Although we could have done the hike to Avalanche Lake in a quick 3.5-hour round trip, that sort of defeated the purpose.
After all, this was Glacier National Park, one of the most remote and majestic places in the United States, in northern Montana along the Canadian border. It was my first visit and the first time hiking here for Clint, my friend and traveling companion for the day, and we were not likely to return anytime soon. Plus, after months of COVID-19 lockdown, being out in nature felt like a luxury to savor slowly, even on this gray June morning.
So we followed the Going-to-the-Sun Road and took our sweet time hiking, stopping to marvel at gushing ice-blue waterfalls; appreciate the dense forest of western hemlock, red cedar and mammoth, gnarled, overturned roots; and quietly commune from a distance with a family of mule deer.
Read the full story on my Forbes site.