Meeting of the Waters in Glacier National Park

Both of these raging rivers are meltwater from the Illecillewaet Neve, glaciers high up above Rogers Pass. When we visited in July we couldn't wait to explore the trails of Canada's Glacier National Park many of which originate at this point. That being said while many start in the valley, some go up to the surrounding peaks so we barely scratched the surface.

The water was beautiful but the sky was filled with smoke so we decided to stick to the valleys. It's not worth climbing in smoke which adds to the difficulty just to be rewarded with sub-par views. The streams, forests and rocks gardens were much nicer and the mountains aren't going anywhere.

The first railroad across Canada went through Rogers Pass and over this bridge, since then they found a better route which was straighter, went through a tunnel and less prone to avalanches. The stone arch is still beautiful and the tracks have been replaced with a trail. It's over-engineered for simple footpath bridge.

The trees grow big in Rogers Pass, it rains quite often here. They've logged the area in the past but it has been a protected National park since 1886. It all started with a glacier lodge that was built for diners as the trains couldn't pull restaurant carts up the steep mountains. The area has naturally been popular with alpinists and was opened to cars in the middle of the past century.

Glacier park is located in the Selkirk Mountains, just West of the Rocky Mountains and famous parks of Banff, Kootenay, Yoho and Jasper. This region gets a lot more snow and rain, making it lush. It's also in the British Columbia interior, the waters here all flow into the Columbia River Basin.

There are over 140 kilometers of trails to explore in this park. We spent the night here and will be back as it was one of our favourite places to camp. Since it is far from major cities, being about four hours West of Calgary and deep into the mountains, it isn't too crowded. Most of the visitors are just passing through.

You can see how many of the trails in the Illecillewaet Campground Area all branch off from #4 or where the Meeting of the Waters is. The river flows west, meeting the Columbia River in Revelstoke, then it flows down into USA. Most of the peaks are covered in ice, Glacier park has 130 some odd glaciers.

At some point the entire pass would have been a giant ice sheet. These boulders didn't fall down the mountain. They were probably dragged here by ice as they form a little hill. Whenever you see rock gardens like this, they are formed from water.

The river stone is different, these rocks have been rounded by the flow of water, not ice. Some of the glaciers up on the mountains are just visible in the greyish sky.

We can't see across the valley but the white water is still beautiful amongst the green trees. I'd love to come here with a good camera on a foggy day. I want to get a good photo of mountains and mist to blow up for the wall.

The trails in this park are well maintained, they even built switchbacks out of rocks. Hikers are always encouraged to stay on the path. The moss is delicate and when people wander off the path, it's difficult to get them back onto the paths. Despite the smoke it was still one of the most enjoyable walks of 2023. Thanks for reading.

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All photos taken with an s22 and are unfiltered