Riding the Highline

The Rockies rise sharply up from Highway 2 after Kalispell. They're towering and rugged and make up feel small and insignificant.

It's dark by the time we arrive in West Glacier and set up camp at Apgar so we don't fully experience the majestic beauty of Glacier National Park with its old-growth forests, alpine prairies, ancient glaciers and deep lakes and streams until the next morning, Sept. 6.

This is how George Bird Grinnell described it in 1901: "Far away in Montana, hidden from view by clustering mountain-peaks, lies an upmapped northwestern corner—the Crown of the Continent. The water from the crusted snowdrift which caps the peak of a lofty mountain there trickles into tiny rills, which hurry along north, south, east and west, and growing to river, at last pour their currents into three seas. From this mountain-peak the Pacific and Arctic oceans and the Gulf of Mexico receive each its tribute. Here is a land of striking scenery."

Our first full day in Glacier, we drive Going-to-the-Sun Road (above), a spectacular highway that bisects the park. The 50-mile road follows the shores of Lake McDonald and Saint Mary Lake, the park's two largest lakes, and hugs the cliffs below the Continental Divide as it winds through Logan Pass.

The Blackfeet Creation Legend says Old Man (Napi) came from the south, making mountains and forests, birds and animals as he passed through. Then he traveled north, "putting red paint in the ground here and there—arranging the world as we see it today." After he finished helping the Blackfeet, Napi returned to the sun.

As we are going to the sun, we drive through rain, hail and snow, and watch the mountains behind us change from green and gray to white.

It's snowing when we reach the Logan Pass Visitor Center, at 6,646 feet, so we skip the Hidden Lake Nature Trail (below) and head inside the center to warm ourselves by the fireplace. Later, on a bike ride, a couple with a spotting scope tells us they saw a mama grizzly and her two cubs on this hike.

Kootenai River

Long day of driving today, Sept. 5, from Spokane to Glacier National Park, so we stop at the Kootenai River in the Rocky Mountains near Libby, Mont. The Kootenai River, named after the American Indian tribe that lived in this area, is the second largest tributary to the Columbia River in terms of runoff volume and the third in drainage area. The falls are massive and violent—Ophie doesn't even want to jump in this river—and we respect its power, and the signs that warn visitors to stay out of the water in order to avoid certain death. The guy out on the rock: not so smart.

After hiking to the Kootenai Falls, we cross the Swinging Bridge, 2,100 above the gorge. The rain makes the wooden planks slippery and the wind moves the swaying bridge enough to keep some tourists from crossing it. The three of us soldier on, and across, and then it's back to the truck until we reach Glacier later that night.