WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER HOLIDAY

Glaciers scoured the North American bedrock
From the Sierras, the Rockies and points East
During the last Ice Age between say, 25 and 15
Thousand years ago, the Glacial Maximum.

They left behind evidence of their activity
In drumlins, U-shaped valleys, rifts, moraines
Aretes, cirques, horns, glacial lakes
Gravel ridges, glacial till, eskers and erratics.

Up until 1850, at the end of the Little Ice Age
Over 80 Glaciers remained in their
Eponymous National Park. Now, almost all
Have been reduced to perennial snowfields.

The Park, absent  its signature feature
Remains a showcase of melt water creeks
Alpine meadows, dramatic valleys and lakes
Edged by glacially carved mountains.

It is also home to an estimated 300 Grizzlies.
I rode a bike through the Park for 5 days:
Didn’t see a Grizzly or a Glacier and its famous
’Going-to-the-Sun Road’ was shrouded in rain.

The best of times the most disappointing of times
Balanced by the physical and emotional jubilation
Of pedaling through mountain landscapes
Engaged in elevational, scenic and climatic changes.