Glacier National Park
Glacier has been on my bucket list forever since I saw the photo of the rainbow rocks in Lake McDonald. I knew I had to go.
We took this in front of the West Entrance of the park and had to prop the phone up on a rock! haha
Last summer, Mike surprised me with making it possible to tie in a trip to Glacier in with his work trip. It was an incredible dream. It was only going to be a few days but I didn’t care any amount of time was the best amount.
This was on the shore of Lake St. Mary
I figured I would explain some of the things we did and try to help you navigate what things to get done while we were there and what things are skippable.
We went in May so it was super early in the season meaning that the entire park wasn’t open yet. “The Going to the Sun Road” that you will hear EVERYONE talk about was not open all the way through. We could only get from the West Entrance of the park to right past the Avalanche trail area.
My original plan involved more of Going to the sun road so I will explain that here in case you are there at a time where you have access to it. I will then go through and fix the itinerary to what we did and what I would still do and what I would change.
Original Itinerary (This is set up for a trip of either 1/3/5 days): Glacier National Park
Day 1: Going to the sun road & Dinner at Summit mountain lodge & steakhouse OR Hike Hidden trail to Granite park chalet, Grinnell glacier Overlook, and Gunsight saloon.
Day 2: Going to the sun road with dinner at Serrano’s
Day 3: Hike to Grinnell Glacier & Dinner at the summit mountain lodge and steak house.
Day 1: Hike hidden trail to granite park Chalet, Grinnell Glacier Overlook, Gunsight saloon
Day 2: White water Rafting along Flathead river and back slope brewing
Day 3: Going to the sun road with dinner at Serrano
Day 4: Hike to Grinnell Glacier and dinner at summit mountain lodge and steakhouse
Day 5: Explore the two medicine area and hike Rockwell falls and aster falls
Now on to what we actually did. The itinerary above was my best attempt of planning all the things that seemed like must do from all I read.
There are some important facts to know about this area that will make exploring it a lot more understandable.
Glacier national park is divided up into 5 sections:
Lake McDonald:
High priority: WE took kayaks out on the lake and it was gorgeous. They have a beautiful lodge that you can stay at as well as grounds that have cabins to stay at as well. This was also a great shopping area. I loved some of the small shops. I think the kayaking was one of my favorite things we did, then we came in and warmed up by the fire in the lodge with a warm drink.
We did this on our last day because that is just how timing worked out.
I would recommend getting up and getting to the lake McDonald lodge before sunrise. We missed it because (I hate waking up early) and didn’t think it was a need. We then saw a woman who showed us pics of what it looked like. Needless to say, we SHOULD HAVE GONE at SUNRISE so for our sake… DO IT!
I recommend if you hate waking up early to stay at the lodge the night before so that you don’t have to drive into the park and wake up earlier.
They have cute little cabins that are actually on the water!
Logan Pass:
This was still closed and under an insane amount of snow when we were there but was one of the areas we wanted to see.
The goal should be to hit this at sunrise.
St. Mary:
SUPER UNDERATED. This was our first stop and I still wish we had been able to spend more time here. It was… just.. perfectly untouched by humans. It was a landscape that makes you believe in more, in God and all His majesty.
There were a lot of shorter walking trails in this area that were truly beautiful. They are easy and beautiful; perfect for people who struggle with long walks and pain. They don’t take a ton of energy and the views are incredible.
Two Medicine:
Least visited but is the most beautiful.
Watch the sunrise here!
Home to the hardest hike in the park “Pitamakan - Dawson Loop”
Many Glacier
Grinnell Glacier
Iceberg Lake
Ptarmigan Tunnel (Best place to see wildlife)
We began on the East Side and I was in love the moment we got 30 minutes from the entrance of the park. That is one thing that I really want people to understand, the beauty doesn’t start when you cross into the park. It is beautiful for ever. We drove up on an off road area to get a gorgeous view of the St. Mary’s area. We stopped after we crossed over the handbricked bridge and immediately found ourselves going down towards the water to see the crystal clear water filled with rainbow rocks and a mountain back drop. The water was as cold as ice. We then hoped back into the car and drove towards St. Mary’s lake pull off. We saw so much wildlife. We entered towards the end of the day so it was about 5 o clock. We saw bears, like really super close, and we saw tons of strangely friendly prairie dogs. We saw a moose. It was stunning and it felt like we had it all to ourselves. I would have loved to have spent more time there but we were staying on the west side and we discovered that because the “Going to the Sun Road” was closed it was 2 hours and 45 minutes to our hotel.
