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More time to reflect on past two weeks in Glacier. The US is blessed with thousands of square miles of unmanaged and partially managed wilderness, and the most special areas are designated national parks. Glacier is one such, and is probably the most beautiful, yet perhaps the least well known to foreigners. Snow-capped peaks, dramatic glaciers, gorges, valleys, magnificent towering waterfalls, forests that with increasing altitude give way to open mountainside, then dramatic vertical rock walls that meet the clouds at 10,000 ft. Flora and fauna in Glacier is strictly protected by law enforcement rangers - even feeding a peanut to a squirrel is prohibited and can get you thrown out of the park. We managed a total of six walks during our stay. Most followed well marked trails which climbed into the mountains above our base altitude of 5000 ft, revealing along their way not only dramatic creek cascades, waterfalls, alpine lakes and glaciers, but also grizzly bears, moose, mountain goats and mountain sheep, marmots and even a porcupine on one walk. We camped (in the RV) on basic sites (no hook ups but loads of space and trees between each pitch), and stayed for 6 nights on the best, where we got a great creek side pitch, opposite which a grizzly bear appeared one evening, less than 100m from the RV. The days walking were rewarded with campfire BBQs every evening, cooking everything from steak to prawns. Always delicious. The weather was mixed, but when it rained (which it did a lot) it was usually mild, although it did snow one night above 1000 ft further up. Never got tired during the day, despite being constantly active from dawn to dusk, as managed some of my best nights sleep in years. Fellow campers mostly Americans. Very friendly and welcoming but never to the point of being intrusive.
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