Glacier National Park. If you love the outdoors, spectacular scenery, cool mountain air and being in the heart of primeval nature at its grandest, then you should visit Glacier National Park, a nationally designated wilderness area that is the ideal vacation destination for people just like you.
Glacier National Park is a vast pristine ecosystem encompassing two mountain ranges. Take an unforgettable drive on Going-to-the-Sun Road (the main parkway traversing the park) and treat yourself to some of the most spectacular mountain scenery you will ever have the privilege to view.
The park has 131 named lakes, and 700 smaller ones, with Lake McDonald and St. Mary lakes being the largest. Towering mountain ranges, numerous waterfalls, thousands of plant species, and abundant wildlife, (among other species, the park is the home of bears, wolves, deer, squirrels, big horn sheep and mountain goats,) all combining to make Glacier National Park an unforgettable scenic paradise.
Although the park was named for the once more than 150 glaciers that covered vast areas of the park as recently as a century ago, less than 30 remain today. Glacier National Park borders the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Colombia and is located to the north of Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta and the Flathead Provincial Forest and Akamina –Kishinena Provencial Park in British Colombia. The north fork of the Flathead River forms the park’s western boundary. To the park’s south is the one million acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, one of the most remote and primitive forested areas in the continental United States, and the home of some of the largest populations of Grizzly bears in the country.
Athough the park is a campers and hikers paradise, with over 700 miles of hiking trails, as well as a region of great opportunity for fishing, canoeing, picture-taking and wild life observation, the weather can be fickle, and even dangerous to visitors at times, despite the fact that visitation is primarily during spring and summer months. Exceptionally heavy snowfall and frigid temperatures make winter visits impractical, but summer weather, although much more hospitable, and even refreshing – temperatures average in the 50’s and 60’s and occasionally much higher during the day, dependent upon elevation, and can drop into the low 40s or less during the evenings, again dependent upon elevation – can suddenly turn threatening, with thunderstorms accompanied by substantial downpours and even hail, not an unusual occurrence.
Visitors to the park who prefer a lodge or motor inn to a campsite will find numerous accommodations throughout the area, but park officials advise making reservations prior to arriving as these accommodations fill up fast during the summer.
Glacier National Park visitor information, including campground availability data, can be obtained by contacting:
Glacier National Park
PO Box 128
West Glacier, Montana 59936
Tel: 406-888-7800
Admission: $25/per vehicle – annual pass $35
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Sounds like a great place to visit – you’ve talked me into a future trip…..