Original subtitles

(gentle music)

(moves to upbeat music)

- [Narrator] A place of exhilarating beauty,

where magnificent mountains and turquoise lakes

meet lush rain forests.

We'll lead you up to the clouds

along America's most scenic mountain pass,

hike the icy edge of a glacier's crevasse,

raft a wild river,

travel by train to high adventure,

and kick back at a high-altitude chalet.

- One, two, three.

- [Narrator] Trekking through rugged back country,

we'll witness both fire and ice,

and take you to places where man meets bear

and man's best friend takes charge.

In this untamed and sacred space

where the buffalo roam and nature stirs the soul,

we'll uncover the many secrets

of Glacier National Park.

It's called the Land of Shining Mountains,

and the majestic alpine vistas dominate the horizon.

Glacier National Park stretches

across the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains

in northwest Montana.

Each year, nearly two million people

make the pilgrimage to this pristine paradise,

because a glacier up close is a sight to behold.

And many of them choose to travel here

the same way the park's early visitors did.

They board a train called the Empire Builder

that is now part of Amtrak,

and full steam ahead.

Glacier National Park is the principal stop

along the route of the Empire Builder.

In the summer months, over 60,000 passengers

hop on and off the train,

using it as their primary means of transportation

to explore over a million acres of parkland.

- Well, certainly the best way

to come to Glacier Park is by train,

and certainly it is the most magical,

the whole experience of the train itself

from the dining car to the reclining seat coaches

to our sightseer lounge car.

- All of the water after we pass

the Continental Divide flows in that direction

and ends up in the Gulf of Mexico.

- [Narrator] On the Empire Builder,

interpretive guides board the train

at different spots along the way.

James J. Hill was the founder

of the Great Northern railroad that covered

the entire upper Western United States.

His trains connected the towns

and made so much commerce possible

that James Hill became known as the Empire Builder.

This intercontinental train named after Hill

made its debut in 1929,

linking the windy city of Chicago

with the West Coast.

But here's something you might not know.

It was James Hill's son Louis

who became Glacier's greatest champion

once he succeeded his father as head

of the Great Northern railroad.

To promote travel to Glacier National Park,

Louis Hill created innovative marketing campaigns

designed to reroute wealthy Americans

from their European travels to this corner of Montana.

And move over Madison Avenue,

Louis Hill lured them with a clever slogan

which still rings a bell today,

See America First.

The slogan worked,

Americans headed west to Glacier in droves.

And to accommodate them,

Hill's Great Northern railroad built

Swiss-style lodges that made you feel

like you were in the middle of the Alps.

One of the most picturesque of Hill's lodges,

the Many Glacier Hotel, is cradled majestically

between the mountains and Swiftcurrent Lake,

a setting so stunning,

it's often been called the gem of Glacier.

Another hotel built by the Great Northern railroad,

the Glacier Park Lodge has long been considered

the premier place to stay at the park.

It still offers comfort, class, and a convenient

location right across from the train depot

in East Glacier.

Known as Big Tree, the lodge's most outstanding

feature is its lobby.

This immense 20,000 square foot space

is supported by the trunks of 24 massive

Douglas fir trees that stand nearly

five stories tall.

The Glacier Park Lodge is well worth a stop,

even if you're just passing through the park by train.

The Great Northern railroad is such a part of the park

that one of its own bunkhouses is an attraction.

It's called the Izaak Walton Inn,

and it sits just outside the park,

a stone's throw from the railroad tracks

at the Essex stop.

The inn was originally built in the 1930s

to provide housing for railroad workers.

Today, the Izaak Walton,

which sports several cross-country trails,

is also a popular winter destination.

In fact, it's the only historic hotel

near the park that stays open year-round.

And it's here that guests can relive

a little romance from the past by spending

the night in one of the refurbished cabooses

located right on the grounds,

complete with bunk beds and a wood-burning stove.

(inspirational music)

The railroad not only built convenient

and luxurious accommodations,

it offered guests the chance to spend

an enchanted night up in the clouds.

The Granite Park Chalet is one of eight

back country chalets built by the railroad.

Each was located a day apart by horseback

so guests could spend their vacations

riding from one to the next,

but it was far from roughing it.

The chalets offered first-class excursions

into the wilds.

Meals were served on white linen

with a waitstaff dressed in Swiss attire.

It was a slice of European elegance

on the edge of the frontier

with all the trappings you'd expect

to find in the finest hotels.

