We have completed the three big, we've never seen, national parks for the year. Glacier was a great way to end of this part of our summer travels. Termed "crown of the continent", this million+ park features amazing evidence of the power of uplift and ice on the earth's surface. These towering mountains were cut deeply by thousands of feet of ice during the last ice age. The U-shaped valleys were carved by glaciers sliding to the south; leaving behind valleys thousands of feet deep and beautiful blue lakes. The park was green and lush and sign of recent wildfires in parts of the park have greened back with heavy vegetation on the forest floor. The remaining glaciers in the park are a tiny amount of their original size. Wayside exhibits in the park show photos from the 1960's and today; a shocking difference.
Word of caution when visiting: expect large summer crowds. This park is only open for about four months (between heavy snows) so tourists flock to the park while the time is good. Logan Pass, one of the most popular and easiest destinations was so overcrowded I could not get a parking space to hike out to Hidden Lake. We camped at the West Glacier KOA. As one camper told me the "K" stands for kids. We cut our stay short by a week because we need decent wifi and cellular to work and communicate. This area has neither.
Here are a few of our favorite pictures from our trip up "Going to the Sun" highway. Note: as with Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, it is difficult to get a good scale of measure, everything is huge.