Glacier National Park, Montana: ancient rock, grizzly country and Going-to-the-Sun Road

Glacier National Park on Montana's northern border holds some of the best Proterozoic fossils in the world and is one of the largest remaining natural grizzly habitats. It is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. This overview adapts the Wikivoyage travel guide.

Bearhat Mountain, Reynolds Mountain and Hidden Lake. Photo: Wikipedia / Tobias Klenze (as the author asks to be credited), CC BY-SA 4.0.

A park shared with Canada

Glacier borders Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, and together the two are the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, designated in 1932 as the world's first International Peace Park. The United Nations designated them Biosphere Reserves in 1976 and World Heritage sites in 1995.

Rock, ice and wildlife

The guide calls the park a stunning display of the geological processes that shaped North America over the last billion years. Its rock is almost entirely sedimentary, laid down between 1600 and 800 million years ago when the area was an inland sea, and uplifted from about 170 million years ago as the Rockies formed. The ice age carved the mountains into their present form, leaving lakes, valleys and remnant glaciers, though the glaciers have diminished significantly in the last century.

A mountain goat in Glacier National Park. Photo: Beatlesnature, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The guide says the park's ecosystems are almost unchanged from the time of Lewis and Clark. Wildlife ranges from mountain goats to pine martens. In late summer grizzlies often come to lower elevations to eat berries and catch fish in the lakes. Two other endangered species live here, the Canadian lynx and the bull trout; 23 fish species live in the park's waters. Coniferous forest is the main ecosystem, visibly different on the east and west sides of the Continental Divide, and trails cross subalpine meadows full of wildflowers and alpine tundra.

Weather

Weather depends on elevation and on which side of the Divide you are. The west side gets the most rain, and the east side more wind and sun, because the Rockies disrupt air currents. Summer days can reach the 90s °F (over 30 °C), while nights at the highest elevations can occasionally fall to around 20 °F (below -5 °C). Snow can fall in any season: in August 1992 a foot fell on the northeastern corner. In winter most of the park is snow-covered, and some trails and roads close. Wildfires are fairly common.

The main sights

• Going-to-the-Sun Road has the most spectacular viewpoints in the park, including Lake McDonald, Logan Pass on the Continental Divide, Rising Sun and St. Mary Lake. It is closed to traffic in winter and open from June to October, depending on weather. At about 6,600 feet (2,000 meters), Logan Pass is the highest drivable point in or near the park, and its car park fills early in the morning. The road is no shortcut between Lake McDonald and St. Mary: going around by U.S. highways 2 and 89 is almost always faster.
• Lake McDonald and St. Mary Lake are the park's first and second largest lakes, on the west and east sides of the Divide, with campgrounds and historic lodges.
• Cut Bank Creek Road and Triple Divide Pass, where the Continental Divide splits three ways, to rivers reaching the Pacific near Astoria, the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans and western Hudson Bay.
• Iceberg Lake, a 4.5-mile (7 km) hike to an aquamarine lake, colored by glacial silt, surrounded by steep glacier-carved cliffs.
• Swiftcurrent Lake and the century-old Many Glacier Hotel, starting point for many trails.
• Glacier Park Lodge, built in 1913 at the park's eastern edge as one of the Great Northern railway's luxurious hotels. The railroad was central to the park's early development.

McDonald Falls. Photo: Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0.

View of Red Eagle Mountain. Photo: NPS staff, public domain.

Staying safe

Bears are the most dangerous predators, both grizzlies and smaller black bears; signs at major trailheads warn that you are "entering grizzly country." The guide advises:

• Make noise as you hike, especially around thickets and corners, so you do not surprise a bear. Bear spray, which has a range of 30-40 feet, is widely carried.
• If you meet a grizzly, avoid eye contact, turn sideways and back away slowly. If it charges, drop to the ground and protect your face and neck; most charges are "mock" charges. With a black bear, gather your group, make noise and fight back if it becomes aggressive.
• Store food, cooking gear and scented items on bear poles or in bear-proof lockers; most encounters follow incorrect food storage. Pets are banned from trails because they may provoke bears.
• Carry at least 2 liters of water on all but short hikes, and purify backcountry water against Giardia, mainly from beaver feces.
• Bring rain gear and a warm layer in any season; at the highest elevations visitors reach there is normally snow on the ground in every month except August.

A grizzly bear with two cubs in the park. Photo: National Park Service, public domain.

Sources

• Wikivoyage contributors, Glacier National Park (Montana), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changed here: rewritten in hubnx's own words and shortened; transport details, fees, prices, phone numbers and listings of places to eat and sleep are left out. Photographs are credited in their captions, each under its own licence.