A Week In Glacier National Park

© Paul Mozell. Click the icon in lower right of slide show for a full screen show.

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All photographs are available for purchase as fine art prints and licensed stock images by clicking here.

One week is hardly enough time to explore and photograph a National Park that covers 1 million acres, is 100 years old, and has 700 miles of hiking trails. No way baby! I was bitten by the Montana bug about 15 years ago when I backpacked the neighboring Bob Marshall Wilderness in the Lewis & Clark National Forest. A visit to Glacier National Park would also complete my quest of the trio of parks in the northern Rockies, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

One day after Labor Day and the end of vacation craziness season, I departed Logan Airport for Glacier Park International Airport with 2 duffel bags packed with camping gear and a camera-backpack full of essential Nikon equipment. I didn’t stop moving from the time I touched down in the sleepy city of Kalispell, population 14,000, until one week later, tired and happy. My friend Patrick offered some guiding words about Glacier, based on his bicycle touring adventure there in 1981. He said the weather can be variable and wet — so true, the park is like a little Swiss Alps — absolutely, Montana folks are friendly and relaxed — yep, and it is essential to cross The Going to The Sun Highway — and what a road it is. On my first full day in the park I confirmed that this 52 mile long scenic road lives up the grandeur of its name. Completed in the 1930’s it gives paved access to some of the most scenic and dramatic viewpoints in Glacier. Dozens of gravel pull-offs, some large enough for RVs and others big enough for a couple of cars, overlook the stunning glacially carved terrain. Waterfalls, deep river valleys, jagged peaks, snowfields, and distant glaciers abound.

I was hoping to see and photograph a variety of wildlife; especially grizzlies and brown bears. Although the burly bruins avoided me during my stay, I was lucky to encounter big-horn sheep, mountain goats, mule deer, chirpy ground squirrels, and bald eagles. I even got a distant view of an elusive wolverine, sliding down a snowfield. Outside the park I visited buffalo at the Blackfoot Indian Reservation and the National Bison Range. Both areas are managed so that visitors can get a sense of the landscape that existed in the time when 30 million of these great creatures roamed the plains of North America.

In the early 20th century, The Great Northern Company ruled the rail lines in the northwest, and elsewhere. To grow their passenger business, they built several grand hotels or lodges in Glacier. Passengers could disembark right in the park for a stay of days, or weeks, enjoying the comforts of these spacious wood-hewn resorts in a style that Rough-rider Teddy Roosevelt must have admired. Though I was sleeping in my Sierra Designs nylon hotel, I went to several of the lodges to conduct competitive photo search in the gift shops, and to relax with a book in front of the fireplaces when the frequent rain showers forced me indoors. After flipping through racks of scenic postcards and souvenir photo books in the shops, it was clear that everyone else was shooting in the same blue-sky light on ideal summer days. Boring, boring! As you’ll see in the slide show accompanying this post, I chose to milk the cloudy, misty conditions for all they was worth. Shooting in light drizzle was possible on some days with a weather-resistant camera body, but keeping droplets off the lens was another matter. Given the persistent wind in the region, the shops around town did not bother selling umbrellas, just when I wanted one for lens protection.

I regret to say that I did not venture very far from the road in search of photographs; two miles at most. As a solo traveler, I took the warnings about surprising the bear population very seriously. Safety in numbers. When I was alone, I sang sea shanties and bawdy British ballads to alert Mama Griz to my whereabouts. Those concerns did not stop me from driving up a few lonely forest roads outside the park borders, in the safety of my rental car. One of my favorite shots was made on just such a road, along the headwaters of the Flathead River, in late afternoon light, looking toward the blue line of Glacier’s peaks on the horizon.

Speaking of Glacier’s peaks, you should know that the experts’ consensus is that all 15 of Glacier National Park’s remaining glaciers will be gone by 2030. They are receding as fast as the Arctic ice is melting. The place will be no less spectacular really, but this measuring stick of critical global warming is hard to ignore. From a distance, it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell a snow field from a small glacier. A helpful park ranger I met at the Many Glacier entrance explained to me  that a snow field does not move, even if it exists for 12 months of the year. A glacier on the other hand is defined as having a minimum size of 25 acres and and minimum depth of 100 feet, and its downhill movement is measurable.

If you are in the little village of East Glacier, visit The Spiral Spoon, home of “The World’s Largest Purple Spoon.” I was directed there by a friendly shopkeeper who had just told me all about her former career inspecting Minuteman Missile silos for the US Air Force. Remember, I said Montana folks are friendly? The Spoon is right there on the main drag, inviting all passers-by to visit the only shop in the area, or anywhere, that makes hand-crafted spiral shaped spoons of exotic tropical woods. Beautiful! And, they make MAGIC WANDS. Really! My daughter will report on the success of the spells she casts with her model.

Also on the East side of the park is the town of St. Mary, where folks are always lined up for wholesome organo, healthy, fresh meals – very California — at the Park Cafe & Grocery. I should have purchased a tie-dyed T-shirt imprinted with their motto, “Pie for Strength.” Man, those huckleberries are the best.

Glacier National Park is a visual, geological, and yes, a spiritual treasure. I’m going back soon. Next time though, I’ll take a companion or two into the backcountry so we can really can be immersed in the place.