Glacier National Park

Going to the Sun Road was a special highway with lots of places to stop and take pictures or hike with friends. We also thought that Many Glaciers, on the east side of the park, was incredible with a huge lake, lots of wildlife and unbelievable mountains that completly surround the area.

Quick Tips:

Timing is everything. We went in mid June and there were no crowds but it was chilly and rainy for much of our visit. If you go in July or August there will be lots of people and the campgrounds fill up before noon on most days. My advice is to go in June and hope for good weather. Crowds make the park difficult to enjoy.

Best Way To Get Around:

You need to drive to get to the park and then hit the trails and do some fun day hiking to see the best of the park.

Staying at Many Glacier was almost by accident and it turned out to be the highlight of our trip. This area has some of the most strikingly beautiful scenery I have ever seen. The entire valley is surrounded by steep jagged cliffs. There are many opportunities to hike and fish in the area some of which came a little too close for comfort.

On my first night at the park I decided to go for a walk on Swift Current Trail to take some photos. While taking in the beautiful sunset on the lake I heard a crashing noise to my left and 50 yards away 3 moose came lumbering out of the Forrest. They started walking my way along the lake and saw me taking pictures and bolted into the woods. While I was walking back to my car I was stopped by an adult grizzly bear who had taken up residence about 20 feet off the trail. Four of us sat there for 45 minutes watching him eat grass until he finally laid down and we tip toed by him.

The facilities at the park were good. There were showers and flush toilets and the campgrounds were very neat and had lots of trees. We are seriously thinking of going back to this campground next year for our entire vacation. We absolutely loved it.

On the west side of Glacier National Park there is the Apgar Campground which is situated on at the end of Lake Powell. Compared to most campgrounds I have stayed at, this one was good in that it had nice wooded lots, was very clean and was within walking distance of the lake. The problem was I had just stayed at Many Glaciers campground the 2 nights before and Many Glaciers had spectacular scenery and there were showers available which was a big plus.

We saw some Black Bears roaming around about 12 miles from the campgrounds and deer were common. The area also has several stores and a couple of restaurants down the road and the ranger station was really good and had good information. All in all it was a nice place to stay. Prices to camp were $12 for an RV, there were 196 camp sites total and 25 were able to accommodate RV''s. You have to keep your camp site clean in all Glacier campgrounds or you risk fines in the morning or even an unwanted visit by a hungry Grizzly Bear. If you leave food locked in your car a bear can easily rip the door off the hinge in a matter of seconds so don''t mess around and store all food in the anti bear food lockers provided at each camp site.

Located a stone's throw from the southwest entrance from the park, the Belton Chalet was a nice relaxing dining experience for our road weary group. The restaurant has an old world cabin like feel to it. Lots of antiques around and some wonderful nature prints for sale on the wall.

The service staff was very friendly but a bit over worked. This made for somewhat long waits for a second drink or desert as they scurried about trying to accommodate everyone in the room. The food was very good, 3 of us ordered the trout special which was excellent. It had a nice butter sauce on the top and it almost made up for the fact that I could not catch a trout to save my life on the entire trip. I made an attempt to try berry pies at every place we ate and the mixed berry pie at Belton's was the best pie I tried in the state. It was delicious with a nice light crust.

Right before we hopped on the going to the sun road we stopped off for some breakfast at the Park Cafe. We love going to mom and pop diners and this one was fun, the food was good and the people that ran the cafe were very pleasant. They had a whole bunch of freshly baked pies in the back and I was tempted to try one when my neighbor did at 9 am but I decided to stick with the usual scrambled eggs with hashbrowns and toast and a cup of coffee.

The service was good but we saw a new waitress working the other side of the room that was not doing too well. Our waitress, however was a pro. Total cost for the meal with tip was $13 for two.

On my trip to Glacier, I went with three other people: my 58 year old mother, her 72 year old partner and my 37 year old wife. I had grown up riding horses and had even owned a horse when I was a boy. None of my party, however, had ever been on a horse before but all were willing to try a 2 hour horseback ride in the park. We signed up with Glacier Park's contracted riding outfit named Mule Shoe Outfitters.