Until the chalets fell on hard times,

and all the two of these luxurious

back country getaways were shut down.

Granite Park Chalet survived,

but the times have changed.

Now visitors arrive on foot, not horseback,

hiking 7 1/2 miles along the jutting Highline Trail,

one of the most magnificent day hikes

in the entire park.

In the heat of summer,

the trail brims with bear grass

that grows up to five feet high.

Although bears are known to eat the bulbs,

it was first dubbed bear grass

by the Lewis and Clark Expedition

who happened upon bears meandering

through a meadow of these wild flowers.

The Highline Trail is an excellent place

to spot some wildlife,

from Columbian ground squirrels

to mountain goats to the bighorn sheep

whose trademark headgear is an icon of the park.

Along the way to the chalet,

you'll also pass one of Glacier's most scenic spots,

the Garden Wall.

But it's not a garden at all.

It's what geologists call an arete,

a French word meaning fish bone.

An arete forms when two glaciers meet,

creating a long narrow mountain ridge

that looks like the backbone of a fish.

Between the rarefied air and the breathtaking views,

the trek on the Highline Trail all the way

to the Granite Park Chalet is well worth the effort.

And once you've arrived,

you won't find the sumptuous digs of yesteryear.

For now, it's a no-frills hiker stop

with very basic accommodations.

The kitchen is communal,

and guests whip up their own meals.

Sure, it's roughing it in the Rockies,

but after such an invigorating day,

everyone kicks back and takes in

the Land of Shining Mountains.

So how did this land of shining mountains

get its name and it's overpowering beauty?

To uncover these secrets

we must go all the way back to the Ice Age

when glaciers filled this area.

Think of a glacier as a river of slow-moving ice,

ice capable of making monumental changes

to the landscape.

12,000 years ago,

these mountains held over 1,000 glaciers.

Today, only 37 remain,

yet these colossal masses of ice and snow

left a powerful imprint on the mountains,

valleys, and lakes.

Here's something you should know.

The glacial poster child of the park

is also one of its most accessible glaciers.

Compared to other glaciers,

which are even more remote,

Grinnell Glacier is only two boat rides

and a challenging four-mile hike away.

Like many sites in this park,

getting there is really half the fun,

because the scenery is nothing short of spectacular.

And once you're there,

there's nothing quite like walking

out on the icy edge of a glacier.

Dan Fagre of the US Geological Survey

says that Grinnell is a textbook example

of a glacier's handiwork.

- All around me here are sheer cliff walls,

and these have been sculpted by the glacier

which pluck the rock out of the walls

and has created these dramatic cliffs.

- [Narrator] Hikers on Grinnell Glacier

tread on thousands of years of history.

This area was once blanketed

by an entire mile of solid ice,

so you better watch your step,

because one slip can send you plummeting

into hidden crevasses hundreds of feet deep.

Grinnell Glacier is named for George Bird Grinnell,

one of the earliest proponents of making Glacier

a national park.

When Grinnell first came here in the 1890s,

he marveled at the ice-carved country

with its chorus of snow-capped peaks,

calling it the crown of the continent.

Today, the park's glaciers are still the jewels

that sustain the crown.

- Glaciers in Glacier National Park

are very important as they melt late in the summer.

They provide what we call base flow for streams.

That is sometimes all the rest

of the snowpack is gone,

and it's the melting glaciers that provide

a trickle of water in those streams

for aquatic organisms to live in.

- [Narrator] Glaciers not only sculpt the mountains

and feed the streams,

they shape the many jade-colored lakes,

providing a multitude of pristine water wonders,

and an outlet for adventure,

from fly fishing

to a scenic cruise

to the thrill of taking on the Middle Fork

of the Flathead River by raft.

- No, Saturday is just partly cloudy and warmer.

- [Narrator] Wilderness outfitters monitor

weather conditions daily to ensure

that safety comes first.

Here, everyone is prepared for water temperatures

that can fall to a chilling 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once you hit the river, it's a wild ride

that'll make you appreciate the calmer waters.

Glacier National Park is home

to over 350 grizzly bears,

and more than 500 black bears.

So if you wanna spot some bears in the wild,

this is one of the best places to be.

Here's a scene you don't often find in the big city,

a black bear eating his dinner.

And who needs a rod or a reel?

Not this guy as he goes fishing

on Swiftcurrent Lake.

When spotted, even from far away,

bears generate a lot of excitement.

