Introduction
There are so many beautiful places, but topping the list is the Montana. We try to get there as soon as the campgrounds opens. It doesn’t matter if there is snow. That is what snow shoes are for.
Glacier National Park
Going to the Sun (West Side)
*Disclaimer*
Hi guys! I will add a disclaimer that this is what we experienced on our trip. Things could change in the park that correct some of our issues.
Campground Information
First, we stayed at Apgar Campground (west side of the park) and Saint Mary Campground (east side of the park), 12 days at each campground. Our time there spanned July 9 – August 1. Both campgrounds are dry. Mike says he also tried to get a site in Fish Creek Campground which is also on Lake McDonald, but a site opened in Apgar first, so he booked it. Mike was checking availability every day on recreation.gov. I don’t think Fish Creek has showers. We met some people that stayed at Hungry Horse Campground, a private campground, outside the national park. Hungry Horse isn’t that far away from the national park entrance. Having Hank and Lucy, we try to stay as close as we can to the activities we will be doing, so for us that meant staying in the park. Also, Hank and Lucy loved the lake. We were able to let them off leash at Lake McDonald to swim. The water was so clean they didn’t even smell after going in the water.
Apgar Campground Loop A is very close to the lake and showers. They have a great biking trail. Loop A is where our site was. Apgar was shady. There are two problems with that, internet and solar. We had no internet while staying at Apgar. We ran the generator every day. We did not use a lot of electricity, but the solar we got didn’t provide enough for what little we used. We have 800 W in panels and never saw our system bringing in more than 75 W!
Apgar Campground is walking distance to the village that has restaurants, ice cream, coffee shop, grocery store, gift stores, paddleboard/kayak/bear spray rentals. It is also walking distance to the Visitor Center and where you catch the shuttle if you are using the shuttle for Going to the Sun Road.
Float Trip
We did a float trip with Glacier Raft Co. We did the scenic float. It was good. Henry was afraid to do the whitewater. The guide said this year the whitewater float was also a scenic float as the water was low. We enjoyed the float. I think we would do it again, but we would do the whitewater instead.
Shuttle Service
We had a hate/hate relationship with the shuttle. They have free large and small buses. Both buses can take people from Apgar to Avalanche. Then, only small buses can take you from Avalanche to Logan Pass. The larger buses can’t make it around the mountain curves. You can’t take the shuttle late in the evening and expect to do a hike. You have to be on the correct side of Logan Pass by 6:00 pm to catch a shuttle back to your starting point. Oh, they also have the Red Bus Tours. They are from a private tour company. They stop at certain interest points on the Going to the Sun Road. They give you a little bit of time to take pictures and look around. You don’t have to worry about parking, but you can’t go hike and then catch another tour bus. You stay on the same Red Bus. We found that if we drove ourselves and went early enough or late enough, we could get a parking spot at the interest points. It didn’t get dark until 10:30 or 11:00 pm. The issue was if we stayed up late it was hard to get up by 4:00 am to get a parking spot at a trailhead.
Mike had a workday when we first got to Glacier. I wanted to see how the shuttle service worked, so I got to the visitor center/shuttle at 7:00 am to go to Logan Pass for the Hidden Lake Trail. Even getting there at 7:00, I didn’t get on the shuttle until 10:30 am. I arrived at the trail head at 12:30. That day they had two drivers not show up for work which contributed to the delay.
We tried the shuttle again with Terra and Henry, age 6. We got to the shuttle service line at 8:20 am to go to Hidden Lake Trailhead. We were told we COULD go to Hidden Lake Trailhead, but we would have to get off the shuttle at Avalanche, and then get back in line at that shuttle stop to continue on to Logan Pass. The girl said, “I would not do that because it is taking hours to get from Avalanche to Logan Pass.” We decided to wait and see once we got to Avalanche how long the line was at the next shuttle stop. We got to Avalanche which was our first stop at about 12:40 pm. We decided not to get back in the shuttle line to travel on to do Hidden Lake. That was a long day of waiting for Henry. The ride back was pretty terrible also. We sat in the hot bus idling for about 1.5 hours. The distance from our campground to Avalanche Trailhead was only 15 miles. The reason given for the long time delays this time was that they started 11 miles of road construction.
About Logan Pass
Just a tidbit of information, Logan Pass is on the Continental Divide. There are two hikes there, Highline and Hidden Lake. There is also a visitor center with a parking lot. The parking lot fills up between 6:30- 7:00 am.
