Glacier National Park: One Half of North America's Crown

Spanning the continental divide and expanding from northwest Montana into the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia is Glacier National Park. Here, on the border of Montana, sprawls 1 million acres of national park, one of the world's great mountain landscapes. Glacier National Park is more than a preserve. It is an outreach to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, an alpine back fence over which American and Canada clasp each other's hands and say, "Peace, neighbor." And so these two parks, Canada's and America's, formed the world's first international peace park, Waterton-Glacier, memorializing the longest unguarded border on Earth. This is the crown of the continent. Glacier National Park itself is a garden of ice sculpture as though chiseled by some titan, some mythic Michelangelo. Hiking among myriad glaciers, nearly half a hundred of them. 10,000 years ago, these mountains were overwhelmed by onslaughts of ice. Ice in juggernaut descends down mountainsides, gouging, scooping out valleys. When the ice melts, land emerges, making lakes of meltwater. The harsh landscape is softened by a down of shy grass. Forests grow, flowers bloom, and wildlife proliferates. For a millennia, it thrives untouched, until a tribe of Native Americans belonging to the powerful Blackfeet Nation make this wilderness their home. To them, this is a sacred place, with good hunting for meat and hides, and remedial plants for medicine. In the language of the Blackfeet, this is the backbone of the world. After centuries of silence, broken only by birdsong, the moanings of a train whistle. Billows of smoke. Steam power. With multiple blasts through the Rocky Mountains, the Great Northern Line completed America's first continental railroad. Passengers were encouraged to de-board at the newly created Glacier National Park. Today, Glacier is one of the few national parks with an Amtrak train stop inside the gates. Door-to-door traffic. Swiss style chalets and lodges, some over a century old, offer folksy, out west hospitality. The Glacier Park Lodge is architecturally harmonious with its natural surroundings. Inside, supporting its high roof, are pillars of Douglas firs from Oregon, 40 feet high. Native Blackfeet call this hostelry Big Tree Lodge. Lake McDonald Lodge is built of rough-hewn cedar. Inside are reminders of its hunting lodge origins. The only way to reach some of these chalets is by foot or horseback. But since 1933, autos have been the choice means of getting around the park, via a highway named Going-to-the-Sun Road, an engineering marvel. This is one of the most scenic roadways in the world. Winding up and over the continental divide at Logan Pass. Short trips from hotel to hotel can be made on picturesque 1930s buses, completely restored, called Red Jammers. Many areas in the park have boardwalks to protect the fragile flora. For the seasoned outdoorsmen, a monumental hike on the park's myriad trails may be the choice. These trails span most of the park, north to south, from the banks of glacial lakes to alpine heights. The US and Canada Glacier-Waterton Parks. These are a unique monument to world peace, the hoped-for peace in most every human heart.