GRIZZLY

The word echoed across the lobby of the Many Glacier Hotel as the hiker told her story. Her group was trekking to Iceberg Lake when a massive bear ambled onto the trail ahead, turned, then splashed into the lake and swam away. The sighting was, the hiker said, a thrill she would remember all her life.

* The encounter was a reminder that Glacier national park is nature with claws: bears roaming the backcountry, jagged mountains; frozen rivers cutting through rock.

* And these things are precisely what make Glacier unforgettable.

* In far northern Montana, 1,600-square-mile Glacier is not near much of anything. But, once you're there, it's a remarkably simple park to enjoy. Glacier's annual visitation is about half of Yosemite's. Good campsites are often available at the last minute. The park's trio of historic lodges--Lake McDonald Lodge, many Glacier Hotel, and Glacier park Lodge--are surprisingly affordable place to stay.

* The classic park strategy is to base yourself at or near one of the lodges. Each presents a different face of the park. Lake McDonald's lower, greener west side; the high peaks around Many Glacier and the prairie-influenced East Glacier side.

* In the music of geology, Glacier is an opera. Aeons ago, rivers of ice carved out the unforgettable landforms--knife-edge ridges, hanging valley, and towering peaks, every view a visual aria . Spend any time at all here and you will hear the continent sing.

East Glacier Park

Elegance comes to the Rookies

First impressions count. Eager to impress visitors from the east, the Great Northern Railway made sure Glacier's first major hotel--utterly magnificent Glacier Park Lodge, completed in 1913--was built a short distance from the park's main train depot.

Today you can still step right off Amtrak and roll your suitcase up the flower-lined path to the hotel. Over the years, Glacier Park Lodge has hosted everyone from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan (there to film Cattle Queen of Montana). Such VIPs were likely as awestruck by it as you will be. The Palladio-comes-to-the-West great hall is one of the grandest in America: Two dozen giant Douglas fir trunks, each 48 feet high and covered with bark, line the lobby.

Not far away, Two Medicine Lake makes a perfect afternoon outing. If the water's calm, you can rent a rowboat or canoe to paddle under the looming presence of Sinopah Mountain, Or you can take a narrated cruise on the handsome '30s-era launch that bears the mountain's name.

Head southwest from East Glacier Park along U.S. 2 and you'll pass small ranches and get glimpses of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. Don't miss the wildlife pullout called Goat Lick. In the late-afternoon light, scan the far cliffs above the Flathead River. We brought binoculars, and in only moments we spotted at least five mountain goats--and one kid--grazing around the sheer cliffs' natural salt licks. It was a classic Glacier moment: nature in the raw.

Grizzlies and goats

* Glacier has an awesome array of plant and animal life. Enjoying it all--even if from a distance--takes some savvy.

Bears: There are hundreds of black bears and some 250 to 400 grizzlies in the park area. Visitors should keep alert for any signs of bears, make their presence known, and keep a safe distance from all bears that are observed. DO NOT approach bears or other wildlife under any circumstances. Keep food, garbage, grills, and pet food stored indoors or otherwise unavailable to wildlife.

Mountain goats and bighorn sheep: Snowy, bearded mountain goats are daredevil climbers, perching on the most precarious of high-altitude cliff faces and slopes. Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep climb on gentler slopes at slightly lower elevations than the goats. You often can spot mountain goats on the rock face at Goat Lick, or right off the roadway atop Logan Pass. Check for bighorns in meadows and grassy slopes above steep rocky cliffs.

Many Glacier

A world of rock and ice

North of Logan Pass, high on the Continental Divide, Many Glacier is where you most clearly see the forces that shaped Glacier Park: the great rock masses that folded and faulted and rode over each other, the glaciers that ground the peaks to arrowheads.

This is hikers' heaven, with numerous trails branching off from the vicinity of Many Glacier Hotel. Short trips include the easy 2.4-mile Swiftcurrent Lake Nature Trail ringing Swiftcurrent Lake and the 1-mile trek to Apikuni Falls. You can spend a day hiking to the string of glacial tarns--Fisher-cap, Redrock, and Bullhead Lakes--called paternoster lakes because they resemble beads of the rosary But if at all possible, book time (a day by foot) to visit the park's best-known and most accessible glacier, Grinnell. Its name honors environmentalist George Bird Grinnell, who lobbied Congress to establish Glacier as a national park in 1910.

After your glacial visit, end the day at the Many Glacier Hotel, on the shore of Swiftcurrent Lake. It looks like a Swiss chalet on steroids: The four-story, 216-room lodge needs to be big to stand up to nature's towering architecture. Today the hotel could use some restoration, but the rooms are cozy, if basic and noisy, and the dining room boasts the best mealtime view in the park.

Have dinner, gaze out at an indigo sky propped up by the serrated peaks, and, if you're lucky, be dazzled by a summer display of northern lights.

Going-to-the-Sun Road

The ultimate mountain drive

Glacier's Going-to-the-Sun Road is 52 miles of wonderment: a sinuous lesson in geological, ecological, and human history on the largest possible scale. Three companies went broke trying to construct this mountain highway, which was finished--after 13 years of work by Italian, Russian, and Montanan laborers--in 1932.

The road begins at West Glacier, passes Lake McDonald, and quickly gives you a chance for a nice walk on the Avalanche Campground's 1/2-mile (wheelchair-accessible) Trail of Cedars. Continue on to the notorious hairpin known as the Loop. The road then climbs into peaks that have been eroded and carved by the glaciers that once covered the majority of the park. A prime spot to admire their icy handiwork is the 492-foot Bird Woman Falls, where water tumbles from a hanging valley to a larger U-shaped valley below At the Weeping Wall nearby, water drips onto the road from striated rock cliffs, created during the road's construction.

The road peaks at the 6,646-foot Logan Pass, bisected by the Continental Divide--which the Blackfeet Indians called the Backbone of the World. Mountains rise everywhere. A short walk on the 1 1/2-mile (one way) Hidden Lake Nature Trail will lead you past a subalpine meadow dotted with beargrass, to an overlook, and perhaps to a glimpse of mountain goats. As you descend to the park's eastern edge, forests give way to windblown prairies, past the red argillite walls--remnants of the seas that once covered this area--and the glacier-scooped St. Mary Lake.

Driving advice: This summer, drivers can expect short delays as roadwork continues. There's a 21-foot vehicle length limit over Logan Pass, so no big RVs or trucks are allowed--instead, see the road on a park tour bus.

The red bus rides again

The antique red bus is a symbol of Glacier, like the mountain goat or grizzly bear. You can't miss them. Each 25-foot-long bus is painted bright red, with a black canvas roof that rolls back to offer its 17 passengers fresh air and a clear view of the mountain scenery. The drivers, originally dubbed "jammers" for the way they'd grind the buses' gears while climbing steep roads, are loaded with park stories, news, and tips.

The fleet of 33 coaches was built in the 1930s. Two years ago, the buses were taken out of service, badly in need of restoration. The Ford Motor Company took on the job, donating the cost, and has put 2002 technology underneath the antique wood-and-aluminum bodies. Planners say that at least some of the vintage coaches should be back in service this summer, but for an update and complete history of the red buses, check www.glacierparkinc.com.

Lake McDonald

An approachable beauty

Stretching northeast for some 10 miles from near the west entrance to the park, Lake McDonald has a beauty that seems easy, almost lazy, with dense forest sloping down to the glass-smooth water.