Hiking in Glacier Peace Park
by Linda Aksomitis

The white surveyor's obelisks were readily visible in the dense green forest that rose up from the shores of Waterton Lake, marking the 49th parallel dividing Canada and the United States. The cool breeze blowing off the water wasn't enough to cool my excite-ment at visiting the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

Backpack in hand; I was ready for the smooth glide of the boat into the dock at Goat Haunt, an area reachable only by water from the Canadian side in Alberta, even though it is in Glacier Park (Montana) on the US side. It is the only place on the thousands of miles of border that divide the two countries where international visitors may cross without applying for formal admission to the United States. However, visitors leaving the shore area to hike do require appropriate documents.

I quickly left the shore with its driftwood treasures behind, as I set off along the walking trail. The trees towered over my head; a canopy echoing the hoots and chirps of dozens of different birds. I picked out the red tail of a hawk gliding above me, and the melodious song of a hummingbird. Lifting my binoculars to my eyes, I spied dozens of other species perched in trees and flitting between the branches.

The first part of the hike wasn't strenuous, letting me concentrate on picking out signs of other wildlife in the various meadows. The International Peace Park is one of the few places in North America where all of the native carnivores survive. Grizzly and black bears both inhabit the area, along with wolves, so I was particularly attentive to the sounds of any large animals moving through the trees. A small deer, its eyes wide with surprise, stood near me for a second on the trail before making an abrupt turnaround, but that was the only encounter.

The trail grew steep once I passed the ranger station, with the next mile keeping me panting as I toiled under the hot summer sun. As the elevation increased to 4400 feet (1341-meters) my breath came in short gasps-hiking can be tough work! The view from the top of Goat Haunt Mountain was worth the labor.

To the North, in Canada, Waterton Lake spread out before me, a glistening bowl of blue, with Mount Richards, and Vimy Peak in the distance. Goat Haunt Mountain blocked my Eastern view, although the ridge leading up to Mount Cleveland, Glacier's highest peak, appeared in the Southeast. Kootenai Peak stood out in the Southwest, somewhat lower than the glacier covered tops of Porcupine Ridge to the west. The incredible view of some of the world's oldest sedi-mentary rocks covered with the snow-white of eons old glaciers were worth the hike.

This landscape has always been sacred, first to the area's early inhabitants: the Blackfeet, Salish, and Kootenai peoples, and now to two countries. The landforms were created over 75 million years ago when forces within the earth thrust the rock of the Lewis Overthrust into the sky, where the newly formed mountains touched the clouds. At the Triple Divide Peak, southeast of Logan Pass, water can flow towards the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or into Canada's Hudson Bay-earning it the title "Crown of the Continent," which was coined by co-founder of the Audubon Society, George Bird Grinnell, in 1908.

Waterton Lakes Park was created in 1895, with Glacier Park coming somewhat later in 1910. However, it was the joining of the two parks into the world's first International Peace Park in 1932 that is most significant. The global importance of the International Peace Park was reaffirmed in 1995 with its designation as a World Heritage Site.

For me, the majesty of nature makes the Park one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. The diversity of wildlife and ecosystems is incredible, with plants and animals of the humid Pacific Northwest meeting those of the Great Plains and Northern forests. In my further explorations of the park, I traveled from lush cedar and hemlock forests though alpine meadows to the edge of the western prairies.

Night found me in the US side of the Park, checking into the magnificent Glacier Park Lodge. Constructed of 500 to 800 year old fir and 3-foot wide cedar logs, it is a true complement to the park's natural beauty. Originally built in 1913 by the Great Northern Railway, it still retains a rustic style today.

My second day in the Peace Park took me on another great adventure-the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Local legends tell of a deity, Sour Spirit, who came down from the mountain to teach Blackfeet hunters how to be successful, then had his image reproduced on the top of the mountains for inspiration on his way back to the sun. The mountain was named Going-to-the-Sun, and inspired the road's name at its 1933 dedication.

Going-to-the-Sun Road crosses Glacier Park through Logan Pass, resulting in many spectacular views of the park as it winds for 52 miles past Lake McDonald, through the loop, and past Saint Mary Lake. In 1983 Going-To-The-Sun Road was included in the National Register of Historic Places and in 1985 it was made a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Glacier Park's mountains have often been referred to as the North American Alps due to the sheer height and massive beauty of the rock formations. Looking up, all I could see was rock, while looking down-well that was another story! I felt like I was on top of the world, as if I'd climbed up Jack's bean pole and peered over, not a scenic lookout, but through the clouds.

Behind me, a cold rush of water gurgled through the rocks, careening over the band of asphalt to the green bottomless forests below-I realized the source was snow from further up the mountain. Around me, the air was thin at the high elevation, so I moved slowly. Below me towering pine trees spread out with the minuscule perspective of wild grass. A river rushed through, the sound lost in the distance.

At the Visitor's Center I stopped again to hike for a few hours, finding wildflowers along the trail as well as wildlife. Mountain goats halted to stare at me, seemingly unaffected by my intrusion. A squirrel raced across my path, and then came to a stop a safe distance away to watch me. Heaven's Peak soared overhead at an elevation of 9100 feet, while the Garden Wall rose straight out of the valley in a sheer rock mass beside me.

My Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park experience was unforgettable-surely "Posterity will bless us"-as Canada's Minister of the Interior, wrote in 1895, with the preservation of this natural wonder.