Glacier — Brandon Puckett Photography

Posted on November 30, 2017

**Looking east from the edge of Glacier Park near Polebridge**

Glacier Park! The thought of it is refreshing and pristine as I write this. Montana has many natural gems for one to explore but Glacier is hard for the rest to compete with. How many times I encountered that great wall of mountains rising from the west while driving back from another hitch in North Dakota, I do not know. It was always the first real mountain range I would see. Rising over four thousand feet above the valley floor the peaks tower like a herd of stallions on the prairie with nothing in their way but wide open spaces. Upon sight of them it feels as if one is leaving one world to head into another. The west side of the range rises over five thousand feet in places from the valley also, although it does not look as dramatic as the east face of the park. Glacier truly is another realm to behold with a distinct beauty not seen anywhere else. There are grizzly bear, black bear, coyote, wolf, puma, eagle, hawk, deer, elk, moose, antelope, fish, pika, and many other animals that all live within its ecosystem. If you are lucky such as I was last summer you may spot one of the grizzlies. Me and a group of hikers watched a male grizzly swim on the opposite side from us at Avalanche lake and then walk along the shoreline. It is always comforting seeing the great beasts from a distance rather than up close. The memory of looking at the bear through a pair of borrowed binoculars is vivid to this day. I had not bought a camera at that time so I had no way to capture the giant but I did take some cool shots of the lake with my cell phone.

**Me after going under in Avalanche lake**

Later in the summer me and a couple friends ventured into Polebridge Montana, a tiny community perched on the edge of the northwest side of Glacier Park. Its about as remote as it gets with no power or cell service with spotty internet in just a few places. We camped in view of a million stars on an old backroad the first night and after a breakfast at the famous pastry house in Polebridge, took the long drive to Bowman and then Kintla lake. Both lakes are long and skinny beginning at the base of the west side of the mountains and stretching northeast into them quite a ways. Surprisingly enough Kintla lake was not as cold as expected so me and my buddies jumped in from dock next to the cabin the rangers stay at during the summer. I took a picture as someone decided to make a running dive into the cold blue water. I will say the traffic on the rough dirt roads going to the lakes is not fun and finding a parking spot can be tough. We got lucky to find one at both lakes. After dinner we decided to head back to civilization but not before I put my drone up and grabbed a shot overlooking part of the west side of Glacier Park. That shot is the headline photo for todays blog.

Glacier can be an exhilarating experience for anyone looking for raw beauty in the remote mountains of Montana. Just remember the popular places are heavily frequented by others so you might have to do some serious hiking or paddling if you want true solitude. I still think it is one of the best national parks the United States has to offer and plan on going back time and time again. What I wrote about are just a few places in Glacier that I have experienced. There are many more things to see and do such as the world famous drive up “going to the sun” road. Trust me on this one, there is a reason its world famous! But don’t just take my word for it, check it out yourself!