GLACIER NATIONAL PARK – PART I

July, 2019

We’ve raved about National Parks in the blogs you’ve been so kind to read.  We’ve provided pictures as a means to document the magnificent, majestic and beautiful geography and topography, flora and fauna we’ve seen.  Not always about National Parks, the blog has become our journal of adventures no matter where the road has taken us.

Zion, Arches, Capitol Reef and Yellowstone are, in our opinion, the best of the best.  Next in line is – and in no particular order – Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Saguaro, Joshua Tree and Big Bend National Parks during this part of our journey started so long ago, and the Great Smoky Mountains and Yosemite National Parks from the recent past.  In total we’ve visited 29 of the 46 National Parks in the contiguous United States, and we wouldn’t have missed a one.  We just have our favorites.

We thought that Glacier National Park would be something special…at least that’s what “everyone” who has been there has told us.  The National Park Service calls Glacier NP “one of the crown jewels of the National Park system,” and the Park is not shy about its fame, importance and eminence either – calling itself the “Crown of the Continent.”  Pretty heady press to live up to!

We visited Glacier Bay during a trip to Alaska a bunch of years ago, and we found out that glaciers in the Bay grew from the middle out creating a pressure on the “cliff face.”  Eventually the pressure becomes so great that, with a sound like a gun shot, massive chunks of ice split off of the glacier and float away on the tides as the icebergs they are.

Glaciers are accumulations of ice and snow compacted and persistent over time, and, by the way, because of their weight, are, albeit very, very slowly, constantly moving.  Glaciers form when the accumulation of snow exceeds its melting and absorption rate back into the atmosphere and refreezes as ice, often over centuries.  To be glacial the snow/ice pack must be at least 25 acres in size (that’s 22.5 football fields with the endzones included!) and it must have a depth of at least 100 feet.  Smaller snow/ice packs do not have the size or depth to meet the constantly in motion criteria; i.e., they are not glaciers.

By the way – the water within The Park is particularly blue (Barbara says it’s a beautiful shade of teal) because glacial movement grinds rocks and stones into a sediment that mixes with glacial ice melt and feeds the rivers, pool, and lakes .

Glacier National Park was created in 1910, and at the time 150 glaciers were documented within the Park.  Today the number totals less than 30.  Fear has existed that the glaciers would disappear from the Park between 2030 and 2080, but the Park Service, with the help of the USGS have determined that several of the present day glaciers have actually begun growing.

What did “everyone” say was so wonderful?  Well, Going to the Sun Road and Logan Pass, Lake McDonald Lake and Lodge, and St. Mary Lake were tops of the list, and, oh yeah, “everyone” was sure we’d see bear, big horn sheep and rocky mountain goats…maybe even moose.

Contiguous with Glacier NP to the north is Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, and we were told, if we had time and our passports that its pretty cool to take a boat ride on Upper Waterton Lake from Waterton Park to Goat Haunt…from Canada to the US – all within Glacier NP.

The village of West Glacier was our access point into The Park.  There are approximately 30 miles from Kalispell to Glacier NP, and we enjoyed passing through the small communities of Columbia Falls and (smaller still) Hungry Horse, Montana on our way.  West Glacier is a place for a quick bite to eat, souvenirs, and to stop for snacks and water before entering The Park.  We showed our geezer passes at the entry fee station, obtained our map and Park newspaper and drove just a little more than 2 miles to the Apgar Village Visitors Center.

As we’ve written before it’s well worth the effort to stop at the Visitors Center, take a look at the displays, examine the range, time and dates of available Ranger talks, see what special events may be taking place in the Park during your visit (night sky?), and to spend time planning your visit.  If you let the Rangers know how long you’ll be visiting and what physical limitations you might have they will help you maximize your stay.  In our case and with 5 days to spend in Glacier NP the Ranger we spoke with recommended taking a day to drive the entire length of Going to the Sun Road and stopping along the way to enjoy the views from the many parking spots along the road’s 50 miles.  Hiking the Avalanche Lake, Rocky Point, Trail of the Cedars, Grinnel Glacier Viewpoint and Hidden Lake Overlook trails were also recommended.  By hiking those particular trails we’d have a chance to view the many climates and ecosystems in The Park.  We also planned on an all-day excursion with the renowned red bus tours (more on that later).

After visiting with the Rangers we felt a need to stretch our legs and do a bit of a warm-up before jumping into something more strenuous.  There is a 1.5 mile hike from the Apgar Visitors Center along a paved path (as long as you follow it!) that took us through a pine forest, along the Middle Fork Flathead River, and past some pretty nice wildflowers.

After 11 years of construction Going to the Sun Road opened in 1932, and it is a 50-mile miracle of the Civilian Conservation Corps’ work.  Going to the Sun Road heads north from the Apgar Visitor’s Center, traveling along Lake McDonald before gaining an elevation of 3300 feet, arriving at Logan Pass.  During the ascent there is only 1 switchback and 1 tunnel, and the edge at the most dangerous curves is protected by 2-3 foot walls that have stood since completion of the road.  There is a sharp turn south at Logan Pass before the decent turns northeast and leaves The Park at St. Mary.

