G is for Glacier

Keeping up with this A-Z is tough.  I’m writing this late on Thursday night, after getting back from a Dr. John concert in the Lucas Theater in Savannah.  It was a great show!  I told someone this afternoon that I was going to see Dr. John and they asked if he was checking my leg (they didn’t realize I was referring to a musician).   Dr. John and the Nite Trippers are from New Orleans.

We’re up to the letter G.  Where might I want to go?  High on the list would have been Greenland, but I have already been there (incredible fiords).  I live in Georgia, although Russian Georgia would be a bit exotic.  And then there is the Ganges, a river that I would enjoy seeing along with the religious sites of the Hindus.  But first, there are a couple of national parks that I would really like to visit (I have been in 26 National Parks and a half dozen National Seashores/Lakeshores).  I have yet to visit Glacier.  Well, actually I have, but it was at night.  Years ago, I took the “Empire Builder,” the Amtrak train from Chicago to Seattle that runs on the old Great Northern Line which cuts the south corner of Glacier.  The train was scheduled to arrive during daylight but unfortunately a derailment of a bunch of oil tank cars in Eastern Montana delayed us.  We arrived at Glacier at night.

 Image: Wikipedia / Tobias Klenze 

Any trip to Glacier National Park would include a road trip on the Going to the Sun Road which traverses the middle of the park.  This is supposed to be one of the great drives in America and I wonder how it would stack up to the drive through Rocky Mountains National Park in Colorado or the Beartooth Highway which runs from Red Lodge Montana to the north entry of Yellowstone.  I’ve done both of those drives (and would rate the Beartooth Highway as my favorite).  In addition to driving, I’d want to spend a few days backpacking in the wilderness.  This is grizzly country and I’ve yet to see any even though I have backpacked in grizzle territory.  It seems that black bears are more attracted to me as I've blogged about in 2006.

I need to make this trip before 2030, as there isn't expected to be any glaciers left by then.  However, the park will still show the work of glaciers that shaped the landscape.