Glacier National Park 2006,2007 Hyams Version
Before Glacier NP, the favorite park that I had visited was Yosemite NP in 1975. I thought it would always be my #1. However, my new #1 is Glacier NP. Yosemite is 9.99 whereas Glacier is 10.00
2006
We decided to go to Glacier NP for two days before going on to Yellowstone for four days. I wanted to see a grizzly bear - we've seen black bear before. We entered the park on the W. Glacier side at around noon in June 2006. After getting updated info at the visitor center, we started up the Going-To-The Sun Road (GTTSR) which had just been opened by the snow plows. We stopped to hike the trail to Avalanche Lake (2 mi. one way). It is a somewhat strenuous hike for seniors but the payoff was magnificent.
We continued up the GTTSR thru The Loop and up to Logan Pass Visitor Center. It was raining at times and the snow was still on the trail but the ranger said the trail was open. Halfway up it started raining hard and most others with any sense headed back. But hard-headed Bill pushed on dragging the wife, perhaps by the hair, over the continental divide to the lookout point for Hidden Lake - magnificent view, snow and all. It was getting late when it started really raining hard. We took cover under the lookout platform used to view Hidden Lake then saw a strange sight - an animal that looked like a small bear but it wasn't - it was a wolverine. We were lucky enough to snap a picture, thanks to Marilyn, of this nocturnal animal.
We continued on GTTSR to see St. Mary Lake. We had a room at Many Glacier and planned to hike the Iceberg Lake Trail but couldn't because there were grizzlies feeding on goat carcasses near the trail. So we went to Red Rock Falls instead. It was nice, but not like what we wanted. The next day we tried to go to Two Medicine but were chased off by a hail storm. When you go west in the summer, you will find hail storms!!! When we left the park I told Marilyn that if we never saw another thing during the rest of our vacation, I would still be very happy with this vacation. Of course, we saw a lot of neat things in Yellowstone. I also said I want to go back.
At Yellowstone, we mentioned to a ranger that we had a picture of a wolverine that we saw in Glacier. He asked if we were sure. After he looked at the picture on our camera he said: "Do you realized how rare that type of sighting is?". We did not. So when we got home, I called Glacier NP to report the sighting. After being transferred to a biologist there, he asked if we would email him the picture for a positive ID. After we did that, he confirmed that it indeed was a wolverine. He then said they were doing research on wolverines in the park and would like me to fill out a sighting form. He said that our sighting was the first one for wolverine in 2006. I also gave permission for them to use our picture in their research if they chose to. He pointed me to a site that had their current research results.
2007 - I was hot to go back to Glacier NP for a longer visit since I think I fell in love with the park. So we booked three nights at Rising Sun on GTTSR and two nights at the Isaac Walton on the south side of the park off Hwy 2. This time it was in July so that snow was not a problem. Even the GTTSR had been open for weeks. We went back to Hidden Lake after visiting the Virginia Falls area but no wolverine - imagine that. We did part of the Highline trail at Logan Pass - very scenic. I wanted to go to a glacier, so we booked a boat ride on Swiftcurrent Lake to get closer the to Grinnell glacier in Many Glacier. The hike up to the glacier was somewhat strenuous but breathtaking. We saw no grizzlies but did see many bighorn sheep. I would do it again in a heartbeat. We wanted to try the Iceberg Lake Trail but some aggressive grizzlies were near the trail so the rangers closed it. So there we have it - I wanted to see grizzlies somewhere, but the trails were always closed because the grizzlies were too close to it!!!!
We went to Two Medicine to successfully hike to Upper Two Medicine Lake. Then we went to the Issac Walton, a hotel off the old Great Northern Railroad where the hotel and the rooms have a 'railroad' theme - door knobs, lamps, handles, ... were partly railroad spikes, nails,... It was neat. There were forest fires in the area so some trails were closed. So instead we went white-water rafting down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River - our first time ever for white-water.
I also should mention that East Glacier is colder, sometimes much colder, than West Glacier. The GTTSR is usually open by the end of June and partially closed (Open to Avalanche on one side and Open to Rising Sun on the other side) when the snow starts in September, so there is not much time to be able to traverse the entire 52 miles. But it is worth it. There are historic red Jammers but we never tried them.
In summary, I like Glacier best because (and in two trips I never made it to Pole Bridge or Goat Haunt or Waterton - see Bill Holly's very interesting story):
Very Scenic;
Many things to do;
Not crowded;
Lots of wildlife;
Very accessible;
History.
Yosemite is the most scenic park I have ever been to but it is usually crowded. On one trail, we were shoulder-to-shoulder for most of the way (in 1975). It has great trails but most not really for a young or old family. It's the Yosemite Valley or hard-to-get-to places - not much in-between. But I highly recommend going there at least once in your lifetime. Yosemite has one lodge whereas Glacier has the Many Glacier Lodge, East Glacier Lodge, McDonald Lake Lodge and the one at Belton and two Chalets on the trail. All of these are historically significant. Leo Lewis knows about the East Glacier Lodge. I would also like to mention that there is a triple-divide peak where the water on one side goes to the Pacific whereas water on another side goes to the Gulf and water on another side goes to Hudson Bay.
