Whether you drive, take a tiny plane, or ride the Empire Builder, Glacier National Park is an awesome place to visit. Last year, nearly 3 million people visited the park, putting it in the top 10 of the most visited national parks in the U.S. But if you’re someone who has never been, here are six Glacier National Park facts to get you pumped up for next season.
6. Going-to-the-Sun Road is 50 miles long
The Going-to-the-Sun Road is one of the most well-known attractions at the park and for good reason. The mountain road brings you through about 50 miles of scenery. From beginning to end, it takes about two hours to complete.
While you’ll see iconic views of glaciers, mountains, landscapes, and animals, you’ll also travel on the road featured in popular films like The Shining and Forrest Gump. But it’s way more special than that.
The road is considered an “engineering feat” because it was constructed over multiple seasons because of intense snowdrifts and the fact that builders had to blast through solid rock. The name itself is borrowed from the Going-to-the-Sun Mountain, which earned its name from Native American legends.
5. Glacier National Park is really, really old
Although Glacier was established as the tenth national park in 1910, the land itself has been inhabited by humans for millennia. Archeological evidence shows that Native Americans arrived in the area about 10,000 years ago. Additionally, geological evidence shows that some parts of the park, particularly exposed rock at the Warerton-Glacier, date back as far as 1.6 billion years. To put that into perspective, Earth is about 4.5 billion years old and the galaxy is about 13.6 billion years old.
4. Wildlife unchanged since park was established
The wildlife in Glacier has been reportedly unchanged since it was established more than 110 years ago. According to park data, there are 71 species of mammals (including the park’s symbol the mountain goat), 24 species of fish, 276 documented species of birds, and almost 2,000 species of plants.
3. It’s named ‘Glacier’ because of the, um, glaciers
As the name implies, there are glaciers at Glacier National Park. It might be an obvious Glacier National Park fact. At one point, there were as many as 150 in the park, but now, there are only 26. Unfortunately, they’re currently melting at two times the global average.
At 1.7 million square meters, the Harrison Glacier is the largest in the entire park. While some hike around Harrison Lake to get close to the massive site, if you want to see a glacier, the park recommends seeing one of the many others at the park. They’re easier to access by trail or see from the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
2. There’s lots of water
This might be an understatement. Glacier is home to 762 lakes and 563 streams. To say it another way, there are 25,622 acres of lakes and 2,865 miles of streams in the park. The water is so abundant thanks to past ice ages and the park’s waters are considered headwaters for all of the North American continent. Additionally, the water systems are so complex and vast that droplets will eventually make their way to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Hudson Bay watersheds.
1. It’s bigger than Rhode Island
Glacier Park covers 1,583 square miles, which makes it about 500 square miles bigger than the state of Rhode Island, about 400 square miles smaller than Delaware, and the twelfth largest national park in the country. But there’s more significance to the size of the park than just that.
Packed into the park’s boundaries are more than 1,000 campsites, 745 miles of hiking trails, 110 miles of continental divide trail, and 175 mountains. Plus, the park is home to a world heritage site called the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. What that means is the park not only spills over into Canada but it’s also considered to be significant for cultural, historical, and scientific purposes.