Traffic comes to a standstill as gapers

stop their cars to take a look.

It makes for what some call a bear jam.

These grizzlies continue to draw quite a crowd

as they graze on the alpine meadows

near the Many Glacier Hotel.

Sure, bears can harm humans,

but it may surprise you to know

a large part of their diet includes berries,

roots, leaves, and bulbs.

Truth be told, the grizzly's fearsome reputation

as a predator is unfounded.

Attacks are rare,

and most occur when people surprise the bears.

That's what happened to Roscoe Black

on September 9th, 1976.

He was hiking with two companions

on a trial near the foot of Mount Cleveland

when they accidentally awoke a grizzly

sleeping near the trail.

- The next thing I knew,

I saw teeth and fur coming at me

and it was only about six or eight feet away.

At that point I backed away and the bear

hit me and knocked me off balance off the trail.

The next thing I knew,

I looked down and I could see

the flesh flying out of my leg

as the bear was biting me.

And then all of a sudden,

I'm not sure how it happened,

but the bear was laying on top of me

with its head right here and I was looking

directly into its eye,

and I could feel its heart beating on my chest.

- [Narrator] Suddenly the bear stopped biting Roscoe

and attacked one of his hiking partners.

The other hiker got away by climbing up a tree.

Then the grizzly turned and faced Roscoe once again.

- He looked at me and it was almost

like this animated Disney bear

kind of looking at me,

and then stood up and sniffed the air,

dropped back down and left us.

So it all happened within about 45 seconds to a minute.

But it was a minute I'll never forget.

- [Narrator] Roscoe spent three weeks in the hospital,

but he and his hiking partner both fully recovered.

Today, Roscoe runs his family business,

the St. Mary Lodge, just outside the park

near St. Mary Lake.

The near-fatal grizzly encounter

hasn't turned him off to the great outdoors.

A Montana native, Roscoe keeps an open mind

about the relationship between humans and bears.

- I look at it philosophically, I guess,

and say that's their house out there.

We are visitors.

We need to take the appropriate precautions.

They are one of the attractions for Glacier.

They are one of the things that make Glacier

a quality park.

- [Narrator] The park monitors the bears

for the safety of both the animals and the public.

The rangers spend a lot of time and effort

making sure bears are staying away from people,

and that people are staying away from the bears.

At the Granite Park Chalet,

Ranger Alex Stevens peers through a spotting scope

to keep an eye out for grizzlies

that may wander too close for comfort.

- We use it up here and whenever we have

bear activity to monitor bears to make sure

they're not coming near the Chalet,

and to see what they're digging up down there

in the valley itself.

- [Narrator] Each confrontation between man

and bear is treated as a unique situation,

so a variety of bear management techniques

are used to keep things in check.

A bear can be chased away by simply shouting,

"Hey, bear," or by a squirt of pepper spray.

But sometimes the situation calls

for a more direct method.

- Safety's always first.

We have a shotgun with rubber bullets

bean bags, and cracker rounds.

I'll show them to you.

And they're all less than lethal ammunitions.

And basically what that means

is that they're not going to kill a bear,

they're just going to hurt it a little bit

and give it a negative stimuli.

And certainly you have to be wary

of where you place that shot with your bear.

You wanna hit it in the fatty part of the rear end.

(mumbles) (gun firing)

(dogs barking)

- [Narrator] dogs may be man's best friend,

but they're also one of man's best protectors.

- Sit. - Find the bear,

find the bear, find the bear!

- [Narrator] The past decade,

the National Park Service has been training

a special breed of dog to help keep the bears away.

Imported from Finland, the Karelian Bear Dogs

are friendly to humans,

but fearless of bears.

- [Man] Go.

(mumbles) (dogs barking)

- So what we're trying to do now

is fairly innovative.

We'll catch a bear there, release it on-site,

and use the dogs to bark at it to push

the bear away from the places we don't want it.

And if the bear comes back,

we have the dogs and the ability to continue

working with that bear to try to teach it

it can't be near houses,

it can't be in the campgrounds.

- [Narrator] Let the bears beware.

In Glacier National Park and in other parts of Montana,

these dogs have lived up to their grizzly

growling reputation, yet never has a dog

injured a bear, or a bear injured a dog.

- Some of the commands that we use with the dogs

are to check it out to see

if there's a bear in the area.

We also, if we know there's a bear there,

we have 'em find it.

