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The park provides trails for hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, and backpacking. It contains a tennis court. It has a staging area for non-gas powered model airplane and kite enthusiasts to play with their toys. Finally, it has a small picnic area equipped with picnic tables and barbeques for up to 25 people. That area is ajacent to a huge California bay tree. Bay tree leaves could be used as a flavoring in food and are reputed to be an insect repellant. Last but not least, a majority of the Park’s facilities meet those standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Confucius once said: “The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills”. As a place full of hills, a number of plant communities and wildlife habitats exist in the park and open space preserve, including the famous bay tree mentioned earlier. Even during summer, trees provide enough shades for people to enjoy. The preserve is also home to many wildlife species (see the pictures listed below).

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The highlight of the preserve is Deer Hollow Farm, a working farm with a cow, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, other animals, and an organic garden, as well as numberous turn-of-the-century ranch buildings. An additional attraction is the restored Grant Cabin, furnished to represent living conditions in the late 1800s.

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The farm is an amazing place for kids to experience the Nature. A lot of families come to the farm during weekends for a picnic around the farm barn complex. Kids are playing together, happily.

Here are more pictures:

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During 2004 Memorial Day Holiday, I joined a photography trip. On the first day, we flied to Spokane (WA) from San Jose, drove 5 hours across Idaho along highway 90, and took highway 2 from Kalispell until West Glacier around 8pm. The first night, we stayed at the Historic Belton Chalets with a discount since it was not officially open. At the hotel, we heard that the famed Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed due to the weather. Luckily, the weather became sunny and remained sunny until we left the park.

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Going-to-the-Sun Road is the main parkway through the heart of Glacier National Park. It was completed in 1932, and it is the only road that crosses the park. Along the road, we bypassed Lake McDonald, hiked along Avalanche Creek, and skirted Weeping Wall. We stopped at Logan Pass. It is the highest point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road located along the Continental Divide. The road became narrower after the pass. Then, we encountered not only the famous Going-to-the-Sun Mountain, but also big horn sheep and grizzlies. Along Saint Mary Lake, we reached Saint Mary. Heading north, we visited Many Glacier Lodge at sunset. We stayed at Saint Mary for the night.

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On the third day, we visited Saint Mary Lake again in the morning. Then, we headed south for Two Medicine Lake. When we reached the lake, it was windy and freaking cold. We took a long exhausting hike for the afternoon. Unfortunately, the sunset was boring due to the weather. Eventually, we reached Walton at late night.

On the forth day, we drove north, back to Lake McDonald. Along highway 2, we took several trails. We stayed at Village Inn at Apgar right on the shore of Lake McDonald. At the next sunrise, we got a load shots of the lake.

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We were pretty lucky in the sense that normally, Going-to-the-Sun Road is not open until mid-June. We went there a little bit early. Because of that, hotels were not “officially” open during our visit. That’s how we enjoyed the discounts for our stay.

All in all, Glacier National Park is a must-go among all the national parks!

Note: I used a mac to edit these pictures. They might appear a little bit muddy on PCs.

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