Glacier National Park

I spent the better part of three days (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) in Glacier National Park and never once saw the sky anything but half covered in clouds. For most of my duration, the clouds blocked out the sun entirely and wheezed freezing, microscopic droplets. Temperatures hovered in the 40s and 50s; the mist made it feel colder.

Not ideal weather, but typical--an appropriate way to experience Glacier National Park in all its regal, rugged mountain splendor. Especially considering it cleared up considerably on Friday, the first day of the year Going-to-the-Sun Road, the mountainside highway across Logan Pass, was open.

Glacier is a battlefield between the forces of rock and ice. The mountains are still standing but have been scoured by rivers of ice thousands of feet thick. The ice ripped off mountainsides, whittled peaks down to narrow ridges, and dug deep lakes sheltering once-frozen water. The war rages on.

I entered Glacier from the west early Wednesday afternoon. The clouds were lowering, but hadn't fully settled atop the mountain peaks. I explored Johns Lake, McDonald Creek, and Avalanche Lake, via a two mile hike past the Garden Wall to a secluded pool encircled by steep mountains. By then, the clouds had settled in and the trail was drenched.

After spending Wednesday night at a hotel in Kalispell due to the lingering rain, I drove to the east side of the park on Thursday. Here I had a piece of huckleberry pie and visited the Two Medicine and Many Glaciers areas of the park for some wet hiking into the glorious mountains. I camped in Many Glacier on a chilly, drizzly Thursday night.

On Friday, I got up early, drove to see Chief Mountain, a lone, monolithic peak near the border with Canada, then headed for the St. Mary area of the park. I hiked the Siyeh Bend trail beneath Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. The trail has an overlook of one of the park's few remaining glaciers. Then I steered myself towards Going-to-the-Sun Road.

The road was open but wet and snowy. Driving it is an unforgettable, heart-palpitating rush as you steal split-second glances at the lofty peaks just beyond the road's edge.

Even though the blustery weather wasn't the most comfortable, it provided spectacle. The rushing waters conjured a feeling of life all around the cold hard stone. Swollen, careening rivers. Skyscraper-high waterfalls. Sunken, soggy trails. As if the mountain itself were thawing out and coming alive.

I'm glad I was there to see it.


West Glacier

East Glacier

Two Medicine

Many Glacier

Chief Mountain

St. Mary Lake

Going-to-the-Sun Road