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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Glorious Glacier NP

This may be our favorite National Park.  If not, it is way up there near the top.  After leaving Spokane, we drove to North American RV Campground in Coram Montana which is about 3 miles from the entrance to Glacier National Park.
I liked the map from the Montana Tourism Office. It shows Glacier NP and the Waterton-Glacier NP in Canada.  We visited both.
At the center near the bottom is the West Entrance and Park HQ.  We started our drive along the Going-To-The-Sun Road which is the main road through the park.  It winds through canyons and rises thousands of feet to the summit at Logan's Pass.
We stopped in Apgar Village and Visitor Center for some info and pictures.  We were on the southern most end of Lake McDonald.

Then we started on the drive around Lake McDonald up the Going-To-The-Sun Road.  It quickly became spectacular.
We were in no rush and moved with the flow of traffic.  It reminded me of Yellowstone, except it was not as busy.
Glaciers, peaks and waterfalls abounding...
The road was built in 1933 and took 3 1/2 years to complete.  It has been a long winter with some late snowfall and the road only opened about a month ago which was about a month late.
 
We did see some interesting animals along the way including this mountain goat.
She was about 1/2 mile from the summit at Logan's Pass and the Visitor's Center.
After the pit stop we drove along Jackson Glacier which was on the other side of Logan's Pass.
St Mary's Lake was on the way to Alberta, Canada and Waterton.
Through the mountains and into the adjacent Waterton-Glacier NP, we saw a whole different landscape.
Waterton was a quaint little tourist town that was in high season.
We also stopped at the historic Prince of Wales Hotel and looked around.
It was built in 1926-1927 and was built by an American (vs a Canadian) Railway Company.  It was designated a Canadian National Historic Site in 1995.

We took the same road back to our campground through Glacier NP and got a photo of a bear.
With all the recent news about tragedies with bears, we were content to keep our distance and pause for a quick telephoto shot.

Glacier NP is one of the highlights of our time on the road.  Next time we will have to take more time here and go on a lot of hikes.  This place is really worth seeing again.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  And thanks again for your comments which we always appreciate.

Until next time...

14 comments:

  1. looks like you had a fabulous day at Glacier National Park..two countries in one day!..thanks for sharing your 'road to the sun' trip!!

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  2. The Glacier Nat'l Park is beautiful country, glad you were able to drive over the Sun road. When we were there last year it was closed so we only made it up part of the way on both sides. We stayed at the same RV park. Enjoy the rest of your trip.

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  3. Dave and I visited Glacier this summer after our trip to Yellowstone . We just missed the opening of the Going-to-the-Sun road. We didn't go to Waterton this year, but we spent a few days there ten years ago and really enjoyed the park and surrounding area.

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  4. Beautiful pics -- not sure I would want to hike in the area with those bears walking around! Be safe!

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  5. Very nice. Glacier NP has been on my list for a long time. Thanks for reaffirming my desire.

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  6. Boy, you sure brought back some wonderful memories..We took that same trip before we had an RV..We have entered from the East once before too...You have some great pictures..thanks for letting us ride along...
    PS...That was a Grizzly , by the way...YOWZA!

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  7. Just awesome!! What a great day and terrific pictures!! Thanks for sharing!!

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  8. What lovely scenery! And soooo glad you stayed away from the bear and used a telephoto. Too many idiots out there taking chances lately.

    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  9. Great pictures of a beautiful place. We have that on our must do list.

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  10. Hi! I see that you've become a follower, that's awesome, welcome! I think you are living my life, Hopefully I can be a full time Rv'er in the future. Looking forward to reading more about your travels. Love your pics!

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  11. GNP is one of our favorite places to be... in 2008 we spent 6 weeks enjoying it and in 2010 it was 4 weeks. North American RV park is where we stayed for part of that time. Nice campground!
    Have fun & enjoy
    Travel safe
    Donna

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  12. This post makes me so want to go somewhere cool...looking forward to reading your past and present posts!

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  13. Hi,

    What a gorgeous trip. Glacier is on our "bucket list". A young friend of yours just returned from there and I have also been enjoying her pictures.

    Our daughter is doing a fourteen week internship as an interpretive ranger in Canyonlands right now. Wish I could go out to see her, but that's not in the cards this summer.

    Thanks for sharing with all of us.

    ~hippo hugs~

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  14. Welcome to Alberta! Come about 300km north and we can have a visit :)
    Waterton area has always been a favorite of mine.

    So pretty.

    Nice pictures!

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