Glacier National Park is magnificent! The Blackfeet called this place “the backbone of the world”. The mountains, passes, valleys, rocky peaks, and forests in this place create a dramatic backdrop for the movement of water. The park was named for its many glaciers—an estimated 150 when the park was established in 1910 (today fewer than 30, a story for another time). The Continental Divide passes through the park, dividing the landscape into three parts, where water in one part flows to the Pacific Ocean, in the second to Hudson Bay in Canada, and in the third to the Gulf of Mexico (through the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers). Water is the substance of life.
