Glacier National Park

I have just returned from Glacier National Park which was green and verdant and filled with the steepest and craggiest mountains I have ever seen.  The mountains all seem to have dramatic sharp edges and ridges against the sky, and on many of them I could see the stratations in the rock traversing a whole mountainside.  The valleys are filled with raging torrents of cold turquoise glacial melt water and huge turquoise lakes, and in between the tops and the bottoms are thick forests, or steep meadows filled with a multicoloured array of flowers.  On the first day we camped at Many and walked along the valley to a beautiful lake embraced by mountains, then, feeling energetic we hiked up to another waterfall which was spectacular.  I stood in the spray looking out over the valley and over to mountains on the far side and was drowned in the roar of the cascading water.  It was brilliant.

The Hidden Lake - Mostly frozen

On our second day we drove over the pass (the going to the sun road) to the other side of the park, stopping on route to hike across the snow to the hidden lake, to photograph many points of interest and to see the weeping wall.  The pass was cold, and had only been reopened a week ago and the road was carved through piles of snow as high as double decker buses in parts.

The third day Rob and I hiked up to the fire tower on Mount Brown - which was bigger and steeper, or we were less fit, than we had hoped.  The views were just incredible, and it was so nice to really get some good exercise! 

On the fourth day we walked up through the forest to yet another beautiful lake.  Every minute was filled with my eyes just drinking in the views and trying not to forget them.  The National Parks, or at least Glacier, was truly amazing, well organised and well run and filled with smiling uniformed guides, the trails are well marked, and there is something for everyone, they are much more accessible than equivalent places in Britain, in almost every way.  I was very impressed.

Me, Nicole & Rob

As for wildlife, dare I admit this to my parents?  We saw bears!!! And very close by, there was a mother and three young by the side of the road - we were in the car.  Worryingly they were rather unconcerned by us, and soon a ranger appeared and let us get out of the car for photographs, so it was perfectly safe - and we hiked with bear spray and making lots of noise.  The bears were beautiful though I was so pleased to have seen some.  We also saw lots of mountain goats, bighorned sheep, chipmunks, Colombian ground squirrels, normalish squirrels, a marmot some huge butterflies and unfortunately a lot of mosquitoes!

Wise Old Mountain Goat