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Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park is in northwestern Montana. Geologic processes formed and sculpted the peaks, leaving about 50 glaciers and 200 lakes. The mountains to the east are a result of an overthrust of the Earth's crust. Rock layers about a billion years old lie above layers millions of years younger. Some of the finest mountain scenery in America is within this 1-million-acre park.
The U-shaped valleys, as well as most of the lakes, are the legacy of the last ice age. Most glaciers are accessible only by trail; a few can be viewed from the road. Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park, in Alberta, together form Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, although each is administered separately. Scenic Going-to-the-Sun Road connects the east and west sections of Glacier National Park.
Though Glacier is a refuge for nearly every large mammal species native to the United States, most of the animals seek the undisturbed areas, and few are seen along the roads during the travel season. The park also is a haven for 235 species of birds.
The brilliance and diversity of its floral life is one of Glacier's outstanding features; July marks the height of bloom for the 1,000-odd species of flowering plants. In the valleys on the east side are dense stands of Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir and lodgepole pine. The western valleys present a different picture with their many dense stands of western red cedars and other conifers.
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