Or even with radio collars...

Tessa! (clics with his tongue)

If we have radio collars that are laying out there,

the dogs will go up and we'll actually

tell 'em to find it.

They'll take us to the radio collar

that a bear's maybe dropped.

Good girl, Alu, good girl.

Hey bear, go on.

Go on, bark at that bear, Tessa!

Bark at the bear! (Tessa barking)

Other commands that we use if we need the bear

to leave the area,

we can tell them to bark at the bear.

And when we want 'em to be quiet,

we tell 'em that's enough.

Okay, that's enough, quiet.

(Tessa barks) Quiet!

Tessa, good girl, come.

- [Narrator] In the past, bears were relocated

to faraway regions in the park with hopes

they wouldn't return.

But return they did,

and relocating was finally rethought.

- With the Karelian Bear Dogs,

we generally will do on-site releases.

And what that means is we bring the bear

back to where it originally got into trouble,

where we trapped it at,

and we'll release it at that spot

so it associates all this negative stimuli,

Karelian Bear Dogs, rubber bullets,

humans, noise, they don't like it,

they wanna get out of it,

and it's been very, very effective.

- [Narrator] At Glacier National Park,

this program has successfully allowed

both species to safely share this picturesque

part of the world.

Along the roadways in Glacier National Park,

one common sight is a throwback to the past,

red touring buses ferry visitors

from one end of the park to the other.

About 500 of these buses were originally built

by the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio

to tour the western national parks.

But as automobile travel increased,

the buses were no longer desirable,

except at Glacier where the Going-to-the-Sun Road

provided one white-knuckle ride,

a ride not many tourists wanted to tackle.

These buses, which had been operating

since the Great Depression,

were so deteriorated and unsafe that the park

had decided to retire the entire fleet.

In 1999, Ford Motor Company took on the task

of rebuilding and refurbishing each bus by hand.

And thanks to Ford, they're as good as new.

Although they harken back to old times,

they now meet current safety and emission standards

and offer passengers a smoother ride,

and an important part of the park's history

has been preserved.

The drivers of these buses were once

called gear jammers.

Joe Kendall, the oldest jammer in the park, explains.

- They got the name gear jammer in the early days

because all the buses had manual transmissions,

and they had to shift the gears,

they had to double-clutch 'em,

and you could hear them jamming their gears

going up and down the mountains.

- [Narrator] At Glacier,

people still prefer to take the bus,

where the top rolls back to offer

sweeping alpine views.

These buses provide full and half-day tours

throughout the park,

servicing all the major lodges.

(upbeat music)

The Going-to-the-Sun Road is the 50-mile highway

that connects the east and west side of the park.

If you're jumping in your car for a spin,

keep your hands on the wheel

and your eyes on the road.

There's often little separating you

from the path to a plunge.

Carved onto sheer mountain sides,

the twisting road offers a ride of a lifetime,

a 3,000-foot climb to cross the Continental Divide.

Hailed as one of America's most scenic drives,

the momentous undertaking of building

the Going-to-the-Sun Road is one of Glacier's

most harrowing secrets.

Building the road began in the 1920s,

but the road wasn't officially finished until 1932.

It was a case of man versus nature

to get this job done.

(explosion booms)

Among the many hazards were explosives.

Men had to dangle from ropes to set

their dynamite charges into the rock face,

and three of them lost their lives.

Today, the workers who care for this alpine highway

face constant dangers of their own.

The road is so high that snowfalls keep it closed

nearly eight months out of the year.

Snowdrifts can pile up as tall as 80 feet,

the size of a seven-story building.

Plowing the road begins each spring,

and it's a formidable task.

The perils are many,

but none are more feared than an avalanche.

70 named and mapped avalanche chutes

can impact the road each year.

- It's probably, in my opinion,

one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

We go through avalanches that are 40, 50,

and 60 feet deep,

and large rocks falling down constantly.

- [Narrator] At one time, workers armed

with only shovels helped clear the road.

Nowadays, more efficient machinery

has taken their place.

But it still requires seven workers

and four avalanche watchers working

at least 40 10-hour days to clear the road,

a job that sometimes needs to be done

three to four times because of avalanches.

The Going-to-the-Sun Road doesn't open

before Memorial Day.

By then, the majority of the snows

have usually stopped.

Although snowfalls can occur throughout the year,

even in the summer months.

This major annual event heralds the arrival

of summer and tourists to the park.

