"Glacier National Park is a Pure Jewel!" - Time Out #140

The state nickname, Big Sky Country, is absolutely intoxicating to the traveling brain; specifically, my traveling brain.

I have been very fortunate over the years to have visited wild and beautiful Montana several times, both to enjoy its incredible beauty, and to visit my close professional friend, Ron, and his family. Ron is retired now, and lives in the state's largest city, Billings, and we continue to make certain we enjoy each other's company at least once per year.

One of our favorite Montana haunts is magnificent Glacier National Park, located in the far northwestern part of his huge state, and adjacent to Canada, both British Columbia and Alberta provinces.

The first time I visited this absolute icon member of the National Park Service (NPS), our family of five spent about a week there, covering most of the park's vast expanse that is accessible by a motorized vehicle. We stayed in several historic places within the park, which enabled us to gain invaluable experiences seeing the land, wildlife and learning first-hand about its colorful history. The next time my bride, Debbie, and I visited Glacier, Ron and I attended a medical meeting, accompanied by our spouses. We stayed just a few miles west of the West Glacier entrance to the park, in the lovely community of Whitefish, population 6,357. Our meeting was held in the impressive Grouse Mountain Lodge, where we also stayed. We had plenty of time to enjoy the park on that particular trip, when we not attending medical meetings.

Glacier National Park comprises over one million acres in size. It was made a national park in 1910. and receives about 2.2 million visitors per year. True to its name, the park contains 25 glaciers, and about 750 lakes. With all its varied and abundant wildlife, plant life and incredible scenery, Glacier begs visitors to experience some of its 700 miles of hiking trails and/or more than 60 scattered campsites for backpacking.

The absolute highlight feature of this park's adventure is its 50-mile, narrow 2-lane highway, famously-named, Going-to-the-Sun Road. This engineering marvel crosses the Continental Divide at an altitude of 6.646-feet (at Logan Pass), and the road took over 10 years to complete Some of the construction had to cut out steep mountainsides, certainly an incredible feat accomplished when the road was officially dedicated in 1933. If driving in your personal vehicle over this precarious road isn't to your liking, you may choose to ride in one of the classic 1930's Red Jammers, signature extended motor coaches for the park. Like several other national parks now, Glacier also provides both one-way and round-trip shuttle service from 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m., complimentary, with the park admission charge of $30 per vehicle. Many naturalist-led activities and orientation talks are conducted several times daily at Logan Pass, and on my personal observation, it is an excellent place to see the beautiful white mountain goats (official symbol of the park), and other animals in their pristine alpine setting. The entire road drive may be made in 2 hours without stopping, but because of the sheer beauty on the route, one may easily take a half day or more to enjoy all Mother Nature has to offer during this forever memorable experience.

Our family's first in-park overnight lodging experiences were in the isolated far northeast side of the park, in the Many Glacier Region. Over several days, we stayed in the motel-like Swiftcurrent Lodge property, then later in the nearby majestic Many Glacier Lodge. This historic lodge overlooks the beautiful, cold, glacier-fed lake. Our children enjoyed boating on the lake. Fishing is allowed in the myriad of lakes within the park. No fishing licenses are required, and the regulations are available in the park's several visitor centers.

While we were staying in the Many Glacier area, we made a day trip north (seeing memorable Chief Mountain), crossing the international border into Alberta, Canada. Once there, we visited Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park. This park's crowning human feature is the impressive Prince of Wales Hotel. located high above the expansive Waterton Lake below. We had a delicious lunch in the hotel's restaurant, while enjoying the breathtaking views out their large glass windows. Together, this pair of U.S. and Canadian parks are called the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the world's first such designated park in 1930.

Later in our initial stay at Glacier, we spent several nights at the historic Lake McDonald Lodge, constructed on Lake McDonald, the park's largest lake at 10 miles long and 1 mile wide. One afternoon there, we enjoyed a narrated, educational cruise on this pristine lake, We also enjoyed ranger-led activities in this area on the western side of the continental divide within the park.

Three park visitor centers are located at St, Mary at the eastern park entrance and just off the large Blackfeet Indian Reservation, at Logan Pass, and at the park headquarters in Apgar at the western park entrance. Additional in-park overnight accommodations are available at the Apgar Village Lodge on the western side, and the towering Glacier Park Lodge on the eastern side at East Glacier Park. This memorable structure was the first hotel (1913) constructed by the Great Northern Railroad, and in its lobby are many towering floor-to-ceiling timbers.

Choose a transportation method to get to Glacier National Park; 1,630 miles to drive, Amtrak goes there from either Chicago, Seattle or Portland, Oregon, or scheduled commercial airline service is available to nearby Kalispell, Montana.

The choice is yours, then GO!!!