The Crown of the Continent
Ahhhh Glacier.
Our fall road trip has been strategically planned around weather, communities of interest, friends/family to visit, and national parks! Infact, we plan to visit 12 of them over the next few months, and each has us excited for different reasons.
But to be honest, Glacier held my least amount of excitement or expectation and for no good reason other than people just didn’t seem to talk about it as often. All that I can say is GO THERE… go there soon, go there in fall, visit on a week day, and expect something magical!!
To make these visits educational for the kids, we are including school lessons about the history and fun facts of each park leading up to the visit. Fun fact: this park was established in 1910 and later combined with Canada to become the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in 1932.
The roads are curvy but include views like few our eyes had seen before, and in all directions! The leaves were crisp shades of yellow, orange and green against the rigid mountain backdrop. The river is crystal clear, winding through dramatic waterfalls and then gently flowing over rainbow colored rocks. The clouds speckled in the sky. The array of cedar trees reaching all the way to the sky. The sound: silent. It was an experience for all senses, but none more than my soul. This place awakened me.
We pulled off the road at every opportunity, dipping our toes in the river, smelling the flowers, skipping rocks, climbing waterfalls, drinking from glacier streams, searching for mountain goats through binoculars, and remembering to look up at every twist or turn. The landscape here is breath taking, and it just seemed to get better with each new stop.
We drove half way up Going to the Sun road, but between car sickness and Dixon’s ear elevation issues, we decided it best to enjoy the views from below. And they were plenty! Here are a few photos from the first 25 miles of the road that we did explore.
The Avalanche/Cedar Trail was perfect for family’s looking to explore! We hiked along an elevated wooden path and saw old growth cedars, birds, lakes, waterfalls and a few fuzzy caterpillars.
I can see why they call Glacier a peace park. The land has soul, it radiates unspeakable beauty, it brought my heart both clarity and comfort. And as our children laughed, and skipped, and hugged one another without prompt, I just knew that this place holds magic. Thank you GNP, We are already looking forward to our next visit.