Yet, once the road finally opens,

motorists need to beware.

The number one danger is falling rock.

- We found a car the other day.

It was abandoned, the windshields (mumbles) gone,

and there was like a 10-inch rock

sitting on the seat.

And we do close the road at certain times

to go clean the rockslides off.

- [Narrator] In spite of the falling rock

and the hairpin curves,

there are very few accidents

along the Going-to-the-Sun Road,

and it's here you'll discover some of the park's

most spectacular secrets.

Lake McDonald, the largest of Glacier's

250 lakes is one glorious sight.

A setting that makes you want to just sit back

and soak in the view.

And what could be more ideal than staying

in the lake McDonald Lodge?

Actually, a few lucky souls live on the lake

in private residences that were former homesteads.

- Homesteads were established here

long before this became a national park.

And by the laws of the United States,

a homesteader was able to keep his or her homestead,

and they remained private inholdings

after the park was created around them.

- [Narrator] These former homesteads

were passed down among families,

and date back to some of the first settlers in Montana.

Beth Ladow's grandfather came to Montana

as a prospector.

He never struck it rich, but in 1913,

he purchased some property

and left his family a treasure.

- [Beth] To have a place like that,

that you can return to feels like a piece of your soul.

It becomes a part of you in a very deep way

that is part of your identity.

- [Narrator] Another special spot

away from the bustle of the sun road

is the Trail of the Cedars.

You may think rainforests are only found

in warm tropical places,

but this might surprise you.

In Glacier National Park,

an ancient forest is part of the easternmost reach

of the Northwest Pacific rainforest,

and the home of western red cedars,

hemlocks, and black cottonwoods.

The Trail of Cedars meanders

along a wheelchair-accessible footbridge

at the base of Avalanche Gorge where you'll find

one of the park's more colorful secrets.

Deposits of finely ground silt called glacial milk

turn the water to brilliant shades of blue

when reflected by the sun.

Another water wonder just off the Going-to-the-Sun Road

is Bird Woman Falls,

where water tumbles from a hanging valley

that appears magically suspended

above a larger valley below.

Further up, watery tears seep from rocks

on a hillside aptly called the Weeping Wall.

The Going-to-the-Sun Road peaks at Logan Pass,

an elevation of 6,680 feet.

Here the weather can abruptly change

from sunny to snowy, arctic to tepid,

meaning no two trips up the mountains are ever alike.

- And it's always interesting

going up over Logan Pass through the mountains

every day because the light is different,

the clouds different, the cloud formations

make different shadows in the mountains.

So it's always an exciting experience.

- [Narrator] Logan Pass is where

the Going-to-the-Sun Road lives up to its name.

It's about as close to the sun as you can get

on a US Highway.

It's also where the Continental Divide

separates the principal continental drainages.

The Divide accounts for the abrupt

and dramatic weather shifts at Glacier.

- The park is split east side and west side

by the Continental Divide that pretty much

runs down the middle of the park from north to south.

The Continental Divide is made up of two mountain ranges,

the Livingston overthrust and the Lewis Overthrust.

The air masses come from the Pacific Ocean,

pile up against the Continental Divide,

and in order to get over the mountains,

they must lose their load, which is rain.

And that gets deposited on our side.

The air mass slips up and over the mountains

down the other side under the east side

around St. Mary and Many Glacier.

That's when you go to Trail of the Cedars,

you see a lush environment there

with cedars and hemlocks.

On the other side predominantly you see aspen,

prairies, and some white pine.

- [Narrator] So if the weather drives you

off one side of the Divide,

a move to the other side may save the day.

Everyone has heard of the Continental Divide,

but the Triple Divide Peak?

Probably not.

From the sun road, this peak looks insignificant,

but it's one of a few triple divide peaks

on the North American continent.

When snow or rain falls on the peak,

it flows in not two, but three directions,

toward the Pacific Ocean, the Hudson Bay,

and the Gulf of Mexico.

One of the most extreme ways to experience

the Going-to-the-Sun Road is to bike

up more than 6,000 feet above sea level,

a challenge for the best of bikers.

Once you reach the summit,

the only way to go is down.

You can always take on the summit during the day,

but nighttime is a different story.

Here's a cycling secret,

in the summer around the time of a full moon,

Going-to-the-Sun becomes going-to-the-moon road, or almost.

On those nights,

bikers ride up to the top during daylight,

and make their way back down under moonlight.