The Hidden Lake Trail is shorter than the Avalanche hike. That was why we wanted to do the Hidden Lake hike with Henry. We wanted Henry to hike the Hidden Lake Trail because there are mountain goats and big horn sheep that stay in that area. Also, there are bear. The lake trail was closed due to bear fishing in the lake and the stream leaving the lake. We could only go to the overlook. Terra was FINISHED with the shuttle system after the one day of bus use. So, I drove everyone to Logan Pass in the truck the next day for the Hidden Lake Trail. We got there just after 7:00 am. We drove around looking for a parking spot. None to be had. I let everyone out. I drove around and around for a long time trying to get a spot. Finally, I left the parking area. I came back every 30 minutes to see if they were back. The last time I came back, the parking lot was closed. They wouldn’t let me in. Terra saw them make me leave. Unfortunately, I had to go back down the mountain toward the construction. I was thinking it would be hours before I could turn around and come back. I said heck with that and did a three-point turn in the truck at the first spot I thought I might not get killed. When I got back at the top of Logan Pass, everyone was out on the roadside, and they hopped in the truck. Logistics was a nightmare!
Logan Pass kind of separates the park and points of interest on the Going to the Sun Road. At the pass and on the west side, we hiked Hidden Lake, Highline, Avalanche, stopped at McDonald Falls and Sacred Dancing Cascade Falls. We went to Lake McDonald Lodge. We didn’t do as much as we could have. We wanted to preview the things that Henry would be doing to see how difficult it would be for him. So, we did some things twice.
Going To The Sun (East Side)
Saint Mary
Hikes
On the Saint Mary side of the park, we hiked Saint Mary Falls, Virginia Falls, and Baring Falls. Those hikes are off the Going to the Sun Road. It is quicker to get to Logan Pass from the Saint Mary side. You don’t have to go through the road construction, but also the milage is shorter.
Campground Information
The Saint Mary Campground is a dry campground and very different from Apgar. It is completely in the open. We had great Starlink, AT&T and solar, but it was so HOT! Glad they had showers. At times the airstream was over 90 degrees. You can walk to the visitor center from the campground. The short hike takes you over a walking bridge that goes over the Saint Mary River. Hank and Lucy loved swimming in that water. There was a grizzly that was in the campground eating the Juneberries. There were berries everywhere. Hank and Lucy learned to eat the berries off the bushes. There is also a grocery store, coffee shop, ice cream shop, restaurant, and gift shop within walking distance to the Saint Mary Campground.
Many Glacier
In Many Glacier, we hiked Apikuni Falls, Iceberg Lake, and Grinnell Glacier. Apikuni Falls is the first hike you come to when entering the park. We were told there were bear in the area. We expected to see a grizzly and a couple of cubs. We know there was a grizzly in the area, but we saw a black bear. The vegetation is very thick and there are a lot of huckleberries on that trail. Carry bear spray when hiking this hike. We didn’t see the black bear until we were right on it.
Iceberg Lake is amazing. Elevation gain is 1200’. There were beautiful wildflowers along the trail. When you get to the glacier, you can hear the glacier moving. The water is ice blue and has big chunks of ice floating in it.
Grinnell Glacier is the ultimate of hikes. Beautiful views the entire hike. The elevation gain is 1600’. Before you get to Grinnell, there were big horn sheep on an elevated ledge. We were told they are frequently in that area.
We also went in the Many Glacier Hotel. The back deck of the Many Glacier Hotel is the perfect place to have a cup of coffee and sit enjoying the lake and mountain view. We also think that Many Glacier had the prettiest hikes.
Many Glacier has a campground, but we did not stay there. We visited Many Glacier from the Saint Mary Campground. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. For us, it wasn’t worth moving and/or trying to secure another campsite in the park. We did not have AT&T cell service while hiking at Many Glacier.
Two Medicine
Two Medicine was beautiful. It was not as crowded as the other areas of Glacier. It took us 50 minutes to get to Two Medicine from the Saint Mary Campground. Two Medicine has a campground situated around Pray Lake. Some sites are pretty close to the water.
We hiked the Twin Falls Trail and made a loop of the hike. It was about 9 miles total. The hike went around the lake and up to the falls.
You can also pay to catch a boat at Two Medicine South Shore Trailhead, and it takes you over to hike the Twin Falls Trail. It cuts some of the hike time out. They had a general store where you can get some ice cream, coffee, and other snacks. Ice cream and coffee are pretty important to me, so I mention them specifically. They also have other things, hats, shirts, etc.
Tips for Glacier
Bring bear spray.
Get to trailheads before 7:00 am to get a parking spot. The parking lots fill up, so if you go super early or late in the evening, you are more likely to get a parking spot. In the summer, it is light out until 10:30 at night. That is a good time to do the quick Points of Interest off the Going to the Sun Road.
