was lucky to spot this big horn sheep while he briefly came out of the woods and stood on an exposed section of rock. I saw him from a distance while I was out of my car and jogged up to him and took the two photos above before he took off.
The highlight of my trip to Glacier was definitely the mountain goats I ran into. I came across three of them that were by the Road to the Sun which included an adult male on the left along with a kid seen above. I didn’t want the goats to get offended by my presence and charge into me sending me down the mountain so I kept a good distance. For the most part they seemed to be comfortable with me around. These guys were seen around Logan’s pass which is about 7,000 feet above sea level. This area is actually right where I saw the hoary marmots where there was still quite a bit of snow, especially considering how it was July! Speaking of July, most of these mountain goats had shedded a considerable amount of fur. At first I thought one of them was sick or had lost it from fighting, but all of the older goats were losing fur in their front.
While watching the three goats I noticed several others in the distance that came down to join their friends. They made it down by sliding down the steep snow banks. It was surprising to see the mountain goats do this, since their hooves aren’t very good for this type of terrain I’d imagine, it was hard to imagine how they had adapted so well to steep environments. I enjoyed hanging out with the goats so much that I had to throw an additional four photos here. These two photos so the new arrivals sliding down the mountain. After about 45 minutes the original group I was with decided to go about their journey by descending down the steep rocky mountain. Below on the left you can see the kid protesting the feat in front of it. Like most things in life, the kid soon realized nothing in this world is half as hard as it seems and dove down after his father.
