summer day After a few seconds the raft reaches calmer waters The group looks around in awe at the sloping mountains and forests that make up Glacier National Park Glacier National Park is a wilderness landscape of forests mountains and lakes It covers more than 1 million acres 405,000 ha The park is located along the Rocky Mountains in the northwest corner of Montana It is known for its snowcapped mountain peaks Glaciers are found near the summits of some of these mountains Glaciers are blocks of snow and ice They can move 6 Triple Divide Peak Triple Divide Peak is in the southern part of Glacier National Park It is part of the Rocky Mountains Water from melted snow travels down this 8,020-foot 2,446-m peak It flows into three different outlets Some water flows west into the Pacific Ocean Some flows northeast into Hudson Bay in eastern Canada Some flows east into the Atlantic Ocean In this way snowmelt from Triple Divide Peak provides freshwater to many rivers and bodies of water throughout North America
7 The snow at Glacier melts in the summer and flows into the park's many lakes and rivers through an area and shape its landscape The park's name reflects the impact glaciers had in shaping this landscape Ice near the surface of a glacier puts pressure on ice near the bottom This allows glaciers to slide down mountains Once a sheet of ice begins to move it is called a glacier A Divided Land Continental divides can be found in each of the world's seven continents A continental divide is a
ridge of elevated land that separates a continent’s river systems A river system is a group of rivers that drain into a larger body of water The North American Continental Divide runs along the Rocky Mountains It follows the crests of many mountain ranges in Glacier National Park Weather along the North American Continental Divide can be unpredictable Warm and wet air moves east from the Pacific Ocean Cold and dry Arctic air moves in from the northeast These 8 PERSPECTIVES Former District Ranger Scott Emmerich Scott Emmerich received the Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award in 2010 This award honors the country’s top park rangers Emmerich received the award for his outstanding service as a district ranger at Glacier National Park He participated in rescue operations and assisted visitors with medical emergencies In his award acceptance speech Emmerich said No one ranger is worthy of such an honor He recognized he would never have accomplished so much without the help of other park staff and volunteers
two sources of air meet at the divide This forms a unique weather system The west side of the park receives more precipitation than the east side The east side of the park is drier and windier Winds here sometimes reach 100 miles per hour 161 km h Blizzards form when moist Pacific air collides with the cold Arctic air These storms can dump as much as 44 inches 112 cm of snow on Glacier’s mountains Taft’s Decision Glacier National Park is one of the top ten most-visited US national parks More than 2 million visitors went in 2015 The area was also a popular destination before it became a park The Great Northern Railway opened in 1891 Many people used this new transportation route to travel to Montana Miners were tempted by the possibility of finding gold or copper Hunters had heard there was a lot of wildlife to be found in the area But many travelers 9
