Blogs from East Glacier Park, Montana, United States, North America

THE BASICS We traveled from Butte to Helena to Missoula, Montana, then left the cities to drive up to Glacier National Park. We had a wonderful time at Glacier!! THE FLUFF We drove to Helena from Butte, the "richest hill in the world" (people out West tend to speak in superlatives), because we were planning to travel up the eastern side of Glacier NP. But people we encountered convinced us to go to the west side of Glacier, so we went a bit southwest from Helena to Missoula en route. Helena is quite charming, as well as having the impressive large buildings of a state capital. We again took a bus tour of the city, and enjoyed it. Helena is quite hilly, and a gulch runs through the center of the town. It is named "Last ... read more

About an hour down the road from Waterton Park is Glacier National Park. In 1932 these parks became the first International Peace Park celebrating the world’s longest undefended boarder in the world. In the 1970’s they were designated Biosphere Reserves and in 1995 a World Heritage site. After settling in at the St. Mary’s campground, we went to the Many Glacier Hotel. This hotel holds some of my most treasured memories. Surrounded by mountains on the shores of Swift Current Lake this is Swiss-styled chalet was built in early 1900’s. David and I came here on our honey moon nearly 31 years ago. We had my parent's car and tent trailer and had planned on staying in the nearby campground. However, there was a bear in the area and no soft-sided trailers were allowed. So, we ... read more

After the rigors of the Crypt Lake hike, we needed an easier day and got it on our drive back into the USA to the Glacier National Park area. Heading south from Canada, we encountered Chief Mountain again from the north side, giving us a much different perspective. This 9080' mountain is composed of limestone that is much older than the underlying gray shale. This occurred as part of the Lewis overthrust when Precambrian rocks were forced by tectonic forces over the 1400 million year young shale, forming the Rocky front that extends from Montana to Alberta. Erosion removed much of the surrounding rock, leaving the surrounding tower we now see. It has long been considered a sacred place by the native Blackfeet indians of the area. The very difficult climb was first made by a ... read more