Shuttle service means you don’t have to worry about a parking spot at the trailheads, but plan to spend significant time on the shuttle. If you have kids, bring cards or some type of activity to pass the time.
Entrance access information to the different parts of the park. This was the second year that Glacier had used a vehicle permit process for limiting access into the park. If you’re staying in a campground within a section of the park (e.g. Apgar or St Mary, both on the Going to the Sun Road), your campground reservation serves as your vehicle entrance permit for the Going to the Sun Road. Reservations for those campgrounds (and Fish Creek) do not get you into either Two Medicine or Many Glacier. Those are separate parts of the park and require their own access permit. The permits can be applied for through recreation.gov. There is an advanced registration months ahead of your visit, but we chose to wait and do the “day before” permitting. You do have to be online at 8:00 am MDT to request a permit as they do “sell out” pretty quickly, even though the permits are free. We were able to get permits for both Two Medicine and Many Glacier and see those parts of the park on the days of the permits. There were other days we wanted to go back to Many Glacier to do more hiking, but we were generally without cellular at 8:00 am the day before since we were hiking so there was no way we could apply for a permit. There is a way around needing a permit. They only check permits between the hours of 6:00 am and 3:00 pm. So, we got an early start (entered the park between 5:00 – 5:30 am) a few days and did the hikes we wanted to do. The early mornings were tough, but they were also good because we could finish the hikes before it was too hot.
Do anything from Logan Pass to the east side when you are staying in the Saint Mary area if they are still doing construction on the west side. Vice versa if they are doing construction on the east.
There is an audio tour we like, GuideAlong. It used to be called Gypse Guide.
Food and Supplies- While on the west side of the park, we went into Columbia Falls for the grocery store and laundry. It is relatively close, 30-40 minutes. There are also a lot of restaurants and other stores there. In Kalispell, they have an REI, and anything else you might need.
Great Falls
Great Falls is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base. We stayed at the Malmstrom Air Force Base Gateway FamCamp. It was a great campground with laundry, level sites and wide-open space for the dogs to play. Starlink worked great!
We went hiking at Sluice Boxes State Park. It is a beautiful park, but there were bear in the area. The Juneberries were everywhere. Lots of food for the bears. Mike and Peyton, our son, went fly fishing in Belt Creek which flows through Sluice Boxes State Park. They didn’t have a successful fishing day. I think they tried every fly they had.
We ate out several times, Street Burgers, Tracy’s Diner and Cattleman’s. We actually went to Tracy’s Diner twice. It was really good!
I went running at Rainbow Scenic Overlook South Shore Trailhead. After seeing three snakes, I had to get back on the street. I can’t take snakes. Bear are okay, but snakes are not okay.
White Fish
I loved Whitefish. I found a running route around the city that was amazing. The city reminded me of Jackson Hole. Lots of great restaurants and shops. They have two state parks right in the city, Whitefish Lake State Park and Lee Mason State Park. You can bike the city or run it. They have 10 trail heads. We hiked Lion Mountain, Danny On, and the Beaver Lake Loop. We stayed at Whitefish RV Park which was full hook-up. We had just come from a dry campground at Flathead Lake and wanted to have everything clean and stocked for our time in Glacier National Park. The rv park was nice. It had gravel sites. It was not spacious, but it was okay. The bonus was that it was in town and pretty close to everything. The park had laundry which was very convenient. For us, AT&T and Starlink worked well at the campground. Some sites had trees though, so there might be some interference using Starlink.
Flathead Lake
Love, love, love Flathead Lake. It is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. The lake has Mission Mountains to the east and Salish Mountains to the west. It makes for pretty spectacular views.
We stayed at the West Shore Campground. It is only about 20 miles south of Kalispell. The campground was dry. Lots of trees, so we did not use Starlink. The campground was beautiful. We could walk to the lake. There was plenty of space to have a private area to enjoy the water. The mountains views around the lake were amazing. The water was so clear you could see down 30 feet. You can rent kayaks and paddle boards at the campground.
There are several small lakeside communities around the lake to explore. They have grocery stores, fuel, and other shops. Lakeside was the closest community to the campground. Big Fork is a really neat little town. The state park has several other campgrounds around Flathead Lake. It also has Wild Horse Island State Park. It is only accessible by boat and is for day use only. It has osprey, bald eagles, deer, big horn sheep, and wild horses. It has about 4 miles of trails. We wanted to go, but we didn’t have time. We have to save it for next time.