THE CROWN OF THE CONTINENT The Middle Fork Flathead River roars as it snakes through rocks Its current pushes a sturdy raft The ten people inside the raft brace themselves Ahead of them the river narrows The water churns Their guide shouts out a warning The raft shoots through the rapid Cold water splashes the group They laugh and shout with delight The water feels refreshing on the warm The Middle Fork Flathead River is calm in some areas for more relaxed raft rides 5 CHAPTER ONE
summer day After a few seconds the raft reaches calmer waters The group looks around in awe at the sloping mountains and forests that make up Glacier National Park Glacier National Park is a wilderness landscape of forests mountains and lakes It covers more than 1 million acres 405,000 ha The park is located along the Rocky Mountains in the northwest corner of Montana It is known for its snowcapped mountain peaks Glaciers are found near the summits of some of these mountains Glaciers are blocks of snow and ice They can move 6 Triple Divide Peak Triple Divide Peak is in the southern part of Glacier National Park It is part of the Rocky Mountains Water from melted snow travels down this 8,020-foot 2,446-m peak It flows into three different outlets Some water flows west into the Pacific Ocean Some flows northeast into Hudson Bay in eastern Canada Some flows east into the Atlantic Ocean In this way snowmelt from Triple Divide Peak provides freshwater to many rivers and bodies of water throughout North America
7 The snow at Glacier melts in the summer and flows into the park's many lakes and rivers through an area and shape its landscape The park's name reflects the impact glaciers had in shaping this landscape Ice near the surface of a glacier puts pressure on ice near the bottom This allows glaciers to slide down mountains Once a sheet of ice begins to move it is called a glacier A Divided Land Continental divides can be found in each of the world's seven continents A continental divide is a
