Canada Guide
Alberta and the Rockies
Glacier National Park
Strictly speaking, GLACIER NATIONAL PARK is part of the Selkirk and Columbia Mountains rather than the Rockies, but on the ground little sets it apart from the magnificence of the other national parks, and all the park agencies include it on an equal footing with its larger neighbours. It is, however, to a great extent the domain of ice, rain and snow; the weather is so atrocious that locals like to say that it rains or snows four days out of every three, and in truth you can expect a soaking three days out of five. As the name suggests, glaciers – 422 of them – form its dominant landscape, with fourteen percent of the park permanently blanketed with ice or snow. Scientists have identified 68 new glaciers forming on the sites of previously melted ice sheets in the park – a highly uncommon phenomenon. The main ice sheet, the still-growing Illecillewaet Neve, is easily seen from the Trans-Canada Hwy or from the park visitor centre.
The Rogers Pass visitor centre (daily April to mid-June & early Sept to Oct 9am–5pm; mid-June to early Sept 8am–7pm; Nov closed; Dec– March 7am–5pm; 
250/837-6274 or 837-7500, 
www.pc.gc.ca ), 1km west of Rogers Pass, sells park permits ($6.90) and houses a variety of high-tech audiovisual aids. Next to the visitor centre, a garage and a shop are the only services on the Trans-Canada between Golden and Revelstoke, an hour's drive east and west respectively.
The sole in-park hotels are the excellent fifty-room Best Western Glacier Park Lodge ( 250/837-2126 or 1-800/528-1234, www.glacierparklodge.ca ; Price: $126-175), located just east of the visitor centre, and the 24-unit Heather Mountain Lodge ( 250/344-7490, www.heathermountainlodge.com ; closed Oct & Nov Price: $101-125, 20km east of the Pass; both tend to be full in season. The latter has a useful 24-hour service and cafeteria.
The park-run campsites are the 57-site Illecillewaet ($18.80; mid-June to early Oct; also winter camping), 3.4km west of the visitor centre just off the Trans-Canada (and the trailhead for eight walks), and the twenty-site Loop Brook, 2km farther west ($18.80; mid-June to mid-Oct; self-serve check-in), which provides the luxuries of wood ($7.90), water and flush toilets only on a first-come, first-served basis. Wilderness camping is allowed anywhere if you register with the visitor centre, pay for a nightly backcountry camping permit ($8.90) and pitch more than 5km from the road.