This means riding right on the edge,

where safety is a big concern.

It's also one of Glacier's most daring adventures.

The border between the US and Canada

means nothing to these sweeping alpine vistas.

One little known fact is that Glacier National Park

has a Canadian partner.

In 1932, Glacier National Park

and Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada

created the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park,

the first of its kind in the world.

These two parks are run separately,

yet they share a common goal,

to preserve nature.

No glaciers are left on the Canadian side of the border,

but the same massive structures of ice and snow

that shape Glacier National Park also work

their wonders within Waterton Lakes National Park.

About 11,000 years ago,

the glacier that carved out Cameron Lake

receded and left behind one of Waterton Lakes'

most scenic bodies of water.

Looking down the lake toward the US,

you can see Glacier National Park

and the distant peak of Mount Custer.

Today, these windswept waters make for a popular spot.

And the beauty doesn't end here.

Cameron Lake empties at Cameron Falls

near the village of Waterton.

This picturesque site is located

within Waterton Lakes National Park.

From Waterton, you can take a day-trip cruise

along Waterton Lake,

but this boat does more than cross the water.

It's your ticket back into the United States.

In fact, it's the easiest way to directly

cross from one part to the other.

The border crossing at a place

called Goat Haunt consists of a tiny dock,

a ranger station,

and a Peace Park Pavilion.

If you wanna check on the weather

or catch a lecture on bear safety,

this is the place.

- And stay on the trails,

camp where you're supposed to.

Don't take any dogs with you.

Don't take any cantaloupes or sardines,

that's very odiferous.

Bears can smell that half a mile away.

(group laughing)

- [Narrator] While the Canadian side

is only a boat ride away from Goat Haunt,

getting to Goat Haunt from the US isn't so easy.

It's a challenging several-day hike

through rugged terrain.

Heading north back to Waterton,

a large landmark looms from the top of a hill.

The Prince of Wales Hotel overlooks the lake.

Its peaked roofs are designed to echo the shape

of the mountains that dwarf them.

Like the grand lodges of Glacier National Park

on the US side,

the Prince of Wales was built

by the Great Northern railroad in 1927.

And like the Glacier lodges,

this seven-story structure has the refinement

and style of a European hotel.

We'll let you in on one of its secrets.

Every afternoon, the hotel carries on the English

tradition of high tea with finger sandwiches and sweets,

all served with one of the best views in town.

It's high tea on the high Rockies.

This regal hotel recalls the British throne,

which still holds sway in Canada.

But Europeans weren't the first people

to cast their eyes upon this enchanting land.

Native Americans have been living

in the shadows of these great mountains

long before the Europeans colonized America,

as long as 10,000 years.

The traditional songs and dances of the Blackfeet

carry on a rich heritage.

Their ancestors settled in this territory

that at one time ranged from the North Saskatchewan River

in Canada all the way to Yellowstone in the US.

The Blackfeet roamed the plains and hunted

the buffalo that once numbered 60 million strong.

So how did the Blackfeet slay these great creatures

without guns or even horses?

In Canada, on the outskirts

of Waterton Lakes National Park

sits an archeological site with a grizzly name.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is strategically

located where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains

overlook the Great Plains.

Today, things look peaceful,

but at one time, this was a killing zone,

known as a buffalo jump.

- To organize these hunts,

our people traveled in clans.

And if several clans came together,

let's say about 100 people,

then you're looking at a herd of about 40

to 50 head of buffalo.

- [Narrator] Banding together,

the Blackfeet separated out smaller herds

to create a stampede that sent the buffalo

plunging over cliffs to their deaths.

In 1981, Head-Smashed-In was named

a World Heritage Site.

An interpretive center built into the side

of the cliffs helps tell the story

of this special place.

Inside you'll find the skulls and bones

from thousands of buffalo hunted

by Native American warriors.

- Well, the buffalo was everything.

Our people used it for food,

used it for shelter, used it for clothing,

used every bit of it for maybe utensils and teepee.

It meant everything to them.

And that is why it was so important.

- [Narrator] As for Head-Smashed-In's gruesome name,

it comes from a tragic tale about a boy

caught in the midst of a kill.

- So when the kill was over,

a lot of the buffalo don't necessarily die

from the jump.

A lot of them will just break their legs.

So when they hit the ground,

they have to be finished off.

So as the warriors began moving

all these buffalo over,

they found the little boy underneath the whole pile

with his head smashed in.

