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...