David worked most of the morning. But in the afternoon we drove into the park and went to the Apgar Visitor Center. There we collected our collected our 43rd Passport Stamp,explored the exhibits, shopped in the gift store, and talked with the rangers to figure out the hiking options. We were a little surprised to find out the park movie is only shown at the east entrance visitor center in St. Mary. We learned from the exhibits that about 12,000 years ago, the area was covered by 5000 feet of ice in the last big ice age. The glaciers have been mostly retreating ever since. The last significant growth of glaciers in the park occurred during the little Ice Age (1300 to 1850) and they have retreated since then. In 1850 there was over three hundred glaciers in Glacier National Park but there are only 30 left today with five of those no longer “active” (ie moving). They estimate that they will all be gone by 2030 at current rates of shrinkage.
We left the Apgar Visitor Centerdrove along Lake McDonald on the Going To The Sun Scenic Byway. The views across the lake were beautiful. The far side of the lake experienced a fire in 2003 and the trees are growing back quickly. We pulled into the Lake McDonald Lodge and were surprised to see the 1934 red busses. We thought they had gone out of service. So we went into the lodge to find out about their schedule of service. Then we went down to the lake. In the early 1900s, guests would arrive at the lodge by boat, so the front of the lodge actually faces the lake. It reminded us of hotels in Bavaria. We then went to the lounge and enjoyed some drinks and a Charcuterie Board, which just reinforced our feeling of being back in Germany looking out over an alpine lake.
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| Glacier Entrance Sign |
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| Red Bus |
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| Lake McDonald Lodge |
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| Chandeler in Lake MeDonald Lodge |
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| Lake McDonald from the lodge |
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