United States
Glacier National Park
Turquoise meltwater pools beneath glaciers that may vanish within a generation.
The meltwater pools at Glacier National Park in Montana glow a turquoise so vivid it looks artificial — glacial flour suspended in water that has been ice for centuries, released into basins carved by forces that are still retreating. Going-to-the-Sun Road winds through this landscape like a scar across the Continental Divide, with drop-offs on both sides steep enough to silence a car full of passengers. Mountain goats stand on ledges above the road, unbothered, as if they built the place.
Glacier National Park holds twenty-five named glaciers, down from an estimated one hundred and fifty in 1850. Scientists project the remainder will disappear by 2030, making this park a destination with an expiration date visible in real time. Going-to-the-Sun Road crests at Logan Pass at 6,646 feet, where alpine meadows bloom with beargrass and glacier lilies in a narrow window each July. Grinnell Glacier Trail, ten miles return with 1,600 feet of elevation gain, ends at a lake of electric turquoise meltwater directly beneath the retreating ice face. The park is one of the last places in the lower forty-eight states where grizzly bears and grey wolves share the same valley — both species are regularly spotted from the road. The Crown of the Continent ecosystem, of which the park is the centrepiece, contains more plant species than any comparably sized area in North America.
Friends
The Highline Trail, the Grinnell Glacier hike, and backcountry camping in a landscape that will not look like this in a decade make Glacier one of the most urgent group adventure trips in North America.
Couple
Many Glacier Lodge on Swiftcurrent Lake, with its Swiss-chalet architecture and grizzly sightings from the breakfast table, offers a mountain retreat that feels more like the Alps than anything else in America.
Solo
The solitude deepens the further you hike from the road. Solo backpackers on the Ptarmigan Tunnel route cross through a hand-carved stone tunnel into a valley most visitors will never see.
Family
Easy trails like Trail of the Cedars, boat tours on Lake McDonald, Going-to-the-Sun Road
- Going-to-the-Sun Road crests at 6,646 feet with sheer drop-offs on both sides, passing glaciers that scientists predict will be fully gone by 2030.
- The park is one of the last places in the lower 48 where grizzlies and wolves share the same valley — both species are regularly spotted from the road.
- Grinnell Glacier trail, 10 miles return with 1,600 feet of gain, ends at a lake of electric turquoise meltwater directly beneath the retreating ice face.
- Logan Pass's alpine meadows bloom with beargrass and glacier lilies in a narrow window each July, drawing mountain goats so accustomed to hikers they graze within arm's reach.
Flathead cherry pie still warm from a lakeside bakery in Whitefish.
Bison ribeye at a historic lodge with knotty pine walls and a stone fireplace.
Huckleberry milkshakes thick enough to stand a straw in from a roadside stand.
Serra da Estrela
Portugal
Continental Portugal's highest range, glacial valleys sheltering wild heath and shepherd dogs the size of bears.
Drakensberg
South Africa
Basalt escarpment drops 1,000 metres in a single wall — Southern Africa's rooftop, wrapped in cloud.
Arthur's Pass
New Zealand
An alpine village where kea parrots shred car windscreens in the shadow of plunging waterfalls.
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
New Zealand
Emerald lakes glow in the craters of an active volcano on a moonscape ridge walk.
Pictured Rocks
United States
Mineral-stained cliffs of rust, copper, and jade rising from Lake Superior's clear depths.
Acadia National Park
United States
First sunrise in America hitting pink granite while waves explode in Thunder Hole.
Sleeping Bear Dunes
United States
Four-hundred-foot sand dunes plunging directly into the turquoise shallows of Lake Michigan.
Glacier Bay
United States
Tidewater glaciers calving house-sized ice blocks into the sea while humpbacks breach alongside.