Getting the flavor of...Glaciers in twilight

A century and a half ago, Glacier National Park was home to about 150 glaciers. Now there are just 25.

Glaciers in twilight

To visit Montana’s Glacier National Park today is to partake of “last-chance tourism,” said Stephen P. Nash in The New York Times. Just a century and a half ago, the park’s million-plus acres of craggy peaks were home to some 150 majestic glaciers. Now there are just 25, and some experts believe that all of those will melt away by 2020. An Alpine glacier is a singular sight. The 68-acre Sexton Glacier, one of the easiest for hikers to reach, is “a massive, ragged smear of snow-laden ice” perched just below the mountains’ “sawtooth skyline.” I reach another after pleasant rides on both a roll-top tour bus and a modest passenger boat, which traverses an icy lake to deliver me to my chosen trailhead. This second glacier glows brilliantly in the sun despite its summer covering of windblown grit. “It seems immense, too big to disappear, and nearly crowds everything else from consciousness.” And to think: It might last only nine more years.

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