Flew down to Kalispell, MT over the labor day weekend. Started the trip to GNP by visiting Lake McDonald. The place is a marvel, the lake consists of colourful pebbles and crystal clear water set in a backgroud of tall and strong mountains. Glacier National Park is a 1,583-sq.-mi. wilderness area in Montana's Rocky Mountains, with glacier-carved peaks and valleys running to the Canadian border. It's crossed by the mountainous Going-to-the-Sun Road. Among more than 700 miles of hiking trails, it has a route to photogenic Hidden Lake. Other activities include backpacking, cycling and camping. Diverse wildlife ranges from mountain goats to grizzly bears.
The region that became Glacier National Park was first inhabited by Native Americans. Upon the arrival of European explorers, it was dominated by the Blackfeet in the east and the Flathead in the western regions. Under pressure, the Blackfeet ceded the mountainous parts of their treaty lands in 1895 to the federal government; it later became part of the park. Soon after the establishment of the park on May 11, 1910, a number of hotels and chalets were constructed by the Great Northern Railway. These historic hotels and chalets are listed as National Historic Landmarks and a total of 350 locations are on the National Register of Historic Places. By 1932 work was completed on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, later designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, which provided greater accessibility for automobiles into the heart of the park.
Glacier National Park's mountains began forming 170 million years ago when ancient rocks were forced eastward up and over much younger rock strata. Known as the Lewis Overthrust, these sedimentary rocks are considered to have some of the finest examples of early life fossils on Earth. The current shapes of the Lewis and Livingston mountain ranges and positioning and size of the lakes show the telltale evidence of massive glacial action, which carved U-shaped valleys and left behind moraines that impounded water, creating lakes. Of the estimated 150 glaciers which existed in the park in the mid-19th century during the late Little Ice Age, only 25 active glaciers remained by 2010.[5] Scientists studying the glaciers in the park have estimated that all the active glaciers may disappear by 2030 if current climate patterns persist.[6]
The standard hike to Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park begins from the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead, located roughly one-half mile past the turn-off for the Many Glacier Hotel. However, you can shave 3.4 miles off your roundtrip hike by taking the two shuttle boats across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine. This hike description assumes you'll use the shuttle boats, therefore this hike begins from the boat dock at the Many Glacier Hotel. Please note that there is a fee to board the two boats.
The express boat shuttles hikers across Swiftcurrent Lake in about 8 minutes. From the landing on the south side of the lake you'll take the paved trail up and over to Lake Josephine. This short 0.2-mile walk climbs about 80 feet before descending back down to the Lake Josephine boat dock. From here you'll board the Morning Eagle and take the 12-minute shuttle across Lake Josephine.
From the boat landing on the south shore of Lake Josephine hikers should proceed along the trail that leads towards the right. After walking a very short distance you'll reach a junction where you'll turn right to continue towards your destination.
From the junction the trail circles around the south end of the lake. Much of this segment travels along a raised boardwalk that keeps hikers above a wet marshy area. Immediately after exiting this short section you'll arrive at the North Shore Lake Josephine Trail junction, which veers towards the right. The path leading to Grinnell Glacier continues up the hill, and from this point, will climb a thigh-burning 135 feet over the course of the next tenth-of-a-mile.
At roughly four-tenths of a mile from the boat landing hikers will reach the Grinnell Glacier Trail. A turn to the right here will lead you back to the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead in Many Glacier. To continue on towards Grinnell Glacier hikers should turn left here. From the junction the trail levels out for awhile, and allows hikers to catch their breath.
Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon
By Klaus Bauderlaire, Student, Colorado Fort Collins
Flew down to Grand Canyon national park over a weekend in august. Started the trip by visiting Grand Canyon . The Grand Canyon(Hopi: Öngtupqa,[2] Yavapai: Wi:kaʼi:la, Navajo: Bidááʼ Haʼaztʼiʼ Tsékooh,[3][4] Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi,[5] Spanish: Gran Cañón) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters).[6]
The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the Havasupai Indian Reservation and the Navajo Nation. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of the preservation of the Grand Canyon area and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery.
Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.[7] While some aspects about the history of incision of the canyon are debated by geologists,[8] several recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago.[1][9][10] Since that time, the Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon.
For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site, and made pilgrimages to it.[11] The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.[12]
Redwood National Park
A Typical Redwood Tree
By Violet Bauderlaire, Student, Colorado Boulder
Flew down to glacier national park over the labor day weekend. Started the trip by visiting Fern Canyon . The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are a complex of one national park and three state parks, cooperatively managed, located in the United States along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park (established 1968) and California's State Parks: Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek (dating from the 1920s), the combined RNSP contain 139,000 acres (560 km2),[1] and feature old-growth temperate rainforests. Located within Del Norte and Humboldt Counties, the four parks, together, protect 45 percent of all remaining coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) old-growth forests, totaling at least 38,982 acres (157.75 km2). These trees are the tallest, among the oldest, and one of the most massive tree species on Earth. In addition to the redwood forests, the parks preserve other indigenous flora, fauna, grassland prairie, cultural resources, portions of rivers and other streams, and 37 miles (60 km) of pristine coastline.
In 1850, old-growth redwood forest covered more than 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km2) of the California coast. The northern portion of that area was originally inhabited by Native Americans that were forced out off their land by gold seekers and timber harvesters. The enormous redwoods attracted timber harvesters to support the gold rush in more southern regions of California and the increased population from booming development in San Francisco and other places on the West Coast. After many decades of unrestricted clear-cut logging, serious efforts toward conservation began. By the 1920s the work of the Save the Redwoods League, founded in 1918 to preserve remaining old-growth redwoods, resulted in the establishment of Prairie Creek, Del Norte Coast, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Parks among others. Redwood National Park was created in 1968, by which time nearly 90 percent of the original redwood trees had been logged. The National Park Service (NPS) and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (CDPR) administratively combined Redwood National Park with the three abutting Redwood State Parks in 1994 for the purpose of cooperative forest management and stabilization of forests and watersheds as a single unit.
The ecosystem of the RNSP preserves a number of threatened animal species such as the tidewater goby, Chinook salmon, northern spotted owl, and Steller's sea lion, though it is believed that the tidewater goby is likely to have been extirpated from the park.[3] In recognition of the rare ecosystem and cultural history found in the parks, the United Nations designated them a World Heritage Site on September 5, 1980 and part of the California Coast Ranges International Biosphere Reserve on June 30, 1983.
