Going to the Sun Road and the Garden Wall

August 07, 2012

Going_to_sun_road

Photographer: Martin Richard
Summary Author: Martin Richard

August 2012 Viewer's Choice The photo above shows Going-to-the-Sun Road cutting across the Garden Wall (at right) in Glacier National Park, Montana. This view was taken from the cliff face of a glacial cirque. The U-shaped valley is a classic signature of a mountain glacier. A trailhead was carved from the cliff, itself scooped out by a tributary of a huge glacier from Flattop Mountain, 8 mi (20 km) off to the left. That glacier has now long disappeared but it once filled the entire valley where only McDonald Creek now remains. In fact, of the 150 glaciers active in the Park in the middle of 19th century, only 25 remained at the beginning of the 21st. It’s possible that they all may be gone within the next ten years or so. Views along the first part of the trail are especially spectacular, framed for some distance by the Garden Wall. Photo taken from the High Line Trail on the first day it opened this year, July 25, 2012.

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