Glacier National Park
Established: May 11th, 1910
Location: West Glacier, Montana, on the Canada-United States Border
Area: 1,583 square miles
Why visit: Mountains, Bears, and Great Swimming
Glacier is my favorite National Park. The second I entered the park in large Suburban with my Mom, Dad, and siblings, via the “Going to the Sun Road”, I was in love with the mountains. They were different from the Colorado Rockies I had grown accustomed to: seemingly a step up into the big leagues, and completely all-encompassing. There wasn’t a time throughout the five days I explored Glacier with my family and our close family friends that I didn’t feel as if I was living on the bottom of a basin, looking up at a skyline of mountains surrounding me 360 degrees.
Thinking back on the trip during summer 2013, there are two distinct memories that stand out.
One of the first evenings we were there, I decided to go for a quick trail run around part of Lake McDonald while dinner was cooking at our campsite. I jogged slowly, taking in the contrasting lake and forest habitats juxtaposed so nicely, when an older college student whizzed past me and disappeared around the next bend. I didn’t think much of it until he came running even faster back towards where we both came from minutes later, an undeniably spooked look on his face.
“BEAR!” He yelled. “Move, move, move!!!”
I matched his stride immediately (not easy, he had long legs), both of us with the interest of hightailing it out of there. Every walker that we passed we warned: “Huge grizzly up ahead, you may want to turn around!”
We were sprinting, running for our lives almost literally, but I was still curious about this bear. “How big??” I asked in between breaths and footsteps.
“Six or seven feet?” He guessed. “Standing on its hind legs in the middle of the path. I’m lucky I didn’t run straight into it!”
Lucky, indeed. I returned to our campsite breathless, having expended much more energy than I had intended with that run and full of adrenaline at my near grizzly bear confrontation. In Glacier, it is extremely common to encounter bears on hikes, in the campgrounds, and even on the roads. But still, I never expected to encounter it myself.
Another beautiful moment of the trip came towards the end of our stay, when we were all feeling pretty grimy from day-long hikes and minimal access to showers. The best fix for this, as any camper knows, is to find some place to swim. So we did just that.
This lake is the definition of serene: nestled into the mountains, completely still, ice cold, with incredible views. I’d venture back there, even just to sit on the dock, in a heartbeat.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_National_Park_(U.S.)
This scene seems beautiful, it reminds me of Algonquin Park in Ontario. There was a bear in the other end of our campground, and everyone was on the lookout.