Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Where are the Glaciers?

June 23rd, 2014

Well, if you come to visit Glacier National Park...spoiler alert...there are no visible glaciers right now! Glacier Park was FORMED by glaciers many eons ago, but if you expect to see glaciers...go to Alaska!

Who knew? Why don't they call it Once Upon a Time Ago There were Glaciers National Park????



Joe and I feel like the tourists who showed up at the Grand Canyon asking, "Where are the faces of those Presidents?"

We walked into West Glacier National Park visitor center and naively asked the ranger, "What's the best way to tour the park and see the glaciers?" He answered, "you missed the best way a few eons ago when the glaciers were forming these ranges. Sorry!!!"  He kindly explained that any glacier we'd see now is covered by snow and dwindling away!  ( this seemed to be a popular question as I heard 3 other visitors ask the same question!) 

Like I said, "Who knew?" You'd think we would have heard this from someone before we traveled two days to get here!

Actually, as the intrepid travelers that we are, we will drive up the ever popular "going to the sun" road (yes, that is its name) as far as it is open tomorrow. You can drive, hike, boat or take a Red Jammer Bus but only certain parts are open due to heavy rains and rock falls. I'll let you know tomorrow if it was worth staying at this West Glacier Motel that could be owned and operated by the Bates'.
Seriously, tomorrow I want modern conveniences! No wi fi and no tv tonight. We actually had to talk to each other!!!

Today was not a complete waste though. We stopped at Kootenai Falls and hiked in to see what words cannot adequately describe.
Joe kept telling me to just take two more steps back!
I posted a video on Instagram so you could hear the thunderous roar of the Falls!
So amazing! 
When we got to the top, the rangers had opened an ice cream stand! Never saw that before.

We finished our day here and had a great salmon dinner and sat and talked to an 87 year old resident named Virginia. She helped us navigate thru the maps and guidebooks so tomorrow we are "going to the sun"!

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