- [Narrator] Head-Smashed-In

was last used 150 to 170 years ago.

Artifacts found on the site have been radiocarbon

dated back to over 6,000 years,

making Head-Smashed-In the oldest

buffalo jump in North America.

It's also considered the biggest and best preserved.

The Blackfeet moved freely about both sides

of what is today the US Canadian border

where they found abundant natural resources

that made this a perfect spot to hunt and camp.

At Glacier National Park in the US,

archeological remains of a butchering camp

nestled along a riverbank reveal Native Americans

have been here for thousands of years.

- We know the site here has been used

for thousands of years because we find both

the artifacts the people used to procure their food

as well as some of the remains

of the food animals they hunted.

And down here, we have the remains

of an ancient hearth used to cook

their buffalo meat and their plants.

There's different ways you can trace

how far back people have been in a place.

One is their own oral tradition.

And the Blackfeet say the elders have always said

that this is the place where they became the people.

That is, this is where they became Blackfeet,

on the east slope of the Rocky Mountains.

- [Narrator] Chief Mountain straddles

Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Nation.

Rising 9,000 feet into the sky,

it stands apart.

For the Blackfeet,

mountains are more than just beautiful sites.

They consider them sacred,

and Chief Mountain is one of the most revered.

According to Jack Gladstone,

this mountain is the center of the world.

- Well, Chief Mountain is known

as the sacred mountain of our people.

Chief Mountain had a very special role

as being visible from virtually

all the major divisions of our Blackfeet Confederacy.

- [Narrator] Chief Mountain is thought

to have great power.

The Blackfeet go to it for spiritual

guidance and strength.

In a religious custom known as a vision quest,

they climb to remote sites to fast and pray

and commune with nature.

But Chief Mountain is not the only sacred site.

Glacier National Park has the highest number

of vision quest sites in North America.

Many are located in the Two Medicine Valley,

a place that is as scenic as it is sacred.

Running Eagle Falls was named

after a Blackfeet woman warrior.

The water cascades from what appears to be a cave

into a crystal clear stream.

At Two Medicine Like,

one of the park's most beautiful boat rides

offers a dramatic perspective of the sacred peaks.

And a little known secret,

it was here at the Two Medicine Chalet

that President Franklin D. Roosevelt

chose to give one of his famous fireside chats

in June of 1934.

And it was also here that FDR was inducted

into the Blackfeet Tribe.

- The mountain that we have here on our left

is called Heavy Runner Mountain.

- [Narrator] Many visitors to the park

never realize its rich native history,

a history that dates back to the end of the Ice Age.

To learn more about this special place

from the people who are a part of it,

all you have to do is hop aboard a Sun Tours bus,

and Blackfeet guides take you to a place

where past and present are forged into one.

(gentle music)

The majority of the sites you see

in Glacier National Park are a result

of what is called extreme glaciation.

Snow and ice dominate the scene seven

to eight months out of the year.

But for a brief time in the summer,

rich alpine vistas and wildflowers take over.

What you might not expect to find

amid all this water and ice are forest fires.

For nearly a century,

the park attempted to suppress these

naturally induced blazes,

mostly ignited by lightning,

until they learned what may seem disastrous

for humans is an asset to nature.

In fact, for some of the pines in these parts,

forest fires are necessary,

providing both regrowth and regeneration.

The current policy of the national parks

is to allow nature to take its course.

They only fight the fires caused by humans,

or lightning fires that are considered

a threat to people or property.

But that can be a tough call.

- As you can see, this fire is just making

its own wind and weather, you know.

There's a big huge column behind me

and it's just making erratic winds.

And they're sizing up the fire right now

and just seeing what they can order

as far as resources, and attack it from there.

- [Narrator] This fire was sparked by lightning,

but weather conditions play a major role

in how a fire spreads.

Hot, dry winds turn this blaze

into a 2,000-acre inferno.

At Glacier, where conditions can change

in the blink of an eye,

firefighters constantly monitor the weather

before allocating resources,

and they're not the only ones.

The expression, the mountains make the weather,

rings especially true in Glacier National Park

where extreme weather is often the rule,

not the exception.

- John Gray is a veteran guide and backpacker

who's seen just about every kind of weather

in these parts.

- When you decide to go into the back country in Glacier,

you need to be prepared for any kind of weather.

I've seen it snow every month of the year.

