Blogs from Glacier National Park, Montana, United States, North America - page 16

Today we had a few hikes to do around the wonders of Glacier National Park. We got up early, ate breakfast and headed for Glacier National Park to hike. When we arrived there were plenty of people around ready to go hiking and there were also mountain goats roaming around. We started the hike but without Jon. Tour groups weren’t allowed in the National Park unless they were with an official tour guide, so for the duration of the hike we pretended we didn’t know Jon. The hike just went through a massive valley where glaciers once were a very long time ago. We were told to hike until we get to a lake which we did but we could only see it from a distance we were still very high. We took some photos and ... read more

After breakfast at the campsite we started up Going-to-the-Sun Road. We climbed up to Logan Pass, through some of the most outstanding scenery we have seen so far. The very narrow roadway with the sheer drop-off of hundreds of feet on the passengers side made me very nervous and queasy. The road clings to the side of the rocky mountains and Dave was nervous when we kept seeing “Fallen Rock” areas. We passed the Triple Arches and the Weeping Wall, which in the spring can get drivers really wet. When we reached Logan Pass, we hiked to Hidden Lake, 3 miles round-trip. We saw longhorn sheep (brown with spiral horns) and a family of mountain goats (white with black horns). We saw littler creatures including, ground squirrel and a mouse that looks a jack rabbit. ... read more

Passing through North Dakota on our way to Montana, we stopped at a small hamlet called Rugby. Rugby has been declared the "exact geographical center of north america" and proudly displays this title with a big stone monuement. It also happens to be the site of a little restaurant that sells toe jam (a delightful jam made of nearly every fruit under the sun...yum!). And then...a couple of days drive later...we arrived in Glacier National Park. Glacier is HUGE...and is an International Peace Park because it is joined with Canada as well. It's the home of enormous "U" shaped valleys, gigantic Rocky Mountains, and of course, glaciers. The Rockies here weren't just caused by the continental divide...they were carved out by the glaciers 10,000 years ago as well. The glaciers melted into the large and immensely ... read more

Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park. Wyoming As we left South Dakota and entered Wyoming we came across a new type of landscape, gone were the flat never ending corn fields and prairies and we began to climb into high country. We were both very excited about this part of our trip, looking forward to seeing national parks and being amongst mountains again. We also noticed that we left behind the ubiquitous clusters of strip malls and gargantuan stores that we saw throughout the mid west. The Walmarts, Targets, chain supermarkets and drug stores were replaced by small town businesses in town centres. Our first adventure in the mountains was spending 2 nights in Yellowstone National Park (by the time we got there my Jellystone and Yogi Bear jokes had worn ... read more

Glacier National Park is located in northwestern Montana along the Canadian border, and consists of some 1,600 square miles of mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, and, of course, glaciers (over 50 of them). It became our 10th National Park in 1910. In 1891 the Great Northern Railway had crossed the continental divide at nearby Marias Pass, opening the region to settlers, miners, and inevitably tourists. Seeing the potential of the area’s breathtaking beauty, the railroad promoted the region and built a series of lodges across the area connected by primitive trails. Tourists would travel on horseback, staying overnight in the lodges. To make the park more accessible, in the early 1920’s a project was undertaken to construct a 50-mile road across the heart of the Park, crossing the continental divide at Logan Pass. When completed in ... read more