How many of you have experienced Glacier National Park, during her rare, entirely calm moments?
There is nothing quite like standing at the foot of Two Medicine Lake, at midnight when the lake is perfect glass.
A full moon finally slipping into what sky the mountains leave unfilled.
The moon illuminates the Sinopah while the lake mirrors it and every canoe tucked along the shore.
The chalet boathouse providing the only man-made light, somehow adds instead of detracting from the whole.
Appistoki Peak oversees his entire domain and dwarfs the tiny historic buildings.
The whole scene is flanked on all sides by enormous, mountainous silhouettes.
Unique names like Rising Wolf, Sinopah, Lone Walker, Painted Tepee and Never Laughs all take on their imagined, midnight personalities.
Much like clouds can look like dragons, poodles or hoagie sandwiches.
When dawn rises from the east, each mountain will reassume its daytime persona.
But, right now they are powerful beings from a night time universe.
For me this is when the park is at her most romantic and enchanting, begging you to sit just a few minutes longer.
At this very second you are more than aware that that these are the moments you are supposed to catalog and store away for use in the future.
Delaying logical, much needed sleep, and ignoring the human instinct to go inside, simply to extend the magic for just a tiny bit longer.
It is a tough feeling to forget.
The smell of actively growing July vegetation.
The sound of literally everything other than the standard east side winds.
The feel of sitting on cold, flat shore rocks as you take in the profound scene unfurling around you.
Those moments are what get us by when life is not as… Perfect.
Glacier National Park draw over a million travelers and wilderness seeking nomads every year.
I have always loved meeting people who haven’t been to Glacier in decades.
Often, the simple fact that it’s out there, just like they remember is calming.
Somehow it’s a centering, grounding reality check in an often chaotic world.
As I was huddled indoors on this gloomy, February afternoon, with my head cold in full effect, I found myself yearning for it.
I figured that I probably wasn’t the only one.
Pull from the catalog, que up the memory…
Maybe these photo will help.
To Life,
Marc Ankenbauer
*Do you have any personal experiences with the magic of Glacier on a calm night? I’m sure you do! Lets hear them.
