I've mentioned it a few times already, and you are probably wonder, "What is so special about this G

Straddling the border Montana and Alberta lies the worlds' first international park, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park consisting of Glacier ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach National Park in the United States and Waterton Lakes National Park (Parc national des Lacs-Waterton) in Canada. Though the parks are maintained independently of each other by each national's government, the parks were symbolically joined into one in 1932 and appear on the United Nation's list of World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves as a single unit. Once home of the Blackfoot ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach Indians, today the park is home to millions of visitors drawn to the spectacular glacial carved landscape and the vast array of wildlife.
(Sorry its a bit late. Was on a call most of the morning and couldn't put the finishing touches on until lunch time. Sorry it is a bit photo heavy too, but OMG, trust me and the photos, just go here.-craigkg)
The closest airport to the park is Glacier Park Airport located between Kalispell and Columbia Falls, Montana, just 24 miles southwest of the park entrance at West Glacier Village. Other nearby airports include those at Missoula (132 miles from West Glacier), Great Falls (140 miles from East Glacier Park Village) and Calgary (174 miles to Waterton Townsite). ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach For my family's trip to Glacier, my brother convinced us to fly into Spokane so we could take the scenic drive along US Hwy 2. Given the scenery you get in Glacier and Waterton Lakes, I don't think it is worth it given that you are almost 300 miles from the parks flying into Spokane.
If you want to be very traditional, you can arrive in Glacier National Park the same way the early visitors to the park arrived...taking the train. The Great Northern Railway ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach had stops at East and West Glacier back in the day. The tracks are still there and in use by Amtrak . From the rail depot at East Glacier, you can still walk from the depot up the landscaped walkway into the Glacier Park Lodge.
While having a car helps in getting to the sites in the park, if you want to go carless for your trip to Waterton-Glacier, it can be done with some caveats. ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach The park has a shuttle system in the summer months running roughly every 15-30 minutes from 7 to 7, but this shuttle only travels the 48 miles of the famed Going-to-the-Sun Road between the St. Mary Visitor Center and the Apgar Transit Center. It does not go to West Glacier, East Glacier Park or Many Glacier. However, if you took the train, you aren't stuck in East Glacier. More on this below.
Glacier is home to some of the oldest park lodges in the park system. The Glacier Park Lodge was built in 1912. The McDonald Lodge and Many Glacier Hotel were built in 1914. The Prince of Wales Hotel was constructed in 1927.
All of these are located in the park boundaries with the exception of the Glacier Park Lodge (ironic I know) just outside the park at the park's southeast corner. Reservations at all these properties can be made through the Park's concessionaire Glacier Park, Inc . There are many other lodging options in West Glacier, East Glacier, St. Mary, Columbia ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach Falls and Waterton. Backcountry hikers have two additional options, the Sperry and Granite ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach Park Chalets nestled deep in the high country of the park, accessible ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach only by hiking trail. Granite Park Chalet is most easily accessed ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach by a 4.2 mile trail with 2300 feet of elevation gain though other longer routes are possible. The hike to Sperry ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach Chalet is more taxing, 6.7 miles with 3300 feet of gain.
Whereas most parks have a central lodge where one can stay most of the trip and then radiate out to the sites of the park, Waterton-Glacier doesn't fit this model. The lodging is along the perimeter of the park for the most part, conducive to going from lodge to lodge for each night of your trip for longer trips. Moreover the geography is such that staying the entire trip at one lodge will mean much more driving to get to your destination/activities. And you should visit all the historic lodges anyway as they are destinations unto themselves. On my trip to the park, we had intended to stay one night at McDonald Lodge, two nights at Rising Sun, one night at Many Glacier, two nights in Waterton and one night in East Glacier. Unfortunately McDonald Lodge and the Village Inn were booked up and we had to spend the first three nights at Rising ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach Sun making access to the west side of the park more difficult.
