Glacier Park--Then and Now
Please use this discussion thread to share memories, reflections, commentaries on Glacier Park at 100.
Here are some of my semi-random thoughts:
--My first trip to Glacier was the summer of 1974--driving a blue Nova, tripping and dreading Going-to-the-Sun, getting my lame canvas tent wet in a downpour and running home to Great Falls.
--My first close encounter with a bear came in Glacier--as Terry and I were strolling along a popular hiking trail, we caught sound of something ripping bark--200 yards up the trail, there stood a black bear, tearing away the skin of the tree, looking for insects--we politely left. (What, were you expecting a grizzly story? Glad to disappoint.)
--Best family reunion ever was 1987 (I think) when the Egans gathered at Waterton (Glacier's twin)--memories of my father in a paddle boat with my younger brother Pete with the northern Rockies for a frame--one of my favorite memories of "the old man."
--Making a "park" out of wilderness makes sense from a human and political perspective but not much sense from an ecological or biological perspective. Still, I'm so grateful the Park exists.
--Best to visit Glacier in fall--fewer people, and that slicing northern light edges the peaks.
Here are some of my semi-random thoughts:
--My first trip to Glacier was the summer of 1974--driving a blue Nova, tripping and dreading Going-to-the-Sun, getting my lame canvas tent wet in a downpour and running home to Great Falls.
--My first close encounter with a bear came in Glacier--as Terry and I were strolling along a popular hiking trail, we caught sound of something ripping bark--200 yards up the trail, there stood a black bear, tearing away the skin of the tree, looking for insects--we politely left. (What, were you expecting a grizzly story? Glad to disappoint.)
--Best family reunion ever was 1987 (I think) when the Egans gathered at Waterton (Glacier's twin)--memories of my father in a paddle boat with my younger brother Pete with the northern Rockies for a frame--one of my favorite memories of "the old man."
--Making a "park" out of wilderness makes sense from a human and political perspective but not much sense from an ecological or biological perspective. Still, I'm so grateful the Park exists.
--Best to visit Glacier in fall--fewer people, and that slicing northern light edges the peaks.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clair Leonard on -
I remember the passenger side of the old banger, our Honda Civic, rattling up Going-to-the-Sun. No one prepared me for it and I had sick feeling in pit of my stomach as I looked out over the edge. To put this in perspective, there's really no such thing as mountains in Limerick. At this point I was single and Fall Glacier was stunning. I guess it reminded me a little of the Swiss Alps kind of, without the cows and chocolate.
It's a bit of an annual pilgrimage at this point for the Leonards. Hopefully, this year will be no exception!
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Permalink Reply by Noelle Sullivan on -
I've been turned back twice because of bear sign on Glacier hikes, and it always seems like a miracle that we're allowed to coexist with great beasts. The mountain goats at Logan Pass are quiet models of patience for me. My best Park memories are of counting "waterfalls" on Going-to-the-Sun, walking through the krummholz and tundra at the top, skipping stones in the clear liquid perfection of Lake McDonald, and coming down to hovering wood smoke on the St. Mary side. Dreaming of distant icefields....I hope to get my family there this summer.
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Permalink Reply by Ken Egan on -
Attended an excellent conference on Glacier National Park's Centennial yesterday in Kalispell--beautiful drive along Flathead Lake--learned that much of the Park's infrastructure was an invention of the Great Northern Railroad--ah, those railroads, what a time they had in Montana. . . . Still, give me Going-to-the-Sun on a warm September afternoon
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