Mule Shoe ran a pretty tight ship. They matched the horse's demeanor to the rider's ability and size, they gave good basic instruction and they placed a guide at the front and the back of the group. The horses were well mannered for the most part and we went through some beautiful trails that led over 2 bridges and into a nice old growth forest ant the base of a ravine.

I had two complaints about the program. First it was too easy. Even the complete novices in my group wanted and desired more action from the ride. The horses were never allowed to trot and were in a strict head to toe single file line the whole way. The other problem was that the trail they used was so muddy from recent rain and heavy use that most of the trail was a big slop fest where I was concerned about the horses footing.

This is a good trip if you have a complete novice who wants to experience what it is like to ride a horse, but if you have ridden before pass on this experience and spend your money on whitewater rafting or some other fun activity.

Take lots of film for this hike. You start at the roadside and begin walking on the trail of the cedars pathway which is a nice easy walk through gigantic cedar trees. After about 1/2 a mile you see the trail sign for Avalanche Lake right after you go by a beautiful little waterfall that has cut its way through several huge slabs of granite. Once you commit to the trail you start up a gradual climb that takes about one hour of steady walking to hit the lake. The trail description says you only gain 500 feet but because it goes up and down a lot, the hike feels much harder than that and I'll bet the net gain is more like 2000 feet. There are several turn outs to the stream that you walk parallel to during the hike and we kept asking people how much further and they all kept saying "you are about half way." I was with a 60 year old and a 72 year old so who are both in decent shape but it was a little much for them and I was feeling it by the end as well.

The payoff is big though at the end. You are rewarded by an absolutely breathtaking view of a deep dark lake that is surrounded completely by glacier cut mountain peaks with snow along the top and little waterfalls cascading down to the lake. I loved this place and had a great time trying in vain to catch a fish while I drank up the views. The other benefit of the long hike is that there were relatively few people there and most of them stayed only a brief time and were gone well before dusk. I highly recommend you do this hike. Bring a picnic lunch and head for the far side of the lake where there are even fewer people and enjoy this beautiful place.

The only way to traverse the park from east to west is via the sun road. We heard people talking about how steep the road was and how dangerous it could be if you strayed too far from it and right before we entered it I saw the local paper report that someone had died while walking off the side of the road near the big tunnel. Finally even though it was mid June, the road had been closed due to snow just two days before our drive and the skies looked ominous. All of these things made me more apprehensive than I needed to be. Because I was driving I just kept my eyes on the road and it was really no problem at all.

The road itself was one of the highlights of the trip because it goes right through the huge mountain range of the park and offers many chances to pull over and enjoy the stunning views. There are also several hiking trails along the way and we took most of the day to traverse a few of them as we made our way from east to west. Here are some of the things to do in order as you drive from the East.

1. Sun Point was the best short hike we took in either Glacier or Yellowstone Park.
Incredible views and leads to a waterfall at the end.
2. Sunrift Gorge is right up the road and is a nice place to park and enjoy the rushing water and pretty views.
3. Logan Pass Visitor Center is about half way and is located at the top of the mountain. Many people stop here and hike but it cold and wet so we passed.
4. Hidden lake trail starts at Logan's Pass but was closed because of snow.
5. The weeping wall was very upset when we saw it because of intermittent rain. More like blubbering wall at the time. Nothing special but nice views of the park.
6. Trail of the cedars is a really nice boardwalk walk that reminded me very much of muir woods with these gigantic Cedar and fur trees in the valley.
7. Lake McDonald is the end of the road and offers great views. We saw several big moose swimming in the lake and had a close encounter with one of them.

Located just outside the South west entrance to the park is the Great Northern White Water Raft and Resort Company. They have a number of offerings from rafting to horseback riding to flyfishing. They even have nice cabins to stay in. We took the half day whitewater rafting trip for $40 each and it was lots of fun. There were plenty of rapids to keep us wet and excited and the area of course afforded great views of the river's edge and the mountains that we were floating between.

We had a young woman named Kelly as our guide and she was enthusiastic and commanded our little vessel very well. We had a good trip overall except some of the other rafters were a bit rowdy for our taste. Fortunately they were put on a separate boat and we only had to listen to them on the bus ride to and from the office.

If you are into big rapids go early in the season. Early May is when the maximum amount of mountain run off hits the river. The later in the season, in general, the lower the water level and the slower the boat will run.

Here is the web site for a look at what you will get. Click here!