Glacier National Park -- "Crown of the Continent"

When George Grinnell, co-founder of the Audoben Society, named Glacier National Park the "Crown of the Continent", he must have been seeing the  Park during the fall when the aspen, birches, and yellow maples are all in glorious yellow.  The landscape of trees look like meadows of wildflowers, they are so lush with yellow, gold and tawny leaves.  We hit the park at peak color and with the incoming rain and snow storm, rangers told us that many of the leaves will be blown and knocked off the trees tonight and tomorrow.  What a spectacular richness of color we enjoyed all day long.  We saw very few animals (disappointed to not see a single white mountain goat) but the landscapes were breath-taking.  Glacier NP is known for being a diverse environment where prairies and mountains co-exist and the alpine, subalpine, plains  and prairie landscape make constantly changing vistas.   I hope that some of our pictures can begin to give you a sense of what we felt.

Gorgeous aspens and birches everywhere:



The trail to the lake below Grinnell Glacier.  We saw the Glacier from a distance, but it was too late in the day for us to make the 10 mile round-trip hike to see it up close.  We put that hike on our bucket list.  The Glacier is disappearing as it calves off into Grinnell lake just below it.  There are about 20 glaciers left in GNP.  This one is expected to be gone by 2030.


On the way to Logan Pass along the Into-the-Sun Road.  This road was finished in the 1930's.  The overcast day and the smoke from still-smoldering fires being blown away by the ferocious wind made the colors on the mountains vivid.  



Moutains and prairies co-exist.



Chief Mountain on the way to the Canadian border.  The Blackfeet still feel like this land is theirs although they support its preservation.



A Gorge along the road.  See the evidence of fire, but life is returning.



Can you imagine unlimited rocks of these colors with which to design our personal home landscapes?



Deciduous trees and evergreens make a dramatic vista.



More awesome vistas.



More dramatic colors.



Yesterday was in driving day on Canada's Route 3 from Pincher Creek toward Vancouver.  It was a beautiful lllloooonnnggggg drive through mountains We made it to Hope.  No sign of Bill Clinton.  The picture below is the sunset over a mountain just west of Princeton.




This scenic vista on Highway 3 is the town of Osoyoos, British Columbia.  




We saw a black bear sow and her cub crossing the road in front of us as we left GNP.  

On to Vancouver today.  Ready for an urban setting after all the mountains and rustic scenery.  


Comments

  1. Jessica KreitzerOctober 3, 2017 at 10:15 AM

    So pretty up there. We went to an amazing dessert place in downtown Vancouver when we were there years ago. I couldn't find it exactly, but I found a list with some amazing looking desserts. I think you should put off your calorie counting for a few of these yummies.
    http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/best-desserts-vancouver-2016

    ReplyDelete

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