Earth Spaces

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Glacier National Park, Montana

Jan 17th, 2009 by earthspaces

With over 700 miles of trails, Glacier is a hiker’s paradise for adventurous visitors seeking wilderness and solitude. This entire area holds great spiritual importance to the Blackfeet, Salish, and Kootenai people. The Blackfeet Indians controlled the vast prairies east of the mountains. The Salish and Kootenai Indians lived and hunted in the western valleys. In 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition came within 50 miles of the area that is now the park. George Bird Grinnell was an early explorer to this part of Montana and spent many years working to get the park established. The area was made a Forest Preserve in 1900. President Taft, in 1910, signed the bill establishing Glacier as the country’s 10th national park. The final section of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, over Logan Pass, was completed in 1932 after 11 years of work. The road, a National Historic Landmark, is one of the most scenic roads in North America. Miles of hiking trails follow routes first used by trappers in the early 1800’s. Several hotels and chalets, built by the Great Northern Railway in the early 1900’s, offer lodging for summer guests to the park. Music by Maury Smith, copyright 2008. Slideshow and photographs copyright 2008 by Creative Juice LLC.