We arrived in Glacier National Park and took a walk on a trail that ended at a fabulous lake: Avalanche!
August 16, 2012
Glacier.
We arrived in Glacier National Park and took a walk on a trail that ended at a fabulous lake: Avalanche!
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I don't see any glaciers?
Beautiful. It must have taken your breath away to see it.
Hope you'll have a chance to get to Crater Lake National Park.
Many years ago we made a big loop trip through the Northern Rockies as our family vacation. We went up through Banff and Jasper first, then down to Waterton and Glacier.
Wrong order.
Looking back at the photos, I can see now that Glacier really was lovely. But after Banff and Jasper, it was a bit underwhelming. Nothing can really compete with the Canadian Rockies.
no pictures of flathead lake?
Very few snow fields in the high mountains this year. I noticed most places in Teton Park where you could get to snow fields in other years don't have them this year.
I was there two years ago. There was a lot of snow on high then. Went there specifically to see the glaciers before they are gone. Funny thing was that the large lingering snow pack that year obscured the view of glaciers. Now one can see how little remains.
The falls in the background seem robust. I suspect that the warm weather is causing the glaciers feeding the falls to melt faster.
Looks like you guys got to Avalanche early in the morning to take those wonderful shots. Later in the day it is quite popular and a picture showing the whole lake without lots of people hanging out on the flats in the foreground would be unthinkable.
Maybe next year after all the political silliness goes away we'll start to do something about climate change. Don't get your hopes up.
Must have been 4 years ago, got into a fight with GF in NW MT almost into ID. My kid and I took a 6 day tour of NW/N Central MT. Must have been almost 4th of July, and most of the park was still closed, so we took US 2 under the Park around going from Kalispell to Great Falls, and then came back on MT 200 to Missoula, and then ultimately on that road back to where we started (on the trip from Missoula to Glacier - take a left at Ravalli, right by the Nat. Bison Range). Kid was even more disappointed than I.
Previous trip was 20 years before, where I got a blowout on the way to the Park (from the east), and spent almost a week driving on the donut, before finally getting to change the time in Kalispell. The Park was beautiful, but turned out that the day before we hiked starting at the Many Glacier center up towards Granite Park Chalet, apparently a couple of staff were running down that trail, and got fatally attacked by one of the local ursines. Also, my biggest memory of the Going to the Sun road was the traffic jam almost at the top for a heard of mountain goats. Not quite as bad as the traffic jams we had encountered a couple days earlier in Yellowstone, but still, took 20 minutes to get by them.
That hike though towards the Granite Park Chalet was when I realized how bad my acrophobia had gotten since the death a couple years earlier of my youngest brother in a climbing accident. The side of the trail would occasionally drop off a bit, and my ex noted that my speed would drop maybe in half during those stretches. She was right. It is still bad, despite spending most of my life around mountains.
We did spend more of our time around Avalanche Lake there than on the east side of the park. Camped in a couple of the camping grounds, and took day hikes. Gorgeous country.
Beautiful! I'm from that area and spent all my childhood summers in or near the Park. I really miss the mountains so your photos are such a treat. If the road is open (there was a rockslide recently), take Going to the Sun Highway over Logan Pass to St Mary's. St. Mary's has a fantastic pie place that you shouldn't miss (I think it's creatively called St. Mary's Pie Shop or something). And if you're into good steak, the steakhouse in Babb, MT can't be beat.
Magnificent, Madame.
And the mountains, too.
PS Back in the long skirts, I see.
I don't see any glaciers - global warming?
What mansion or Gehry is clothed like this?
We went to Glacier via the Empire Builder from Chicago.
Travelling by train is exciting.
For the first couple of hours.
Unfortunately it takes 35 of them(hours) to reach Whitefish Montana.
We went late in August and there were a lot of bears moving around.
"Nothing can really compete with the Canadian Rockies."
Pretty much every summer in my 20s, I went on an extended backpacking trip in the Canadian Rockies. Jasper was our favorite.
Pretty. Looks like you had the place to yourself, too.
Warm this, Alex.
Beautiful! I am happy for you both, that is such a wonderful area of the world to see!
It looks like they have had some drought as well.
Trey
I went there while in Grad School, and one morning woke up next to Lake Macdonald and it was just a grey gloomy day. We drove up Going-to-the-Sun road, and when we got to the pass we were above all the clouds. Fabulous.
That trip we hiked 20 or so miles one day, ending up at Sperry Chalet just before they stopped serving Pie. Cherry Pie never tasted so good.
Ah, yes, a beautiful little day hike. Enjoy.
We've been out there many times. Love that park.
If you're still there, take Going to the Sun Road up to Logan Pass. Park in the visitor's center and hike the Garden Wall (7 miles, not particularly difficult but the part where you're on a narrow path along a cliff high over the road can be nerve racking).
If you see an older couple with a telescope, those are my in-laws. Go up and say hi, and they'll happily let you use the scope and show you all sorts of animals you didn't realize you could see.
The pro golfer, Lon Hinkle, lives close by there on a large lake. He was the longest hitter on the tour in the early seventies. I used to live next door to his sister-in-law when I lived in Seattle twenty-some odd years ago.
We were downhill skiing at Big Mountain when we saw an ad for a cross country skiing guide. We got a group together and hired him to take us into Glacier Park for the day. One of the best days of my life.
Interesting. So no blog post on the FRC shooting then?
Dear Professor and Mr. Meade: I hope you get a chance to ride the Beartooth Highway and Beartooth Pass.
You and Meade should rent an old VW Beetle and drive along Going-To-The-Sun Road while humming the Dies Irae.
It's Montana's Cristo Redentor, at the bottom of the mountain.
Pretty mountains, but wouldn't they look a lot better with a sand mine on top of 'em?
:D
Great pics Althouse. I am adding this place to my bucket list. Thanks for sharing.
Keep going north to Waterton in Alberta. You won't regret it.
"I don't see any glaciers - global warming?"
You cannot pass through GNP without being lectured about global warming. Or climate change. Or whatever they call it today. Save the bunnies.
Recommend a visit to Many Glacier. Other side of the park, drive north 20 miles, turn left.
Glacier Goddess.
I've not been to this park. Can't wait to go at some point. Looks awesome. The West is awesome.
You cannot pass through GNP without being lectured about global warming. Or climate change. Or whatever they call it today. Save the bunnies.
The glaciers in Glacier national park have been shrinking since 1850— the end of the Little Ice Age and well before any credible claim of anthropogenic global warming could be made.
I wish there could be a discussion of climate change without the human shaming aspect uncritically thrown in.
The day I hiked this trail it was overcast and raining. Once we reached the lake, the trail became a swampy mess. And yet it was still one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen, and the photos I took are among my favorite from the trip. Now I want to go back.
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