Glacier National Park - 1

By Munish Gupta

November 18^th, 2015

Nothing is ever the same in retrospect. I’d attribute this, first, to the mind & brain duo. How we remember something is hardly ever the same as how we actually felt while going through it. In other words - the memory of something is hardly ever the same as the thing. Second - I think - it’s the newly acquired basis for interpreting (or judging) things. Our basis are ever constantly changing as we go through new experiences. Something ‘good’ might turn into something ‘amazing’ in retrospect or vice-versa.

We visited Glacier National Park in the September of 2014. It was a long drive to get to the park - partially because we chose it to be so. I had not read anything about the park and hence had no idea what to expect. Montana itself seemed so far out. This was my first time ever in the ‘Big Sky Country’.

For Glacier National Park (henceforth simply GNP), the first picture I will always remember in my head is of driving down a long straight road with huge mountains reaching for the sky in an otherwise leveled landscape. They were very visible from far off. As we were driving, the mountains kept coming close. It was late in the evening and the mountain tops were glowing with the golden sun rays. I could not exactly tell you what it was like but that’s how I remember it & would prefer to keep it that way. Well, I think, I am gonna try and draw it on the paper(!).

Camping

We had already reserved a spot at the St Mary Campground. As per the directions in the email, the camp office closed at 8 PM. This was our first time camping in a national park. So we wanted to GET there before 8.

As we kept driving towards the park, it felt like we were on a roller coaster ride through those same mountains. There were breathtaking views all around. Since we were still chasing the 8 PM deadline, we preferred not to stop on the way. In retrospect, may be it was not taking pictures with the camera that made pictures in the head more vivid.
We did manage to check in a few minutes before 8. First thing we were asked was if we were familiar with camping in this park (which we were not but had gone through the rules and guidelines). Nonetheless, we were handed over a Dos-&-Don‘ts brochure and asked to go through it. After that we proceeded to our camp site.

I think it was at that moment that it really hit us that we were camping in bear country! And it was quite possible that we might encounter wildlife at the campsite. A little too cold and a bit scary - would summarize the first night of camping in a national park. Next morning though, was beautiful!

MANY GLACIER

We cleaned the campsite, packed our stuff and got ready for the day ahead. We did not have any fixed plans (not just for the day but the whole trip apart from the list of places we wanted to visit). After checking out the visitor center, we drove to the part of the park known as ‘Many Glacier’.

It was a paradigm shift for me personally. Suddenly, we were in the middle of this whole new kind of landscape. It was unlike anything I had seen before. I think that day a lot of neurons fired in my brain and new paradigms were formed on what mountain landscapes would be ‘good’ from then on. And of course I can say this only in retrospect. GNP became the new standard and yardstick for beautiful ‘earthly’ landscapes. Don't get me wrong - I don’t believe in comparing one place to another. Instead I believe in enjoying each place for what it is. As they say - nothing is uninteresting to an interested mind! At the same time - if someone were to ask me about the most extraordinary places I had been to, GNP would be amongst the top ones.

As we drove around the Many Glacier area, it seemed like a tempting thought to camp out there for the night (as we did not have any advanced reservation for the night). We drove all around but as one would expect - all the campsites were taken. The arrangement was a little different in the GNP. It’s first come first serve as usual, but the ‘serve’ part is different. One could occupy any unoccupied (any campsite that does not have the reservation tag on it) site, then fill up the form and drop it along with the camp site fee in the specified drop box.

One of the famous hikes in this part of the park is the Grinnell Glacier trail. It’s about 11 miles return trip from the parking lot. Bears are regularly spotted on or from this trail. It gains about 2000 feet in elevation. It was already past noon and neither one of us had hiked that distance before, so we did what any same person would do. Armed with our almost zero experience of hiking in bear country and one (over priced, bought the previous night) bear pepper spray, we took off on the trail. While hiking we saw (and heard) few people carrying ‘bear bells’. It did not take us long to realize how under prepared we were. Sanity prevailed and we turned around after about a mile. But even that one mile had some breathtaking views.

After that we drove back to the St Mary campground and decided to hit the ‘Going to the Sun’ road.

GOING TO THE SUN ROAD

The road runs through the park and connects the St Mary on the east side to the western part of the park aptly called ‘West Glacier’. The road is about 50 miles long. The (on-the-spot) plan was to go as far as possible on the road while making stops on the way. We ended up driving the whole length anyways. Made a few stops on the way including one at Lake McDonald.

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Lake mcdonald

After driving the length of Going-to-the-Sun road, we grabbed food in West Glacier village just outside the park. Then we drove right back in and ended up again in St Mary campground on the east side. They still had unoccupied camp sites. We occupied one, dropped the form and fee and set it up for the night. Second night was much better - cold but not scary. Guess we were getting used to the thought of bears being around somewhere!

Hidden Lake

The first real hike in GNP turned out to be the one to Hidden Lake the following day. It was about 5 miles round trip. The trail begins at the Logan Pass Visitor Center. It was drizzling when we got there. Afraid that it might start raining, we were in two minds whether to go for the hike or not. We ended up doing it.

Two Medicine

After getting back from the Hidden Lake trail, we started driving east towards the park exit. Decided to check out the ‘Two Medicine’ part of the park on the way out, though it was a short diversion from the route. It again came with spectacular views. After checking out this part, our only regret was not camping there. The camp ground was right next to the place where the below shot was taken. Imagine waking up to this view!

As the sun was setting, we quickly made out way out. Ended up making a wrong turn which landed us in East Glacier Park Village (again aptly named! Remember ‘West Glacier’?). Made a U-turn to hit highway 89. Grabbed some food and off we went on the road leading us to the Yellowstone!

History

While reading about the park, I stumbled upon this 1925 historical map of the GNP published by the Great Northern Railway. The map reflects how different the attitude was towards wildlife back then.