As we planned this trip, I did plenty of research to decide which places we would visit.  I ordered a book about national parks, visited countless websites, and read online reviews.  Glacier National Park came up repeatedly as one of the most beautiful places in the country.  We debated whether or not we should add the six hour drive to make the trip from Yellowstone to northern Montana so we could explore Glacier National Park, and we finally decided that it would be worth the extra milage.  And I’m SO GLAD that we did!  This is how we spent our time.

Going to the Sun Road

You can’t visit Glacier without a drive on the beautiful, winding, 50 mile Going to the Sun Road that connects the eastern and western part of the park.  It crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass, at an altitude of 6,646 feet, and there are dozens of scenic turnouts and trail heads along the way.  As we drove we saw glacial lakes, cedar forests, alpine tundra, and breathtaking vistas.  Many of the parking areas fill up very early (as we discovered at 8:15 at Logan Pass one morning), but a free shuttle is available that runs continuously throughout the day.  However you travel it, GTTSR cannot be missed!

Hidden Lake Overlook Trail

This hike is one of the most popular trails at Glacier, and for good reason.  Its just under three miles round-trip, and the views along the entire path are amazing.  The hike starts at Logan Pass with a paved trail, and then transitions into a wooden boardwalk with quite a few steps.  As we passed through the alpine meadows, with the mountains
looming above us, we saw small streams of glacial run-off.  There were wildflowers, pika, and weasels along the way.  There were even mountain goats!  Once the boardwalk ended and the trail became a dirt path, we could look down to see the valley below, and Hidden Lake came into view.  Such a beautiful way to spend a late afternoon in Glacier National Park.

 

Hike to Grinnell Glacier

View of glacial lake from the trail

From the time that we added Glacier National Park to our summer road trip itinerary, I knew that I had to get up close to a glacier.  The most highly recommended way to do that is to hike the Grinnell Glacier trail.  This actually takes quite a bit of planning.  First off, the trailhead is located in Many Glacier, one of the more remote areas of the park.  In Many Glacier there is a lodge, a motel with cabins, and one of the most sought-after campgrounds in the entire country: Many Glacier Campground.  There are 103 campsites in Many Glacier Campground, with 41 available for advance reservations.  The sites are available six months before the arrival date, and are gone the minute they become available.  I was pretty bummed that we didn’t get a site initially, but I kept checking the website for cancellations and got lucky.  We reserved our site and were one step closer to seeing a glacier.

The next step was to secure the boat ride. The trail to Grinnell Glacier is over 11 miles long, but you can cut about three and a half miles from that by reserving a boat ride across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine.  There are a limited number of tickets, so its important to reserve as early as possible.  We bought boat tickets that included a ranger-led hike, which helped ease some of our fears about bears since this would ensure that we were part of a group.

The last think we needed to worry about was Liam. He’s only five years old, and and eight mile, steep hike is definitely a challenge for him.  I knew he could physically do it, but I was worried that it wouldn’t be enjoyable for any of us.  But Ryan and I really, really wanted to experience the hike and seeing the glacier, so we decided to go for it.

The hike started out steep, but as with everything in Glacier National Park, it was absolutely gorgeous.  As we climbed in altitude, we could see the glacial lakes below, so blue. There were wildflowers growing along the path, and we climbed steadily for several hours.  The only issue that Liam had was passing under a waterfall that goes right across the trail.  There’s no way around it, and it was scary to him to have all that cold water falling on him with slippery rocks below his feet and a cliff off to the side.  We made it through, but there were a few minutes of howling after that.  As we continued, the ranger paused several times to point out interesting rocks and plants, and we stopped for lunch with just about a half mile from the glacier.  The final push to the summit was steep and rocky, but once we made it to the top we could look down on the glacier and the lake with icebergs floating

The ranger led us down to the edge of the lake, and the kids were able to feel the cold water.  The walk down was much easier, and both boys were such troopers.  I was so proud of them both.  We ended up logging over 10 miles of walking for the day, but it was so worth it.  It was one of my favorite days of the entire summer.

Boat Ride on St. Mary Lake

The weather while we were in Glacier National Park was absolutely beautiful.  It was warm and sunny, and cool enough at night to enjoy a fire.  Before leaving the eastern part of the park, we booked a boat tour of Saint Mary Lake.  We had already driven Going to the Sun Road and hiked several trails.  We wanted to experience the beauty of this park from the water.

The guide was young and personable.  She talked about the science and history of the area, pointing out parts of the landscape as we passed.  It was a little tough to get good photos, so I decided to just relax and enjoy the ride.  We stopped at a spot where we could get off the boat and take a very short five minute walk to a pretty impressive waterfall.  While we were there we saw a marmot sunning itself on a rock.  It was a peaceful, relaxing morning, and the boys had blast splashing in the water along the shoreline when we docked.

After spending five days in Glacier I definitely have a new favorite national park!  The scenery, wildlife, and hiking were top notch.  Glacier also has more ranger-led programs and educational opportunities than any other park that we’ve visited.  There’s no cell service in most of the park, making it easier to disconnect and fully embrace the experience.  I know I’ll never forget our time there.  But if you have any desire to visit, don’t wait long.  Due to climate change, it is predicted that all glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone by the year 2030.