Glacier National Park was
established as the country's
10th national park in 1910. The
park covers an area of
approximately 1.4 million acres
of wilderness and boasts some of
the most beautiful scenery in
the entire western United
States. Although the park is
open year round, because of
weather concerns spring and
summer are the most popular
times to visit. The peak visitor
season is June through
September.
Glacier National Park is one of
the largest and most intact
ecosystems in North America.
There are over fifty glaciers
within the park, thus the name.
There are also over 200 lakes
and streams in Glacier National
Park. The largest lake is Lake
Macdonald, and the various
streams and river hold nice
populations of wild trout. There
are also over 730 miles of
trails for hikers to enjoy
within Glacier National Park.
For those of you that are
hikers, glacier is the place to
be. Just don't forget your
fishing rods and your bear
spray. Most of the park is very
remote, and there are grizzly
bears within the park. Better
safe than sorry, that's what we
say.
The park is divided from east to
west by Going-to-the-Sun road.
It's a spectacular drive, and if
you go once you'll realize where
the road got its name. Bisecting
the heart of the park, this
fifty mile long road hugs the
shores of the parks two largest
lakes and then goes right below
the cliffs of the Continental
Divide as it traverses Logan
Pass. The lakes that you will
pass are home to wild lake,
cutthroat, and rainbow trout.
Many of the other lakes within
Glacier National Park are
accessible by hiking on the
various trails throughout the
park. If you're looking for more
information on the trails, there
are visitor centers that have
maps throughout the park to help
you. Glacier Park Inc. operates
a daily shuttle service along
this road from July 1st to Labor
Day weekend.
The construction of
Going-to-the-Sun road was quite
a project. To this day visitors
marvel at how this road could
have been built. The entire
project took 11 years of work
and was completed in 1932.
Going-to-the-Sun road is still
considered an engineering feat
and is a National Historic
Landmark. All we know is that
the construction of the road
changed the way visitors
experience Glacier National Park
forever. You've truly got to see
it to believe it.
The glaciers that you find in
Glacier National Park today are
all geologically new, having
formed in the last few thousand
years. Presently, all of the
glaciers within Glacier National
Park are shrinking. In other
words, more snow melts each year
than accumulates each winter. As
the climate has changed over the
last two million years, glaciers
have formed and melted away many
times. So at the end of the day,
this process is as it should be.
At this time this process leaves
us all with a jewel. A jewel
named Glacier National Park
Just across the Canadian Border
is Waterton Lakes National Park
in Canada. In 1931, members of
the rotary clubs of both Alberta
and Montana suggested joining
the two parks as a symbol of the
peace and friendship between the
two countries. In 1932, that's
exactly what happened. As if we
weren't already friendly with
our neighbors to the north? But
in any case in 1932 the
governments made it official.
Now to the international
community the collective parks
are designated as the Waterton-Glacier
International Peace Park. But
for our purposes it is still
known as Glacier National Park.
.
