Sunrise light hits Going-to-the-Sun Mountain and Little Chief Mountain in the Lewis Range above Saint Mary Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA.

Sunrise light hits Going-to-the-Sun Mountain and Little Chief Mountain in the Lewis Range above Saint Mary Lake (4484 feet / 1367 meters elevation) in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. The Going-to-the-Sun Road runs along the north shore. Here the great plains end and the Rocky Mountains abruptly rise 5000 feet above the lake. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976). Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Glaciers carved spectacular U-shaped valleys and pyramidal peaks as recently as the Last Glacial Maximum (the last "Ice Age" 25,000 to 13,000 years ago). Of the 150 glaciers existing in the mid 1800s, only 25 active glaciers remain in the park as of 2010, and all may disappear by 2020, say climate scientists. (Panorama stitched from 2 overlapping images.)

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Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
Image Size: 7000x3491 / 4.2MB; http://www.photoseek.com/; Glacier National Park Montana Panorama PhotoBest SaintMaryLakeGNP USA hiking lake landscape mountain mountains nature outdoor recreation scenery water
Contained in galleries: Montana: Glacier NP: Saint Mary hikes: Baring Creek, Piegan Pass, Siyeh Pass, USA: Montana favorites

Sunrise light hits Going-to-the-Sun Mountain and Little Chief Mountain in the Lewis Range above Saint Mary Lake (4484 feet / 1367 meters elevation) in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. The Going-to-the-Sun Road runs along the north shore. Here the great plains end and the Rocky Mountains abruptly rise 5000 feet above the lake. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976). Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Glaciers carved spectacular U-shaped valleys and pyramidal peaks as recently as the Last Glacial Maximum (the last "Ice Age" 25,000 to 13,000 years ago). Of the 150 glaciers existing in the mid 1800s, only 25 active glaciers remain in the park as of 2010, and all may disappear by 2020, say climate scientists. (Panorama stitched from 2 overlapping images.)