Winter snows average 10-12 feet annually; however, with avalanches and neverendinginthewinterblowinganddriftingsnows, snow depths have been recorded up to 80 feet in some locations along Going to the Sun Road.  Typically the road closes the 3rd week in October.  Opening is uncertain and absolutely weather dependent.  At best the road opens sometime in mid-June, but late June to early July is not unusual.  Beginning sometime in the spring, snowplows begin working from the St. Mary and West Glacier entrances and meet at Logan Pass to officially open the road.  However, there is no guarantee of the road staying open since a June or July snowstorm is not uncommon and may temporarily delay opening, causing re-closure until the snow is removed.  So off we went – a little rain, but no snow!!  Here’s what we saw and thought was worth a picture….

About half a mile from Logan Pass we were surprised to encounter Rocky Mountain Goats, still cloaked for winter, enjoying their breakfast.

Whew!  1st half of Going to the Sun Road completed.  Time for a break at Logan Pass…

…A small herd of Big Horn Sheep came down the slope to grab a bite to eat and to pose for a picture or 2.  Talk about timing!

It’s downhill from Logan Pass to St. Mary and when passing the next turnout Barbara happened to notice a furry animal beneath one of the parked cars.  When Brian took a quick look he saw a single low to the ground brown and white coated mammal with clawed paws and what he thought were stripes on the head.  Could this be the elusive wolverine? Nah – it turned out to be a marmot.  By the way, marmots are rodents – large ground squirrels, just cooler looking.

Honestly, the Going to the Sun Road on the east side of the Park is not as harrowing to drive, nor are the views as spectacular as they are on the west side.  Don’t get us wrong though, we loved the east side of the Park as well.  More to come…

Operating within the theory of “might as well get the toughest and nastiest out of the way (?)” we decided to start our hiking in Glacier NP by challenging ourselves to complete the Grinnell Glacier Viewpoint Trail.  The trail is usually a 10.2 mile roundtrip hike with an elevation gain of almost 2,600 feet – yeah a little less than a half mile up, up, and up. However, there was dangerous snowpack right around the 3.5 mile marker, and the trail was not open beyond that point to us mortal and amateur hikers…this knocked off a few miles and became one 7-mile strenuous hike.

Grinnell Glacier Viewpoint Trail is located in Many Glacier, a part of The Park that has its own entrance.  Since we were camped south and west of The Park, and we entered from West Glacier Village the easiest way for us to get to the trailhead was to drive the entire Going to the Sun Road, leave the Park at St. Mary, travel through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation north for 9 miles and re-enter the Park at the Many Glacier entrance.  Really!  Sounds more complicated than it was, and seemed a pretty cool way to go since we thought it would give us a second chance to see more of the magnificent views we had experienced the day before.  However, and about 2/3’s of the way up to Logan Pass, the morning’s low hanging clouds remained, and driving through the clouds gave us an incredible otherworldly adventure.

The kick-ass tiring hike was glorious with views of the Glacier and Grinnel Lake, as well as fields and fields of beautiful wildflowers to see along the way.  We had heard from other hikers that a mother bear and 2 cubs and a moose were sighted at the top of the climb, but alas and alack each had moved on by the time we arrived.

Since the late 1930’s Red Bus tours have been giving visitors to Glacier National Park an opportunity to learn about the Park from experienced guides.  There are half-day tours for each of the west and east sides of the Park, as well as a full-day tour encompassing the entire Going to the Sun Road and Many Glacier.  The fleet was originally built by the White Motor Company, and the buses are open-air extended passenger vehicles with a reinforced chasis and suspension that hold up to 17 passengers.  The fleet has been entirely restored, and, with the help of Ford Motor Company, they are now going through a gradual conversion from burning gasoline to an environmentally friendly hybrid engine.

This isn’t one of those “canned” trips on a “get here from there vacation with the Griswolds” schedule.  Each guide is also your driver, and brings his or her own personality to the tour.  The drivers are called jammers because back in the day of clutches and shifting gears, one had to jam the shifter when changing gears.  Our guide, Jammer Karl, was more than willing to share parts of his life, his own experiences of working and living within Glacier NP, and took the time to know his passengers well enough to ensure a personal experience.  Turns out Jammer Karl’s from Indiana and wouldn’t you know that he, Barbara and I have chewed the same turf along the way!

Our all-day tour traversed the Going to the Sun Road and made long enough stops at Lake McDonald and Many Glacier Lodge, Logan Pass, Saint Mary Lodge and Resort, and the most photographed location along Saint Mary Lake to stretch our legs, use the facilities, grab some snacks and slow down just a bit before continuing our tour.  We stopped along the way at points of interest – chances for us to learn about what we were seeing.  Karl answered our questions, pointed out glaciers, told us tales and facts about the Park (e.g.: Going to the Sun Road is named after an ancient tribe’s Chief), made bad jokes, and gave us permission to “prairie dog” (pop up to take pictures), and take up song when the mood struck.  Luckily our fellow passengers had as warped a sense of humor as Brian, and responded to Karl as well as each others with laughs and on-going banter.

After driving Going to the Sun Road west to east, and then heading to Many Glacier Hotel for lunchtime we started back to the Apgar Visitors Center.  This meant that we’d start by traveling the east side of the Park…remember we mentioned that the road was not as harrowing to drive, and that the views aren’t as spectacular as they are on the west side?  Well, that doesn’t include animal viewing…yup, a bear, and then a rather large herd of Big Horned Sheep.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day, and while we had seen many of the sites on the tour before our tour, what we learned enhanced our experience of the Park.  We highly recommend that if you have the chance to visit Glacier National Park, take an all-day red bus tour.

Bleary-eyed?  Take a breath before heading into our Glacier National Park Blog Part II.

Barbara and Brian