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| Many Glaciers Lodge Table for Two: Glacier National Park |
I love the amazing contrast of coming off the trail after a few days trekking in the wilderness, getting cleaned up and sitting down to a delicious dinner with friends in a historic rustic park lodge. To me the old lodges speak in a deep way of the potential harmony of culture and nature--that I don't have to choose between people and wilderness. I see the lodges as transitional portals that join these too worlds. There is a wild nature living within us and we can become more civilized by respecting and preserving wilderness and the wild beings that live there. For a while we can live in the wild with them.
Even for those who get no closer to the wilderness than playing cards, working a puzzle or writing a letter in a lodge alcove, the lodges do their magic of connecting us with outdoor traditions and history. Intuitively we absorb the adventures, myths, legends and histories so richly suggested in the log architecture, Native American decor, rustic furnishings and old photos. We find a continuity and community with past generations who, like us, lodged or dined here to celebrate this special place and time together.
I hope you get from this photographic essay something of the magic I felt visiting these five lodges in July 2013 with my family.
Mount Rainier National Park's Paradise Inn
(opened 1916)
Glacier National Park's Lake McDonald Lodge
(opened 1914)
Glacier National Park's Many Glaciers Hotel
(opened 1915)
Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park Prince of Wales Hotel
(opened 1927)
Yellowstone National Park's Old Faithful Inn (opened in 1903)
Yellowstone National Park's Roosevelt Lodge
(opened in 1920)
Happy Trails to You!
