• Skip to main content

406 Fun

Hiking and enjoying Montana,

  • Home
  • Camping
  • Flathead Lake
  • Hiking
  • Lifestyle
  • Photos
  • Things to Do.

Hiking

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park MontanaIn 1910, Congress established Glacier National Park in Montana. Conservationist George Bird Grinnell played a key role in the creation of this park in order to preserve the land’s natural beauty. Indians have always revered this region. The Blackfeet, Salish, and Kootenai Indians, who have lived in the area for hundreds of years, consider it a sacred place.

Glacier National Park is named for the glaciers that produced its landscape. A glacier is a moving mass of snow and ice. It forms when more snow falls each winter than melts in the summer. The snow accumulates and presses the layers below it into ice. The bottom layer of ice becomes flexible and therefore allows the glacier to move. As it moves, a glacier picks up rock and gravel. With this mixture of debris, it scours and sculptures the land it moves across. This is how, over thousands of years, Glacier National Park got all its valleys, sharp mountain peaks, and lakes. There are more than 50 glaciers in the park today, though they are smaller than the huge ones that existed 20,000 years ago.

Water flowing in MontanaIn addition to its glaciers, mountains, and valleys, Glacier National Park covers approximately 1.4 million acres and includes 200 lakes and streams. The park is also home to many different types of wildlife, including black and grizzly bear, moose, golden and bald eagle, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and whitetail and mule deer.

Glacier National Park is a stunningly beautiful ice-carved terrain of serrated ridges, jutting peaks, dramatic hanging valleys, 50 glaciers, more than 200 lakes, waterfalls and thick forests covering some 1.2-million acres. Deer are among the most commonly spotted wildlife but elk, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, wolves, grizzly and black bears roam its wild vastness and are often seen by visitors.

Goat Lick overlook, for example, is a natural salt lick on cliffs overlooking the southern border of the park. From a viewing platform just off US Highway 2 east of Essex you are sure to see mountain goats or other animals at any time of day enjoying the lick.

Glacier Park MontanaWild flowers, too, are abundant and put on a lengthy show of color as they follow spring up the mountains all summer long.

The park is unique among US parks in its relationship with the Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada. The two parks meet at the border shared by the two countries. Though administered by separate countries, the parks are cooperatively managed in recognition that wild plants and animals ignore political boundaries and claim the natural and cultural resources on both sides of the border. In 1932, the parks were designated the first International Peace Park in recognition of the bonds of peace and friendship between the two nations. The two parks jointly share the name The Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Then, in 1995, The Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was designated for inclusion as a World Heritage Site.

Filed Under: Hiking, Montana

Hiking in Montana

Hiking Trails in Montana

Flathead Lake Hiking TrailsThe GoHikeWithMike.com website contains information about camping & hiking around Flathead Lake.   Mike has been hiking, wandering, hunting and spending time in these woods for more then 20 years.  The Go Hike with Mike Trail Guide contains most every trail head around Flathead Lake.  The guide includes trails as far north as Polebridge.  It also contains the Hungry Horse recreation area, the Swan Front and Swan Valley to the east.  To the north the guide contains trail head and campground information around Tally Lake.

Hiking Around Flathead Lake

Mike receives countless inquires about good trails and camping spots around Flathead Lake.  There is clearly a need for more detailed information about hiking around Flathead Lake.  This website and trail guide are the trails Mike would like to recommend to you during your visit to northwest Montana.

Trails around Flathead LakeThe trail guide is focused on trails, camping and being in the woods.  Mike’s Flathead Lake Trail Guide breaks the area in five easy to use sections.  North of Flathead lake, including The Talley Lake area and due north to Polebridge. East of Flathead Lake, including the Swan Front, Swan Valley, and on into the Hungry Horse recreation area.  West of Flathead Lake, including Blacktail Mountain and the Kootenai National Forest.  The guide contains most every trail Mike has hiked in the last 20 years or plans to hike in the next 20 years.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR COPY.

Don’t need the hiking guide, just some basic trail information, do not fret.  Mike has included some beginner to medium hikes on this website.  Depending on were you as staying there is most likely a trail head near you. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you on the trail.

Filed Under: Hiking, Montana

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3

Copyright © 2023 · 406Fun.com
Articles about Hiking and Enjoying Montana.
Website: 406Fun.com · Email: havefun@406fun.com

Purchase the: Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide, The Flathead Lake Vacation Guide, or the Vacation and Trail Guide Combo Pack