And God said: "Let there be mountains."

Monday 3 August: Day 7

Cut Bank, MT to Babb, MT: 80 miles

We left Cut Bank around 8am this morning. We rode about 50 miles west to Browning which was more prairie land. As we approached Browning we could see the Rockies in the distance. At first they were a hazy blue, but as we got closer they became clear. With the sun at our backs, it lit the faces of the mountains in many different colors.

Once we hit Browning, we turned right and headed north toward St. Mary and the east entrance to Glacier National Park. We cannot put into words how beautiful the mountains are. We proceeded to Many Glacier, MT, which is famous for its lodge that was opened in the 1920s. It is a grand lodge modeled after the Swiss ski lodges in the Alps. We walked in to the main foyer which is lined with mighty timbers hewed from the local forests. The view from the front porch of the lodge overlooked Swiftcurrent Lake and many of Glacier’s famous peaks.

Here are the mountains approaching St. Mary:

Here is Many Glacier Lodge:

This is the foyer and main sitting room in the lodge:

This is the view from the front porch of the lodge:

This is Grinnell Mountain, also visible from the lodge front porch:

One of the many informative signs that was at Many Glacier explained the effects of global warming on the park. In 1850 there were over 150 glaciers. As of 2009, that number is down to 6 major glaciers. They are expecting that by 2030, there will be no glaciers left in Glacier National Park. Scientists are not sure just how that will affect the park and the local ecosystem.

Gumby is happy that there are still some glaciers in Montana!

After Many Glacier we headed north to the Canadian Border. There wasn’t too much to see up there but the ride to and from provided us more breathtaking scenery. We then headed back down to St. Mary for lunch. While in St. Mary we toured the visitor’s center and got our National Parks Passports stamped. We grabbed lunch at a small café located right in St. Mary. After lunch we headed back up to Babb to check into our motel. All of the accommodations here are very high priced and all are booked solid. We also saw hundreds of motorcycles all over the park.

Tomorrow we are planning on heading back to Many Glacier to hike up to Grinnell Glacier. The hike is about 13 miles round trip. It climbs around Swiftcurrent and Grinnell lakes. We are both looking very forward to hiking all the way up the glacier and getting to see some of GNP on foot.