Glacier Park

One day I saw a photograph in a magazine. The photo showed a beautiful mountain lake surrounded by tall evergreens. Behind the lake was a snow-covered mountain.  The caption said the picture was taken in Glacier National Park in Montana. It was one of the most beautiful nature pictures I had seen. I wanted to see that lake for myself. So I drove to Montana.

I found that lake and stood just where the photographer stood when he took the photo in the magazine. I looked across the lake and beyond it to the evergreen forest surrounding it. I looked at the snow-covered mountain in the distance. And when I looked down into the lake water, as clear as the water that comes from your kitchen faucet, I saw something completely unexpected: the bottom of the lake was covered with small multi-colored pebbles like the stones people buy to put in their home aquariums.

How perfect can it get?

Looking back, it was probably a little impulsive to drive to Montana just to visit Glacier Park and see a beautiful mountain lake, but I’m glad I did. When it was first mapped and photographed in the 19th century, there were 150 glaciers in the park. Because of a continued pattern of warm weather, only 37 glaciers remain, and only 25 of those are “active” glaciers larger than 25 acres. All the remaining glaciers are expected to disappear by 2030 and possibly by 2020. Then, the only glacier in Glacier Park will be its name.