{"id":4856,"date":"2012-07-16T05:50:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T03:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsdavedoing.com\/?p=4856"},"modified":"2012-07-16T05:50:19","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T03:50:19","slug":"snow-streams-glacier-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsdavedoing.com\/snow-streams-glacier-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow and streams in Glacier National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
After the beauty of Grand Teton<\/a> and the bubbling diversity of Yellowstone<\/a>, I wasn’t sure what to expect from our final national park of this road trip, Glacier.\u00a0 Perched at the northern edge of Montana, the park is famous for the Going-to-the-Sun Road, the awkwardly-named 50 mile route that runs through the centre from east to west.<\/p>\n It’s also famous for snow.\u00a0 Lots and lots of snow.\u00a0 Apparently drifts 80 feet (25m) or more high are not uncommon at the top of Logan Pass, and it takes close to three months to clear the road each year – it had only been open a few weeks by the time we drove through at the end of June.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The mercury fell quickly as we headed towards the park, from around 90 degrees F at the start of the day to barely 60 as we pulled up to our hostel.\u00a0 Storm clouds scudded across the sky, and a strong wind whipped the rain into our faces as we forced the car doors open.\u00a0 Our atmospheric (read: old) hostel creaked and groaned as the weather took hold.<\/p>\n Exploring would have to wait until tomorrow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Heavy rain during the night gave way to a brisk breeze the following morning, and with more rain on the horizon we decided that long hikes were probably out of the question.\u00a0 Still, there were plenty of shorter walks to be done, and occasional breaks in the cloud cover even gave some hope of an enjoyable day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A little further down the road there was the option of going canoeing out on the lake.\u00a0 Strangely enough given the whitecaps close to shore and the fact I could barely open the car door against the freezing gale, we decided against it…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fortunately the next day was a complete contrast.\u00a0 Shorts and t-shirts replaced rain jackets and long pants, the hot sun making a mockery of the previous day’s frigid temperatures.\u00a0 It was time to cross the park.<\/p>\n