I must offer a big THANK YOU to the hearty folks who have followed along as I ever so slowly chronicled our first big RV adventure! If you are just joining us, and would like to go back to the beginning of this series, you can start here, and follow the links at the bottom of each post to read about the whole adventure. I have struggled with this series because there is so much more fun and adventure to share, but alas, I think I need to give the magnificent Glacier National Park and its Canadian sister-park Waterton Lakes National Park their due coverage in this post, and then move on to more recent adventures. I hope you’ll understand.
In the last post, I shared our first day in Glacier with friends, so in this post, I will try to limit the words and convey the majesty of these American and Canadian treasures in photos. I know it has been done by the most celebrated photographers, but this is our version.
WARNING: There are approximately 6,784,563,987 photos here and I left a bunch out. Click on any image to enlarge.
It should be noted that we first fell in love with Glacier and Waterton in 1999, which coincidentally was our first-ever RV experience, in a rented CruiseAmerica Class C. Those photos are in a photo album somewhere gathering dust since I have yet to take the time to digitize them. That first trip seems like a million years ago, but obviously, we liked RVing enough on that initial trip that it hovered in the backs of our minds all these years until we could retire and do RVing our way! 🙂
For those of you not familiar, here is a map of Glacier, focused on the spectacular Going to the Sun road (GTS). When we visited last summer, the road was partially closed due to forest fires that ravaged the Eastern part of the park, near St Mary. We were only able to travel on Going to the Sun road as far east as Logan Pass, in the center of the map. Map credit to Avalon Travel.
Going-to-the-Sun Road
Haystack falls crosses below GTS road
Inside Lake McDonald lodge
Rocky creek near the lodge
Lake McDonald
Crystal clear lake water
McDonald Falls roars toward the lake
View from GTS road, looking east
View from GTS road
Some of the few glaciers left in the park
Bird Woman Falls (560′) fed by a permanent snow field above on Clements Mtn
Heavens Peak 8987′
A bear cub, just feet from us!!! No mama in sight
View back to GTS road, cut into foreground on the right
Visitor center at Logan Pass, the high point of Going to the Sun road
Hidden Lake
Hidden Lake again…
looking east from the trail toward smoky St Mary Lake
Hiking back toward Logan Pass Visitors center
Unbelievable contrasts
Descending Going to the Sun road from Logan Pass
We said a sad farewell to Glacier, but only until we meet again!
We had planned to revisit Glacier’s Canadian sister-park Waterton Lakes as well, but with Going to the Sun road closed due to fire, we ended up riding around the outside of Glacier on US 2 to US 89 and the Chief Mountain highway rather than through the park. As you will see below, it was more than worth the effort!
Here is a map of Waterton Lakes for reference as well. Map credit to Parks Canada.
Upper Waterton Lake, Waterton townsite on the right
Cameron Lake at the end of Akimina Pkwy
Shadow over Red Rock Canyon
Red Rock Canyon
Valley ringed by mountains
Our visit to Waterton was brief but memorable. On the way back to West Glacier, we discovered that the St Mary’s fire had been stirred by high heat and strong winds. We encountered firefighting camps, aircraft, and equipment on the move, and were shaken to see the afternoon view.
Even at a distance, the expanded fire was evident
Past fire damage and regrowth frames the ongoing blaze
A devastating sight, despite knowing fire is a natural regenerator
That night, a bittersweet goodbye to the Glacier area in a well-contained campfire
curvyroads 
[…] I will bring this post to a close, and to the amazement of both author and audience, I have completed the final post in this series, you can view that here. […]
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Stunning photos of two of the most gorgeous places on the planet. I know you loved your time there. How could you not?
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Thank you so much Cindy! It was heaven…never get enough of it!
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Awesome photos!!! We have such gorgeous parks in the US. I’m thinking one day we’ll be in the same one LOL!
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Thank you, Lynn, I always admire your photos so much! Yes, this country has such beauty, and we must run into each other one trip! 🙂
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Your pictures are beautfiul. I wish we had more time in Glacier. I’m going to write these places down and see them next time we visit Glacier. 🙂
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Thank you Janet! It is one of those places I could go back to again and again…and we’ve only scratched the surface, so much more to see!
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Your pics always take my breath away…
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Thank you kind sir…your words take my breath away…
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Wow, wow, wow! The pics are stunning, Lynne!
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Thank you so much, Nancy! With Glacier, the hardest part is deciding what to try to capture…it is really paradise! Xoxo
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Beautiful images Lynne! I REALLY love the ones of Hidden Lake – those are GORGEOUS! Definitely want to visit there one day, and hopefully within the next 5 years!
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Oh thanks so much! Hidden Lake is so incredible, I probably took 20 different shots there and it was so hard just to pick a couple 🙂 Glacier is a bucket list destination for sure.
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These photos are stunning – I learn so much about American geography from you. And you’ve reminded me that I STILL haven’t written about my teeny tiny road trip from Atlanta to Savannah – I am a useless blogger these days!
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Thanks so much Claire, glad I can help with the geography thing! And I have no room to judge anyone on blogging…I think I managed to complete three posts this year! 😉
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That makes me feel a bit better 😉
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Great photos, Lynne. And your warning at the top?… BRILLIANT!…
“Approximately”?… 😀 It’s such a specific and unwieldy number.
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Thanks Ry! Heehee…unwieldy is right!
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Oh how I loved seeing your spectacular pictures of Glacier NP. My hubby and I are brand new to the RV world, and have never been to Glacier. Planning on going next summer. Do you have any recommendations for where to stay?
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Thank you so much! We stayed at the West Glacier KOA and it is very nice. There are several other campgrounds on the west side but we haven’t experienced them personally. Many years ago, we stayed at a KOA in East Glacier/St Mary’s also, but I don’t remember it being as nice as West. Definitely check RV park reviews site before we book anything:-) Enjoy!
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