Steven and I had come to Kalispell in northwestern Montana to access Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park World Heritage Site - boy, what a mouthful, huh! Americans know the park, established as the tenth national park in 1910, simply as Glacier National Park. After Rotary Club members in Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta convinced their respective governments to create the international park to reflect their longtime friendship, the world's first international, transboundary park was created in 1932. IF the coronavirus hadn't been raging and therefore closed the border with Canada, we would have ventured up through Waterton again. Perhaps another time...
Our hope had been to retrace our journey from about 20 years or so ago when we'd driven through the width of the park on the Going-to-the Sun-Road described as one of the world's most spectacular highways. The 50-mile-long road bisects the heart of Glacier as it follows the shores of the park's two largest lakes as it crosses the Continental Divide.
However, on arrival at the park's West Entrance, we learned that only a small portion of the park was open to visitors as the Blackfeet Native American tribe had closed the park's east entrance at Saint Mary because of concerns about the transmission of Covid-19 to their people. We weren't totally surprised that much of the park was closed as my friend, Diane, had advised me earlier that would likely be the case - still, it was disappointing not to be able to drive the fabled road once again.
Never had Steven and I been lucky enough to view field after field of canary yellow crops that were almost psychedelic! These were located a little way outside of Kalispell and seemed to go on forever. Neither of us had any idea what the crops might have been - any ideas?
We read that even before Glacier National Park was established, visitors traveled by foot, horse, wagon, boat, or train to explore this rich and diverse landscape known as the Crown of the Continent. The park was a lure for those of us interested in discovering the park's historic homesteading sites, its changing landscapes, Native American history, wilderness, alpine meadows, and glacially-carved valleys.
It had been a long while since we'd seen signs indicating game cameras were present on a trail for wildlife research purposes. They were of no concern but knowing we were also in grizzly country and that there was no guarantee of our safety did make us pause! As bears have injured and killed visitors and can attack without warning, trail users were advised to bring bear spray to fend off threatening and attacking bears.
This was our first glimpse of the lake that the Kootenai people called Sacred Dancing Lake and where they performed ceremonies along its shore.
Imagine being one of just two kayakers on the vast lake and the peace and serenity they must have experienced!
The lake was remarkably clear at Rocky Point. As it was only 51 degrees, this was the first time all trip I had to wear my heavy jacket under my windbreaker.
Back in August of 2003, the Robert Fire roared over Howe Ridge just north of where we were standing and ran down to the lakeshore, just missing the evacuated Fish Creek Campground. In less than twenty years, though, there was lush, new growth where twenty percent of the park had burned to the ground.
After hiking the Rocky Point Trail or, what we thought should be dubbed as the Muddy Trail, we discovered the road to Avalanche Creek had been opened which was unexpected so we were able to head a further 14 miles into the park! We were extremely lucky to find a parking spot in a campground that was being used as an overflow parking lot.
As we then hiked the Trail of the Cedars, we found that Western Red Cedar trees can measure up to 230 feet tall and 13 feet in diameter. In addition to their remarkable size, cedars can live over one thousand years! The trees were one of the most widespread trees in the Pacific Northwest, ranging from southern Alaska to northern California and Glacier National Park in the east.
Avalanche Creek:
It was almost mindbending to imagine that some of these trees were young when Peter the Great ruled Russia, Mozart dazzled the courts of Europe, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, the US fought its civil war, and Sacajewa helped guide Lewis and Clark to the Pacific!
Looked like the tree had a bad hair day!
A sign informed us that Black Cottonwood trees, technically a species of poplar, grow throughout the northwestern part of the continent. Because it's fast-growing, its large leaves provide a lot of shade which benefits other shade-tolerant trees as well as helping to keep temperatures cool for native aquatic species.
Western Hemlock trees grow in temperate rain forests along the northwest Pacific coast and in the Rockies where moist coastal air is trapped by large mountains. The trees reach heights over 200 feet and can live for a thousand years or more. As they age, hemlocks lose their lower branches.
As Steven and I were both originally from the Northeast, it was much easier for us to identify this variation of the maple tree! The Rocky Mountain Maple was a small deciduous tree or large shrub, found from southern Alaska to the central Rockies. At 10-20 feet tall, it's much smaller than the Sugar Maple we were familiar with but it still had the same brilliant autumn foliage.
The views were great but we didn't take a long time to admire them as the temperatures had dropped to a damp 47 degrees when we reached this spot along the creek.
We stopped on the way back to the west entrance in the early afternoon at McDonald Falls.
We stopped next to admire Sacred Cascade on the John's Lake Loop Trail. For thousands of years, native people had gathered plants and hunted in these mountains. Traditional cultural opportunities are still important to the Blackfeet tribe and the other groups that have formed deep bonds to the land since the 1900s.
I wanted to share this beautifully written piece from the park brochure that aptly described the magic and majesty of Glacier: The park "remains sacred for the enduring vision of peace embodied in its unique status. Two countries, two provinces, one state, and the Blackfeet people share common boundaries and stewardship. Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park represents a world in which people set aside their differences to work collectively in the interest of all life for all time. This sacred place is the living embodiment of hope." If only this nation could only aspire and work toward some of these same ideals.
Back at the west entrance that we'd entered that morning was the shuttered Apgar Visitor Center. Note the Canadian flag in the center to reflect the international nature of the park. Steven and I were game for one more hike so then embarked on the Oxbow Trail but we didn't make it too far as it was so muddy! However, we were just very thankful that we'd been able to see and hike far more of Glacier National Park than we initially thought possible.
Next post: On to surprising Helena, Montana's state capital!
Posted on Friday the 13th of November, 2020, from our home in sunny Denver. Though we've had a few inches of snow already this season, we're blessed with a lovely fall day and even warmer days ahead. With the virus spreading like wildfire, please be safe, wear a mask, and practice social distancing so you and your loved ones stay healthy.
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