Day 14 : Glacier national park
Making our way out of the freezing valley we made our way to and through glacier national park where we hiked and explored the western side of the Rockies.
A cold night
Getting out of our sleeping bag this morning was one of the hardest things we had to do. Camping next to the river is a beautiful thing but the humidity lowered the temperature to the point we could see our own breath! thankfully we had warm oatmeal and coffee ready in no time to warm us up.
Entering Glacier national park
With the raging wildfires on the bc side of the Rockies, the smoke limited our view of the mountains. Thankfully, this led to some beautiful landscapes. Layers of mountains each covered more and more by the smoke led the way through the valley with towering snow covered peaks above.
Great Glacier Trail
We made our first stop of the morning to go hike the great glacier trail. This great 4km hike started out nice and flat to warm you up then arrived at the foundations of an old luxury hotel of the 1800s. After the small history break the path leads you up the mountain besides a beautiful creek with huge boulders and rock gardens surrounding it. A few switchbacks through the forest later, you find yourself above the tree line with an amazing view of the mountain in front and the waterfall filled glacier behind. The trail ends after a small scramble on a huge rock face where we took a break before making our way back down.
Explosive lunch
Stopping for lunch at one of the viewpoints, we learned that to be able to control the abundant avalanches, the park bombards the mountains sides with artillery shells… This is the more overkill solution I have ever heard!
Whatever works I guess.
Another beautiful highway to the list
The highway going through this national park is truely exeptional, you wind your way down a narrow valley, making your way through the canadian rainforest, going through avalanch tunnels and swirving above and bellow steep cliffs; all with amazing views at every turn of the mountains and glaciers above.
A very different sight compared to the equaly beautifull icefield parkway.
Rock gardens
After lunch we went on a small hike exploring one of the rock gardens scattered throughout the park. these jagged rock looked like the ruins of an old monument but are in reality the results of the numerous avalanches and rock slides.
Old growth inland rainforest
Our last stop in the national park was a small interpretive walk going through the rainforest.
These old growth inland rainforest are only found in bc and are populated by a huge variety of plants unique to this forest, including, old red cedars, these giant trees stretch out to 60m in height and make way for a mossy floor filled with lush vegetation.
the diversity of landscapes in the west is truly outstanding, just in our trip we saw the plains, badlands, deserts, mountains, glaciers, alpine forest to lush rainforests and there’s a lot more to come the more west we go.
Forest fires are a thing
Making our way to our campsite, we came across a devastating sight; across the lake on the side of a mountain was an out of control forest fire. Being so big and far away, we saw it slow motion from our perspective. Like a campfire, we couldn’t stop looking, it was ever changing but always the same. Mesmerizing.
From the safe side of the lake we could see the firefighting helicopters making their rounds fighting the fire with huge water buckets.
Campsite in the rainforest
A few kilometers away of the fire, we made our way to wap creek where we found a very nice secluded campsite in the middle of the rainforest near a hidden waterfall. With huge red cedars surrounding us and a lush mossy floor, it looked like we where transported to an enchanted forest.
