I half expected a visit from the Loch Ness monster.
From the dock along the shore of Glacier National Park’s largest subalpine lake, I watched the DeSmet gracefully emerge from the fog and quietly glide past the dock she’d called home since her launch in 1930. And then she turned, as if playing coy had been her intention all along, and headed back to shore.
I could only hope to be as charismatic at 85!
Granted, I didn’t have 75 million years of geological magic to insure an exquisitely sculpted bone structure with which to enthrall in one turn of the dance floor; and what a marvelous dance floor Glacier National Park’s Lake McDonald.
I could only hope to be as charismatic at 85!
Granted, I didn’t have 75 million years of geological magic to insure an exquisitely sculpted bone structure with which to enthrall in one turn of the dance floor; and what a marvelous dance floor Glacier National Park’s Lake McDonald.
I'd have to admit, DeSmet was definitely smooth on her feet.
Our tour group took our turn next on the dance floor, boarding the historic DeSmet before she returned to waltzing past western red cedar and hemlock, mountain ranges and eons of time hugging the 10 miles of crystal clear water.
A cloud of smoke also hugged Lake McDonald the day of our visit, obscuring the otherwise spectacular mountain ranges that have served as magnificent backdrop for this 472-foot-deep body of water courtesy of rising temperatures following the last ice age some 11,000 to 12,000 years ago.
This is what we might have seen had our visit not included three wildfires burning under the watchful eye of park rangers in remote sections of Glacier National Park.
A cloud of smoke also hugged Lake McDonald the day of our visit, obscuring the otherwise spectacular mountain ranges that have served as magnificent backdrop for this 472-foot-deep body of water courtesy of rising temperatures following the last ice age some 11,000 to 12,000 years ago.
This is what we might have seen had our visit not included three wildfires burning under the watchful eye of park rangers in remote sections of Glacier National Park.
Our visit was all about blind faith. Thanks Wikipedia!
This was our view.
You win some, you lose some.
And so it was an earnest Junior National Park Ranger who kept us on our toes for the next hour. Julie plied us with history in the midst of all of the mystery enveloping Lake McDonald and the surrounding wilderness.
This was Julie's last tour of the summer before heading back to college.
Hudson Bay Company agent Peter Fidler provided the first documented glimpse of GNP. Traveling southwestward across the Canadian prairies in 1792 with a Piegan band of Blackfeet Indians, the British surveyor, mapmaker, fur trader and explorer created a map of the area that included a rough sketch of the Rockies and the name of “Kings Mountain” attached to one of the peaks. That prominent landmark, later changed to “Chief Mountain,” still bears the name today.
In the early 1800s, French, English and Spanish trappers came in search of profitable beaver pelts.
In the early 1800s, French, English and Spanish trappers came in search of profitable beaver pelts.
There was gold in GNP. It was called beaver pelts.
In 1806, Lewis and Clark came within 50 miles of the area now known as Glacier National Park during their famous expedition commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson. Enter naturalist, historian, conservationist and anthropologist George Bird Grinnell in 1880, editor of Forest and Stream Magazine and co-founder of the Audubon Society.
The Yale graduate, courtesy of National Parks media.
Grinnell offered the growing nation the first real publicity about Glacier’s beauty and bounty via 14 Forest and Stream essays.
With the completion of the northernmost transcontinental railroad by railroad tycoon James J. Hill (he completed his railroad without a dime of public funds; impressive!) in the early 1890s, the first of generations of tourists arrived at the doorstep of Glacier National Park via the Great National Railroad. The park was a virtual wilderness, as is 93% of the park today.
By 1895, unable to stem the tide of traders and trappers, the native Blackfeet Indians, who considered the mountains of the area the "Backbone of the World", sold those mountains to the United States government (Glacier’s eastern side of the 1-million-acre park) for $1.5 million. The Blackfeet retain usage rights to the land for as long as the ceded strip is public land of the United States.
By 1900 the area was designated a forest preserve; by 1910, thanks in part to the efforts of Grinnell, President Taft signed a bill designating Glacier the nation’s tenth national park, forever preserving the “Crown of the Continent.”
By 1895, unable to stem the tide of traders and trappers, the native Blackfeet Indians, who considered the mountains of the area the "Backbone of the World", sold those mountains to the United States government (Glacier’s eastern side of the 1-million-acre park) for $1.5 million. The Blackfeet retain usage rights to the land for as long as the ceded strip is public land of the United States.
By 1900 the area was designated a forest preserve; by 1910, thanks in part to the efforts of Grinnell, President Taft signed a bill designating Glacier the nation’s tenth national park, forever preserving the “Crown of the Continent.”
Glacier National Park - a touch of heaven here on earth.
Between 1910 and 1917, the Great Northern Railroad spent $1.5 million developing tourist facilities in Glacier National Park. Two of the original nine (the Sperry Chalet and Granite Park Chalet) remain open to guests today. Others that came along over the intervening years have also been designated National Historic Landmarks, including the Lake McDonald Lodge.
350 structures in GNP are listed on the register of National Historic Places.
Originally called the Lewis Glacier Hotel, Lake McDonald Lodge was built by, you guessed it, developer John Lewis, in 1913-1914. The Great Northern Railroad bought the lodge in 1930. In 1957, the lodge was renamed Lake McDonald Lodge. In 1981, the Glacier Park Hotel Company was sold to Dial Corporation (as in soap, although did you know the Dial Corporation is a subsidiary of a German Company called Henkel AG & Company?), which then spun off with the Viad company. I know; more information than you wanted to know! Perhaps a picture would be in order.
The second-story view through moose antlers of the great room at Lake McDonald Lodge.
The Lake McDonald Lodge faces the lake, a nod perhaps to the first tourists who arrived at Lake McDonald’s very first hotel, the Snyder Hotel, via steamboat in 1895. The Snyder Hotel was demolished before construction began on the Lewis Glacier Hotel. The ten-mile journey from the Apgar area followed a two-mile trek through the wilderness via a horse-drawn carriage and a ferry trip over the Middle Fork Flathead River; back when travel was truly all about the journey!
My thoughts wandered to the challenges those early visitors must have faced as Junior Ranger Julie finally ran out of steam and left me to ponder the past and this magnificent, albeit smoke-filled park.
I’d hoped to see a bit more of the 60 native species of mammals and 260 species of birds – a bear perhaps, a moose. I did see a few mountain goats; and one positively precocious passenger thoroughly enjoying the moment.
My thoughts wandered to the challenges those early visitors must have faced as Junior Ranger Julie finally ran out of steam and left me to ponder the past and this magnificent, albeit smoke-filled park.
I’d hoped to see a bit more of the 60 native species of mammals and 260 species of birds – a bear perhaps, a moose. I did see a few mountain goats; and one positively precocious passenger thoroughly enjoying the moment.
Say hello to Sandy.
Two days hardly begins to scratch the surface when it comes to 175 mountains, 762 lakes, 563 streams, 200 waterfalls, 25 glaciers, and 745 miles of hiking trails. But who's counting!
I'm counting on making it back to Glacier National Park. I think a hike (or two, or three, or may 23) might be in order. Hope to get back sooner rather than later, before the rockers are all we can manage.
I'm counting on making it back to Glacier National Park. I think a hike (or two, or three, or may 23) might be in order. Hope to get back sooner rather than later, before the rockers are all we can manage.
Sit here long enough, and the wildlife will come to you.
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