A Postcard from Glacier National Park, Where the Glaciers Are Shrinking

Last fall, I spent a week in Glacier National Park hiking, using my binoculars to find every animal I could, and getting to know fellow travelers. In our small talk, people were excited to tell me and my friends about the highlights of their trip, spill their secrets on where the best animal spotting is, or share park trivia – did you know the Going-to-the-Sun Road was featured in the opening credits of The Shining? Sadly, another topic that came up often was how few in number and small the park’s glaciers were. People who had been there before were saddened to see how much the glaciers had shrunk since their last visit. 

Glacier National Park is warming at nearly two times the global average and is heading toward the loss of its namesake glaciers as a result. It is a reality that the park does not shy away from – at a lookout point, an information board discussed that the