Glacier National Park was so named because it is a prime example of the affect of glaciation. Several guide on our trip (a ranger and the red bus driver) said the park can be summed up in three words: Sedimentation, uplift and glaciation. The rock in Glacier is some of the oldest ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach in the world. Many visitors are surprised however that there are no fossils in the rock even though ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach they are mostly sedimentary. That is a testament to how old the rick is...it is older than most life on the planet. The only known fossils found in the park are of stromatolites, ancient colonies of bacteria. In 1850, the area that is now Glacier National Park had over 150 glaciers. When Glacier National Park was created in 1910, there were still over 100 glaciers. Today, ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach just over 100 years later, the number has shrunk to just over 20 and they are melting so fast it is estimated they could be gone as soon as 2020 and by 2030 at the latest. ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach As things stand now, most park visitors barely ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach catch a glimpse of a glacier ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach in the park as most are tucked away in places people don't often visit. The exceptions are the Jackson and Blackfoot Glaciers visible from the Going-to-the-Sun Road and the Sperry Glacier above the Chalet on Gunsight ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach Mountain. Grinnell Glacier's melt has formed, in the last century, a new lake in the park. A hike from Many Glacier will take you up to this new lake and offer majestic views down to the original or lower Grinnell Lake, displaying its characteristic turquoise color cause by rock flour, the fine particulate suspended in the water from the grinding of rock by the glaciers. It is common to see this affect in many of Glacier's lakes and stream, ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach but within 20-30 years of the glaciers' demise, the particulate, no longer been resupplied by glaciation, will settle and the beautiful colors of the lakes will disappear into regular ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach blue waters.
OK, if you are a nut for all things old and sightseeing ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach is your thing, stop, pick up the phone, call Glacier Park, Inc and reserve your seat on one of the Red Bus Tours . These tours are done in 1936-39 ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach model White Motor Company touring 17 passenger vehicles ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach with canvas roll top covers. On nice days they roll it back and you have gorgeous ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach views of the mountains not just out your window, but above you as well. Your driver, known as jammers, gives narration ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach along the way. The vehicles were and restored and refitted to run on natural gas a few years ago to extend their life so more and more visitors can see the park as early visitors had. On many tours you have stops for lunch or at particular sites. The popular Crown of the Continent tour my family went on stops at Wild Goose Island Overlook, Sun Point, Logan Pass atop the Going-to-the-Sun Road for a brief visit to the visitor center there and at the McDonald Lodge where you can have lunch at the Lodge's dining room, the pizzeria or get your own food at the general store. Tours start all around the parks and run as little as $30. If you arrived by train, don't want to rent a car to get around and/or don't mind being on a structured ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach tour, the Red Buses are an excellent option to see the park with trips into Waterton Lakes, Many Glacier, along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, Two Medicine and along the road over Marias Pass.
A panoramic view of the Reynolds Creek Valley from one of the red buses as it stopped at a turnout along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. We had great weather for our tour, top rolled back allowing riders to stand up in the vehicle when the vehicle has come to a complete stop . Wave "hi" to my brother Ed talking a picture.
I've mentioned it a few times already, and you are probably wonder, "What is so special about this Going-to-the-Sun Road?" It isn't often that a road is one of the star attractions of a park, but the Going-to-the-Sun ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach Road is no ordinary road. It is the only road that traverses the park through the park, going through the spectacular scenery of the mountains and valleys. The road is only open for about three months ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach a year. The rest of the year it sits entombed beneath drifts of snow that can tower over 100 feet tall. To facilitate the clearing process, rather than routing ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach the road through the McDonald Valley and the Reynolds Creek Valley with a series of switchbacks to climb the mountain at the pass, the road was cut into the southern face of the mountains, gently climbing with only one switchback. This causes the road to be higher in elevation and being on the southern face, gives to road more sun exposure, which helps facilitate snow melt on the 100+ foot snow drifts, reducing the amount of work that has to be done with the snow plows are brought in to complete the clearing of the road, a process than can take months each year. When the snow plows on the east side start their work, the first step in the process is to send out a survey crew to locate the tower on the visitor center at the pass. Did I mention the road can get covered by 100+ feet of snow? The tower serves as a reference point for the snow plow crews as their work has to be precise. One small mistake and the plow could fall off the road down the side of the mountain. The portions of the road that get the highest snow fall and have the highest possibility of avalanches do not have guard rails as an avalanche could pull the road right off the mountain with guard rails installed. Some stretches have low stone walls built with stone from the excavated roadway while others get lumber beams fastened ocean front hotelsin myrtle beach into place as guard rails once the road is clear.
From the road you get some of the best sights in the park. And along the way, there are several places to stop