Glacier-Day 2 9.3.16

Ever heard of a jammer? In Glacier park, a jammer is an antique red bus that takes passengers on the Going-to-the-Sun-Road; the driver acts as a tour guide. We started out our half day tour around 9:30 from our hotel, St. Mary’s Lodge.

Our driver was Steve. He explained that we could have the top down if we wanted, but considering the 4o degree temperature and the wind that did not happen.

Steve told us to be on the lookout for wildlife sightings. If a lot of cars are pulled over (a “bear jam”), it is usually because an animal has been spotted. After about ten minutes on the road, sure enough we saw cars pulled over and folks out with their cameras. We were by the shore of St. Mary’s Lake. Looking down we spotted a tan bear- a female grizzly . Judy got a great picture.

You can tell it is a grizzly because of that hump behind the bear’s head.

In Glacier there are about 800 to 1,000 black bears and 400 to 500 grizzlies. Right now the bears are preparing for winter hibernation and eat about 23 hours a day. Now that is a lot of eating!

We stopped at a lookout over St. Mary’s Lake with a tiny island called Wild Goose Island. Here is a picture of all four of us.

In 1910 there were about 110 glaciers in the park. Today there are 24 to 25. Due to climate change, it is predicted that by 2030, most of the large glaciers will be gone.

Steve also shared the three criteria for a snow mass to be classified as a glacier – the snow has to be 100 ft. deep, have an area of 25 acres, and the bottom of the snow turns to gel and moves.

Here were some burnt trees from a fire which started on July 21, 2015 and lasted for about three weeks. The cause of the fire was unknown.

This a picture of Jackson Glacier from an overlook along the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Here we are in front of our Jammer. There are 33 red buses in operation at Glacier.

After lunch, we headed to Many Glacier which is on the northeast side of the park and about a 30 minute drive from St. Mary’s. We were signed up for a boat tour which departed from a dock in front of the Many Glacier Lodge. This lodge along with the Lake McDonald Lodge where built by Louis Hill, son the railroad magnate who wanted to encourage tourism after the railroads were built in the late 1800’s.