Glacier Part 1

Almost 3 weeks ago, my partner and I ventured to Montana on the most beautiful vacation I've ever been on. We each took an entire week off of work for the occasion. I had been working massive amounts of overtime for three consecutive weeks, picking up extra on-call shifts at the hospital to save up extra cash for the venture.

Our specific destination?

Glacier National Park in Montana, hitting Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial on the way.

We left on a Saturday morning at the early hour of 3am for South Dakota. We drove the scenic road behind Mount Rushmore, deep into the Black Hills and The Needles. Despite the crowds, it was a beautiful experience.

The Crazy Horse Memorial includes a depiction of what the finished product will look like. It is, at present time, essentially just the face and the tip of a finger that are completed. All proceeds from the memorial go towards the completion of the piece and supporting indigenous peoples. There is a giant bin of rocks from the work site, which are free for anyone to take home with them. A literal piece of the project! Ours was riddled with iron, granite, and sandy stone.

Many wonder why the piece hasn't been completed yet. The answer lies in lack of government funding (juxtaposing Mt. Rushmore's completion time of 14 years), iron-rich mountain face, and covid temporarily thwarting plans. However, it is still a site to see and a beauty to marvel.

Mount Rushmore! One of America's most famous monuments. The detail on the faces is truly remarkable. The monument is prefaced by an entryway showcasing all American-occupied countries and states. There is also a large marble wall with the names of every person to work on the project. We didn't have time to tour the bookstore or interactive exhibits (or battle the crowds), but this is definitely something to see if you're in the area! Be sure to drive the road accompanying the back of the park that showcases the breathtaking Black Hills countryside.

After our brief stay in South Dakota, we headed out from our cozy cabin to hit the road once again in the wee hours of the morning. When the sun started to creep over the horizon, we found ourselves in Wyoming. We simply had to pull over and observe the cotton-candy sunrise. We didn't see a single car on our pause, opened up the hatchback, and had some breakfast of granola and yogurt. We listened to the coyotes greet the day and took in the morning.

We did, however, have a place to be and no more time left to spare. We passed through Wyoming, with Devil's Tower on the distant horizon at one point, and made our way to Montana. We began to see mountains line the horizon in the distance as we inched closer, little by little, until we were there. Once the excruciating drive was over, we found a campsite on the Eastern edge of the park and made ourselves temporarily at home. We spent the rest of that day basking on the edge of St. Mary's lake, skipping stones, and becoming acquainted with the ice-cold glacier water.

The next day, we were up bright and early to take our very first drive along the Going To The Sun Road and pick our first hike of the trip. The road had just been opened for the season a week prior, which is unusual; even for a recipient of heavy snowfall. They had their greatest amount of snowfall in 50 years and had been plagued with record flooding (which absolutely decimated nearby Yellowstone National Park). However, events of mother nature aside, one thing to note about Glacier National Park is to get everywhere early. Because the road had recently been opened up, that means peak tourist season was officially in full swing.

We became acquainted with the two different climates of the East and West sides of the park. They actually do have their own climates and the East side is known for being cloudy and foggy, especially in the mornings. This made for some killer photo ops and a seriously awesome spot to have our morning coffees. This particular photo is St. Mary's lake in the early light of the morning.

We finished our coffees and headed out along the road to our first parking spot, where we could just see a waterfall nestled into the side of the mountain. We simply had to go. We parked at the trailhead, packed our hiking packs, and were on our way to two of the park's most notable waterfalls.

The above is the first waterfall on our trek. This is St. Mary's waterfall, which leads into St. Mary's lake to the east. The waterfall is powerful, blue glacier water tumbling forcefully between and into the bluff. I simply had to climb to the side for a better vantage point, all the while my partner stayed on the bridge to capture this perfectly sublime video. This waterfall was only a mile or so from the trailhead and Virginia falls (which is the large fall we saw nestled in the pines) is only a mile and some change more. It was so early in the cool morning that we had the entire trail to ourselves, we simply couldn't stop ourselves from continuing. The flora of the area is wide open, with little underbrush due to a wildfire that happened in 2015.

At the time, this vexed me, I wondered how an incredibly well-protected national park could fall to such destruction. Through research and educational opportunities on the trip, we got to find out why. Wildfires are actually good for ecosystems. Some trees have evolved to protect themselves from them, and others have made fires a crucial part of their proliferation and procreation. So, when a small fire was discovered, park personnel were not concerned. A rare, powerful, and quick storm came to follow; sparking the fire at a dangerous pace. This fire was then named the Reynolds Creek Fire and a similar fire happened on the West side of the park a couple of years later in 2018. That fire was called the Howe Ridge Fire. However, I digress; we continued into the thick of it!

I'm so glad that we did. Shortly after the above video, we met with the base of the mountain and began an incline. The trail follows the falls like a shadow, and spectacular views of them can be found throughout the entire way into the mountain. The foliage becomes dense and we became enveloped in the typical thick pine tree wilderness. The dusty trail became rocky and wet from the spray of the waterfalls until we hit the steepest incline to come, with our target in the distance.

We climbed the wet, red rocks to our destination until we were braced with a 50-foot glacial waterfall hurtling towards right where we were standing. I couldn't believe we had it to ourselves, not another soul to be seen that morning!

It was like the falls created their own wind as it tumbled from Little Chief Mountain.

We couldn't help but embrace the full force of the waterfall, shouting into its roar and letting the droplets douse our clothes. It was incredible and this was probably my favorite experience from the trip.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our trip coming soon, and remember to always leave it better than you found it! :)