Becky Lomax - Moon Glacier National Park

kayaking Lake McDonald.

Glacier National Park is the undisputed Crown of the Continent. Its a place where the earths forces have left their imprints on the landscape with jagged artes, red pinnacles, and glacier-carved basins. Acres of lush green parkland plunge from jagged summits. Waterfalls roar, ice cracks, and rockfall echoes in scenery still under the paintbrush of change.

In this rugged one million acres, indigenous grizzly bears and wolves top the food chain. Mountain goats prance on precarious ledges. Wolverines romp in high glacial cirques. Bighorn sheep graze in alpine meadows while pikas shriek nearby. Only two animals present in Lewis and Clarks day are missing: the woodland caribou and bison.

The Continental Divide splits Glacier into the west side and the east side. They differ in character, yet are wrought from the same geologic building blocks. Two Wild and Scenic Rivers splash along park boundaries, converging at 3,150 feet in elevation, while six peaks surpass 10,000 feet. Mount Cleveland is the tallest, its north face one of the highest vertical walls in the United States.

Slicing through the parks heart, the historic Going-to-the-Sun Road twists and turns on a narrow cliff climb. Tunnels, arches, and bridges lead sightseers over precipices where seemingly no road could go. Visitors overlook ice-abraded valleys, thundering cascades, mammoth lakes, and serrated peaks.

crossing a creek

bear grass

bicycling Going-to-the-Sun Road

More than 700 miles of trails wind through Glaciers remote wilderness. Hikers walk up verdant valleys, beneath frigid waterfalls, and over high passes. Peak panoramas and blue-green lakes are strung like pearls along trails in places of solitude.

Designated a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Glacier hosts a rich diversity of wildlife and has a wealth of natural attributes, boasting a tremendous geological heritage, as well as a cultural history as sacred Native American land. Glacier National Park, combined with Canadas Waterton Lakes National Park, is the worlds first International Peace Park and has also been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

As the Crown of the Continent, the parks glaciers fuel North Americas major rivers, with crystal-clear water tumbling to Hudson Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific. But those glaciers will soon meet their demise. That change will repaint the scenery once again.

Glacier preserves some of the nations wildest country. Welcome to this rugged slice of natures best.

hiking through Preston Park wildflowers

black bear.

St. Mary Falls

Where to Go

West Glacier and Apgar

West Glacier and Apgar form the parks western portal. Divided by a nationally designated Wild and Scenic River, the pair attracts a frenzy of visitors with white-water rafting, horseback riding, fishing, kayaking, boating, and hiking.

hiking Scenic Point Trail in Two Medicine

North Fork

Escape the crowds in the remote North Fork on Glaciers west side. It has real rusticity, not just the look of it. Polebridge Mercantile and Northern Lights Saloon attract travelers who relish bumpy dirt roads, solitude at Bowman and Kintla Lakes, and wolf serenades.

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Glaciers biggest attraction and the only road bisecting the park leads drivers on a skinny cliff shimmy into the craggy alpine. The National Historic Landmark crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass and accesses top-of-the-world trails.

St. Mary and Many Glacier

Small, seasonal St. Mary bustles as a hub of campgrounds, lodges, cabins, cafs, shops, and Going-to-the-Sun Roads eastern portal. Just north, the grizzly bear haven at Many Glacier holds the historic Many Glacier Hotel and trails to sapphire lakes and high passes.

Two Medicine and East Glacier

In Glaciers southeast corner, the historic Glacier Park Lodge greets travelers with its flowered walkway and huge lobby. Two Medicine Lake yields a quiet contrast for hikers, boaters, anglers, wildlife-watchers, and campers.

Marias Pass and Essex

Pale next to Going-to-the-Sun Roads drama, U.S. 2 crosses mile-high Marias Pass in the fastest route over the Continental Divide. The scenic drive squeezes between Glacier and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

Waterton

In Canada, Waterton Lakes National Park