Avalanche Lake, Montana
Located in Montana and covering over 1 million acres, Glacier National Park offers a combination of glacier-carved mountains, deep lakes, abundant wildlife, and active glaciers. Through the efforts of conservationists and George Grinnell, in 1897 the area became protected, and a national park in 1910. It will be featured on the 2011 National Park quarters, as the second release of the year (7th in the series).
As one of the most popular of the park’s 700 trails, the Grinnell Glacier Trail takes hikers to the turquoise-blue lower Grinnell Lake, below Grinnell Glacier. In the mid-1800s, the park held about 150 glaciers, but today just 25 active ones still exist.
The Native American Blackfeet tribe lived in the park regions for centuries, prior to Europeans. In 1896, the Blackfeet sold what would become Glacier National Park to the U.S. government for $1.5 million. One of the most popular ways to see the park is the Going to the Sun Road, a 53-mile road that crosses its width. This iconic road was shown in the 1980s classic The Shining, and 1994’s Forrest Gump.
More information on Glacier National Park.
