Glacier National Park was founded in 1910, and sits up in northern Montana and borders Canada. It’s over 1 million acres and covers two mountain ranges, 130 lakes, dozens of (melting) glaciers and hundreds of lakes.

CROWN OF THE CONTINENT

Last summer, before we left on our big road trip, someone at a party told me that they thought Glacier National Park, is more impressive than Yosemite. I’ve also heard a few Alaskans say Glacier is prettier than Alaska. Needless to say, we were really excited to go.

When we arrived, I found Glacier to look like a storybook or a painting. Almost unreal. The scale is huge. The crystal clear glacier rivers and lakes reflected the mountains and sky. The river run fast and deep and clear. It almost looks like CGI, with everything just slightly exaggerated.

Raging streams.

We arrived in Glacier the 1st week in June, and the snow and ice was still melting at the higher elevations. Going-to-the-Sun Road, the legendary 50 mile drive through the middle (and top) of Glacier was mostly still closed because they were still clearing snow. We were able to drive up the first 17 mile and go hike before we had to turn around.

We were disappointed that we couldn’t drive the whole road, but we decided to come back someday so we could see it all. My mom and her husband recently bought an RV named Honey and plan to tour the US in 2015. We might come back and meet them in Montana.

Jonathan and I hiking at Glacier National Park.

It seems like a lot of people are unaware of Glacier National Park. It’s not a household name like Yellow Stone or Yosemite. I think part of the reason in that it is so far north and off the beater path. Less people probably make it up there. You don’t stumble across it driving cross country, like many of the national parks.

We came across a lot of wildlife. We were really this close to the deer, I wasn’t zooming in on the photo.

Watch my instagram video of the river.

Glaciers Melting & Climate Change

My favorite thing about Glacier was watching the water come rushing down narrow creeks and rivers towards from the glaciers down to the calm lakes. It was impressive, the sound, the speed of the water, how clear the raging water was, the turbulence. But that thing I loved so much is partially a product of climate change. The raging waters are melted glaciers.

It is well documented that the glaciers at Glacier National Park are quickly retreating and disappearing. They say some may last for a few decades longer, but they are going quickly, within our lifetime. The Park Service has decided that it will still be called Glacier National Park even after all the glaciers have melt.

Getting back to my roots.

We ate a ton of huck turnovers at Polebridge Mercantile, a general store & bakery deep in the forest. It’s over 100 year old and on the National Registry of Historic Places. No cell phone reception.

Have you been to Glacier National Park? What was your favorite part?