This national park is very popular and ranks alongside Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. There are thirteen camping grounds within the park, in addition to many primitive camp sites on trails high in the mountains, and a number of privately owned in each of the small settlements outside the park entrances. We were fortunate that we had prebooked our reservation back in February as the park camps were all fully booked. Like all national parks we have previously stayed in, there is plenty of room and trees between each site so there is lots of space and privacy. There is no electricity but we have two batteries on the van so manage well. There are plenty of restrooms but only four showers in St Mary's campground where we are staying so we were so pleased to have on board bathroom facilities. The temperature is much colder in the mountains and the first night we had thunder and lightning with heavy rain. We were so pleased we were not tenting and had the comfort and gas heating (which is a standard fitting over here) in the caravan. The weather certainly improved during the week, to temperatures around 70F during most days, and we had some beautiful days. Overnight temperatures were around 40 degrees F so we have certainly had a taste of winter. Interestingly it is daylight from around 5 am to 10 pm. This park has a number of visitor centres and over the course of the week we visited five of them only missing Polebridge in the far northwest. From the visitors centres permits are available to overnight camp in the high country, information on all the trails, displays and souvenir shop and believe it or not excellent wifi however we had no 'phone service at all. Most nights we attended one of the ranger led programs which provided wide variety and information. We enjoyed Indian folk singing, history of the National Park Service, Indian dancing, Indian culture and more. The nearby township (45 miles away) of Browning, Montana is situated on an Indian Reservation and the reservation borders the eastern side of the park. The park was originally part of the reservation. Today some 8000 Native American Indians of the Blackfeet tribe continue to live on the reservation but sadly the unemployment rate is about 50%. Fortunately some of the Blackfeet are now encouraging extended education which will help this situation and the Indian owned casino in Browning is a major employer even though the National Park Service is the biggest employer in the area, however much of this employment is seasonal. Glacier National Park is huge - 1,013,572.41 acres. It was established in 1910 making it one of the oldest national parks in the USA. The wildlife In the park number around 900 bears, both grizzly and black, plus mountain goats, big horn sheep, elk and deer. We have seen one bear with her three cubs playing in the forested area but the distance did not make it easy for photos. We were also told as we walked along one of the trails that a bear had just crossed, and saw the photo, but sadly we didn't see it. The Rangers actively discourage you getting any closer than 100 yards to a bear however one guy and his young son did not obey that and dropped his back pack on the trail as they ran off following the bear to try for a better photo. Seemed very dumb to us. We have seen deer up very close, and the bighorn sheep eating on the flats. There are plenty of ground squirrels. The camp ground rules are all food and food utensils like BBQ's must be contained within a hard sided vehicle when not in use and there are also food containers for this purpose. On Monday with a cool wet start to the day we visited the Many Glacier area. This is the northeast section of the park but to access we had to drive another eight miles north (just about at the Canadian Border), then twelve miles west and reached the park entrance again. From here we made our way to Many Glacier Lodge which is one of the historic lodges built in 1915. There are a number of these historic lodges which were originally built a day's horse riding apart as an overnight stop for early tourists. Many Glacier lodge/hotel overlooks Swiftcurrent Lake. Lunch in the restaurant of the hotel suddenly became very appealing and we enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. People come to Glacier National Park in the Rocky Mountains for two reasons really - to drive the "Going to the Sun" road which traverses across the width of the park some 55 miles, and to hike one or more of the many trails. We are visiting in the height of summer, and during school holidays, so there were always lots of people around. It is said that large numbers of visitors rarely leave the road - I was determined we were not going to be in that category. Over the course of our week in the park we completed a number of the trails albeit that they were the shorter ones - limiting our walks to about three hours return. Being in the mountains the trails are never flat, some are stepped and some just up and down the elevations. With each of the trails we have really enjoyed the destination which is often a waterfall, lake or closer view of the mountains. This park would be absolutely spectacular in the winter when everything is covered in snow. On our last day we decided to walk the Hidden Lake Trail which commenced at Logan Pass which is at nearly 7000 feet. It was raining slightly as we commenced following the uphill stepped board walk. After about half a mile the boardwalk was covered in snow. With the knee issues I have had it was time to stop and wait while Peter continued up the hill. He walked a further half mile or so uphill but the conditions were really deteriorating so the balance of the trail was closed by the Rangers. So neither of us actually saw the Hidden Lake but we did experience a little just how quickly the conditions can change. The park remains open in the winter however some of the surrounding roads are closed for the whole period. The "Going to the Sun" road remains open for access as weather conditions allow. We would imagine this would close quite regularly as when we drove across the highest pass the visibility was down to about twenty feet. It did clear during the day and as we drove back it was much better. We were recommended to pay a visit to the "Two Sisters Cafe" which is outside the park. Like most businesses in the area, this cafe is only open during the summer months. The cafe was busy when we visited for a late lunch and the menu provided a number of local treats -like bison burgers, bison sirloin steaks and huckleberries were added to some of the main courses and all of the desserts. Huckleberries grow locally and are a very small berry like a blueberry but much smaller. Peter enjoyed the bison burger which was really just a beef burger and then had Huckleberry Bread Pudding while I enjoyed Broccoli Cheddar Soup followed by Huckleberry Cheesecake. The food was delicious. We were surprised to see New Zealand banners on the wall - apparently a couple of the staff had visited New Zealand last year and were proudly showing off the banners. Many people tell us that New Zealand is in their bucket list. Camp fires come with the territory of camping in the USA and most camp sites provide a fire pit. With dry wood (sold at $US4 a bundle for one fire) Pete was able to light the fire with no hassles and with the evenings more temperate later in the week it was good to sit out eating our dinner with the fire going. So we will let the photos share a little of Glacier National Park - a beautiful natural environment which must be absolutely spectacular in the winter period.