Day 13, 14, and 15: Glacier National Park
Please do not take the following as any type of complaining, because Michelle and I are truly the two luckiest people on the globe for having an opportunity like this one to see these places and spend time together… But the worst part of this trip has been that as we travel from place to place all of the great people that we meet are constantly recommending new and exciting pit stops for us to take and adventures to be had, and if we took everyone’s recommendations we would still likely be in Eastern Pennsylvania (and fortunately never make it to Cleveland “a great place to be from”). So we found ourselves in the Grand Teton’s pondering whether or not the 451.9 mile trek from there to Glacier National Park would be worth it as we are definitely trying to watch our dates and times. After said journey however, both of us are truly so glad we did not choose to skip out on an opportunity that debatably showed us our favorite park to date. For those who are turned off by the distance and traveling necessary to get to 18 miles south of Canada, everything about the park makes up for it and then some.
Arriving in the middle of the afternoon we had some time to relax and explore the first couple miles of the 52 mile, Going to the Sun Road, which ventures from one side to the other of the park. This is before returning to our KOA (shameless plug) campsite where you can (and obviously we did) order fresh made pizza to your campsite, so suffice it to say that we did not struggle with lodging in Glacier National Park either. The next day Michelle made the find of the park with a combination boat ride/ranger led hike through the Eastern part of the park known as St. Mary’s Lake. Following a 45-minute boat ride on the Little Chief, we were led through about 3 miles of trail to a breathtaking, glacially fed, waterfall. While the hike was incredible and the boat ride provided once in a lifetime views, what was particularly interesting was seeing the terrain and regrowth of the park following a wildland fire that ravaged almost a year ago to date. While a fire is generally not thought to be a benefit to anything, the park is now in a state of rebirth and growth which is generally a good overall thing for the ecosystem of Glacier National Park. Additionally, it provided views that haven’t been seen in 50+ years and a chance to see this part of the park (well plants and animals, not the rocks…) once again in its infancy stage. As many parks do, there were ample ranger and staff led experiences and we were fortunate enough to take part on, one was to view the sun through a handful of solar telescopes that had been set up at the visitor’s center. Unfortunately, the evening star gazing/ranger talk was cancelled by Mother Nature with a thunderstorm, but we were able to enjoy time together at the campsite cooking dinner (not having it delivered) and spending time relaxing, playing Yahtzee. The next morning, we drove southwest across the entire Going to the Sun Road, which was undoubtedly built well before the creation of full-size pickup trucks with tow mirrors. With that the trip was so incredible that words cannot even explain, following the storm the evening before, glacially waterfalls and runoff was particularly incredible. The trip was so incredible that Michelle (who is not a fan of roads with steep drop offs and spotty guardrails, thanks Bighorn National Forrest) was much more relaxed and enjoying the scenery then Chip (who does not mind these roads, but does mind boulder size scrapes on his pickup). That being said Glacier’s send off was as spectacular as the whole time we spent in it and neither of would’ve expected anything less after the time we had there. We are both so glad that we made the trek and did not decide to take a pass, as we undoubtedly would have missed out on a true hidden wonder of the United States.