Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is a protected area in northwestern Montana that stretches along the Canadian border and offers more than a thousand kilometers of hiking trails through forests, valleys, and alpine meadows. The landscape includes dozens of glaciers, over a hundred named lakes, and steep rock walls cut by streams that tumble into deep canyons.

Congressman George Bird Grinnell campaigned for protection of these mountains starting in the 1880s after witnessing how mining and logging altered the landscape. The park was established in 1910 and later joined with neighboring Waterton Lakes in Canada to form an international peace park in 1932.

The area remains connected to the Blackfeet, whose reservation borders the eastern edge and whose language appears on signs and interpretive displays throughout the park. Visitors encounter this relationship through ranger programs and guided walks led by tribal members who explain how these mountains have shaped their stories and daily life for generations.

Most visitors arrive between June and September when the high-elevation road through the mountains is fully open and trails are free of snow. Shoulder seasons bring fewer crowds but limited access, as many facilities and roads remain closed during winter months.

The glaciers that gave the park its name have been shrinking for decades, and many have already disappeared or remain only as small patches of ice. Visitors can track this change through interpretive signs that show how ice edges have retreated over the course of a century.

Location: Flathead County

Location: Glacier County

Inception: May 11, 1910

Elevation above the sea: 1,837 m

Operator: National Park Service

Part of: Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Website: https://nps.gov/glac

GPS coordinates: 48.75500,-113.80000

Latest update: December 12, 2025 03:02