Our drive back was beautiful. I really felt like there wasn’t a bad view in sight. We were getting hungry and knew we needed to stop for dinner somewhere before getting settled in for the night. We decided to eat at a restaurant and bar in whitefish called the Gunsight Saloon in Columbia Falls. It was so good and we loved the atmosphere. It was this indoor outdoor feel but it was so cozy. Perfect to hangout at after spending the say out in the cold wet weather.
This was arguably the best mac n cheese I have ever had. Mike loved it too and it was the perfect food and environment after spending the day driving and exploring out in the cold!
Michael found us this beautiful and unique ski lodge to stay at called the Kandahar lodge. It is old, it is exactly what you think of when you think of ski lodge. It was all the way at the top of the mountain and since it was dark by the time we arrived we couldn’t see how truly incredible the view was. The next morning I couldn’t believe my eyes. We saw so much when it came to wildlife just as we were going up and down the mountain to and from the lodge.
We had the coziest room and this ski lodge was so perfect. It had fireplaces with fires everywhere and fresh coffee around the clock. It was so snuggly!
Our First day in the park we took off and went to the park. Now we were staying a pretty good distance from the park approx. 30 minutes. We were outside of whitefish by Columbia falls. There was so much to explore far beyond just Glacier national park. We stopped at subway and grabbed a foot long for a little snack before starting the hike and then a snack for after the hike. This worked out really good for us. I highly recommend bringing snacks with you especially if you have diabetes. We drove through whitefish and through west glacier and decided we were going to do avalanche trail. The only disappointing thing about our visit besides the “Going to the Sun Road” being closed was that it was cloudy and rainy the entire time.
The avalanche lake trail was amazing. You can feel the burn in your legs, you can feel the burn in your lungs, you were able to complete it but it was challenging at the same time. The views were incredible and there were multiple stops along the route that were absolutely jaw dropping. It is very hilly and let me tell you my shins were so sore from climbing up the hills. It was amazing. I have included a ton of photos of each thing. When we were done with the hike we were hungry so we ate our leftover sandwich and went on to explore more. We ended up heading to the shops in whitefish and they had such incredible items. It was so fun but they closed pretty early between 5-6 so we headed back to the lodge. Later that night went out for dinner at the coolest restaurant. I am telling you the towns right outside west glacier you could spend days visiting and exploring there. We ate at the Tupelo Grille which was super yummy once again.
The next day we decided we were going to go kayaking on Lake McDonald. It was gorgeous even though it started raining on us while we were out on the lake. it was 100% worth it. We enjoyed everything we could and it was actually really affordable. Next we explored every possible shop and driving path we could. We did the local shops around lake McDonald lodge and then we did the whole Apgar village area. This was where I felt like some of the most authentic, unique, and beautiful shops were located here. They had everything from Patagonia clothing to local native American clothing to hats to food. I loved the view to which was of lake McDonald. After this area we enjoyed sometime in west glacier. We didn’t spend much time there at first and it is worth the stop. It is very great for any kind of food, snacks, souvenirs, gifts, all of it. We had the best ice cream there and their huckleberry pies!! It was amazing. After that we left and drove all around the park, even to outside the park! We definitely recommend going to Bowman lake. Wow, it will be quite a hike but so beyond worth it. Gorgeous places. After that we headed back to the lodge.
Once we got to the lodge we ordered local pizza and it was AMAZING. It is one of the only places that will deliver up the mountain. If you have a chance it is worth a stop to eat though! Plus the price and how much was clutch! The next day we took off early. We were heading to Bozeman which was about a 5.5 hour drive from Glacier. We decided to take the back roads and again you can spend so much time in Montana. There are the places you hear about and there are places you will never really hear about unless you drive through it. It was incredible. I enjoyed the drive and honestly, had we only been able to do that one drive in Montana. It still would have been worth it. I have included photos.
