For many Swiftcurrent Lake is the hub of points of interest, to be
surpassed by no other spot in the park. From it branch many deep and
interesting glacial valleys. Fishing, boating, swimming, hiking,
photographing, mountain climbing, horseback riding, and nature study
are to be enjoyed at their best here. It is reached by an excellent
spur road from the Blackfeet Highway at Babb, or by trail from Sun
Camp, Granite Park, and Waterton Lakes.
Many Glacier Hotel, the largest hotel in the park, is located on
Swiftcurrent Lake. Just beyond the hotel is an excellent auto camp and
a group of auto housekeeping cabins. The hotel has telegraph and
telephone services, an information desk, curio shop, a grill room and
soda fountain, swimming pool, barber and shoe-shining shop, photograph
shop, a first-aid medical establishment, and other services. A garage
is situated near the hotel. A store with an ample line of campers'
needs, including fresh meat, bread, butter, and eggs, is located in
the auto campground.
Ranger-naturalist service is available at Many Glacier. This includes
daily field walks; a nightly lecture augmented by motion pictures and
slides in the Convention Hall in the basement of the hotel; an evening
campfire entertainment in the auto camp; a cut-flower and geological
exhibit in the hotel lobby and in the auto camp; a small museum on the
opposite shore of the lake from the hotel, on the road leading to the
campground; a self-guiding trail around Swiftcurrent Lake; information
service in the museum; a naturalist-accompanied launch trip on
Swiftcurrent and Josephine Lakes in the afternoon. In addition to this
last-named, several other launch trips are taken daily on these lakes.
This service may be used to shorten hikers' distance to Grinnell Lake
and Glacier.
[Illustration: _Grant photo._ PICTURESQUE GLACIER PARK HOTEL]
Many Glacier is a center for fishermen, as there are a dozen good
fishing lakes in the vicinity. Rainbow, brook, and cutthroat trout
abound in Swiftcurrent, Josephine, and Grinnell Lakes, and the lakes
of the Upper Swiftcurrent Valley. Wall-eyed pike are plentiful in Lake
Sherburne, the only body of water in the park in which these fish are
found.
There are many excellent trails in the Swiftcurrent region. Cracker
Lake, Morning Eagle Falls, Cataract Falls, Grinnell Lake, Grinnell
Glacier, Iceberg Lake, and Ptarmigan Lake are all reached by oiled
horseback trails. Good footpaths lead around Swiftcurrent and Josephine
Lakes to the summit of Mount Altyn and to Appekunny Falls and Cirque.
[Illustration: _Hileman photo._ BIGHORN RAMS ARE AMONG THE MANY
INTERESTING ANIMALS TO BE SEEN IN GLACIER]
The possibility of seeing and studying wildlife is best in the Many
Glacier region. Except during midsummer, mountain sheep are commonly
seen at close range around the chalets or in the flats above Lake
Sherburne. Throughout summer they are high on the slopes of Mount Altyn
or Henkel. Mountain goats are often seen clinging to the precipitous
Pinnacle Wall on the way to Iceberg Lake, or on Grinnell Mountain while
en route to Grinnell Glacier, or on the trail to Cracker Lake. Black
bears and grizzlies occasionally visit the grounds near the hotel.
Conies are to be heard bleating among the rock slides back of the
ranger station along the trail to Iceberg Lake, or near the footpath
across the lake from the hotel. Early in the morning, or at twilight,
beavers are frequently seen swimming in the lake. Marmots are common in
many valleys near the hotel and auto camp. Deer infrequently visit the
region. Hikers, horseback riders, and rangers have reported seeing such
rare animals as foxes, wolves, and lynxes. Without moving from one's
comfortable chair on the veranda of the hotel one may watch the ospreys
soaring back and forth over the lake in quest of fish. These graceful
and interesting birds have their huge nest on top of a dead tree across
the lake from the hotel. The pair of birds return annually to the same
nest. Beside Swiftcurrent Falls, two families of nesting water ouzels
may be studied at close range.