That means you need to have the proper clothing,

the proper food, the proper sleeping

and camping equipment that you need to go back in.

You can start the trip in the day

and it'll be 80 degrees,

and by evening, you may be in an alpine area

where there might be six inches of snow on the ground.

And the next day it might be hot again.

But it changes, and it changes drastically by the hour.

- [Narrator] But don't let the bad weather

scare you off.

Glacier has been called a backpacker's paradise.

- One, two, three.

- [Narrator] If packing lightly isn't your bag,

don't sweat that either.

You can hire an alpine porter called a sherpa

to carry your food and supplies along the trail.

It's a case of the Rockies meeting

another legendary mountain range, the Himalayas.

But what some sherpas at Glacier have hauled

on their backs may surprise you.

Sherpas lug this refrigerator four miles

up a steep trail called the Loop.

Their destination, the kitchen

of the Granite Park Chalet.

On Everest, a Sherpa is a member

of an ethnic Himalayan group.

But at Glacier, sherpas are college students

on summer break looking to earn some cash

in the great outdoors.

It's a far cry from serving fast food.

Whether you hire a sherpa or lug your own pack,

the only way to truly discover Glacier's secrets

is by hitting the trails.

- Oh, without a doubt,

you've got to get into the back country.

Backpacking is what this park is all about.

- [Narrator] It's true that most of Glacier's treasures

are found off the beaten path.

- Oh, there it is. - Wow.

- [Narrator] You can hike for miles

and hours up steep terrain,

and then all of a sudden, the world changes.

Like so many sites in the park,

this one is well worth every effort to reach it.

Iceberg Lake, named for the frigid icebergs

that float in its aquamarine waters,

is flanked on three sides by cliffs

that rise 3,000 feet.

And even in mid-August,

icebergs sparkle in the sunlight.

Glacier has been called a wonderland of water,

boasting a total of 250 lakes,

yet Iceberg Lake is one of the most striking.

Here, thousands of years of geological history

spread out before you.

This particular formation is called a cirque.

The lake sits at the base

of a gigantic rock amphitheater circular in shape,

scooped out by a giant glacier.

This area might look like a glacier, but it's not.

The glacier that created Iceberg Lake

melted away during the last century,

a fate that also awaits the rest

of the park's glaciers.

These immense mounds are going extinct.

At Grinnell Glacier, black or dirty ice,

an increased amount of crevicing,

and the convoluted icescape are all signs

that warming temperatures are causing

this glacier to melt more rapidly

than the snow can replenish it.

In fact, Grinnell Glacier is 1/3 the size

it was 150 years ago,

but it's not the only casualty.

In 1850, this area was home to 150 glaciers

that covered 61 square miles.

Today, only 37 glaciers are left,

comprising less than 17 icy miles.

Dan Fagre and his team at the US Geological Survey

use a technique called repeat photography

to track the glacier's demise,

and a picture is worth a thousand words.

Fagre's team has rephotographed the same glaciers

from the exact same view and angle.

Black and white photos taken in the early

20th century are compared with recent photographs

of Grinnell Glacier.

In 1938, the area is covered in ice

with no apparent lake.

Soon after, we begin to see evidence

of a proglacial lake.

From a more recent photo,

the lake has gotten larger.

Another photo shows a portion

of Boulder Glacier in 1932,

and the same spot in 1988.

There is very little ice left on this side

of the glacier.

Blackfeet Glacier and Jackson Glacier

were once one glacier.

By 1939, they had separated.

Glaciers are just massive accumulations of ice

thousands of feet thick that slowly

respond to heat and solar energy.

Repeat photography tells us that these glaciers

are receding rapidly,

and that the phenomenon known as global warming

is claiming Glacier National Park's cherished namesakes.

It is estimated that all of the park's glaciers

will lose their glacial ice by the year 2030.

Although vanishing, the glaciers have left

a spectacular legacy,

carving out the mountains, valleys,

and lakes that surround us,

and making this park a place

you simply have to experience.

It's here that you can relive a little history

aboard the only transcontinental train

that stops at a national park,

challenge yourself to extremes never thought possible,

kick back at scenic getaways,

sediment stellar snow-capped peaks

where you can take a moment to contemplate

one last monumental secret.

These glaciers have collectively rewarded us

with a national treasure,

wild, unspoiled, and awe-inspiring.

To those who take the time to discover it,

a park called Glacier is the crown of the continent.

(inspirational music)

(moves to gentle music)