Visiting Glacier National Park
We finally took a trip that had been on our bucket list for years and years - Glacier National Park in Montana.
We started planning a trip to Glacier National Park almost 12 - 18 months in advance. We redesigned our road trip a few times until we figured out the vacation plan, and we still changed it again on the way home.
Glacier Park Lodging
We stayed at the KOA in West Glacier just outside of the park and reserved lodging a year in advance. Every year there are more visitors to the park so it requires some advance planning. There are numerous campgrounds in the park. You can also stay at one of the many beautiful lodges in Glacier - Apgar Village Lodge, Lake McDonald Lodge, Many Glacier Hotel, and the Swiftcurrent and Rising Sun Motor Inn. East Glacier Park and West Glacier both have campgrounds, lodges, and hotels. Columbia Falls is the largest nearby town.
Glacier Park Entrance Fee
The entrance fee is $35; however we combined the trip with multiple national parks so we purchased the America the Beautiful annual pass for $80.
Visiting during the height of summer meant that all the native wildflowers were blooming in all the fields and meadows and roadsides. We saw beargrass, Indian Paintbrush, wild lily, and so many others we didn’t identify.
We started our visit by driving to Polebridge. The pastries at the Polebridge Mercantile at amazing! There were lots of great combinations like funky monkey bread and of course huckleberry everything - huckleberry brownies, berry bread, and this amazing huckleberry pastry.
After our snack, we headed into the park to explore. We stopped at one of the beautiful large meadows near the Flathead River to look at the beautiful mountains and of course some fly fishing.
Nearby Kintla Lake and Bowman Lake are beautiful, quiet spots. They fill up for camping and parking very early so the best option is to visit early in the morning or late afternoon to early evening.
Later, we drove across the western part of Going to the Sun road and stopped at Logan Pass. We hiked from the visitors center up to the Hidden Lake Overlook. The boardwalk trail leads up to a beautiful view of Hidden Lake. While we were there some of the trails were closed due to bear activity. The hike up to the overlook is mostly uphill, but is truly one of the required hikes when visiting.
We made the drive across Going to the Sun Road numerous times and from both directions. Every time there was something new to see or a new landscape. The light would bounce off the mountains and clouds making it look different each time we passed.
There are numerous waterfalls and the famous Weeping Wall. Because of the narrow road, tunnels and sharp turns, driving is slow which allows plenty of time to admire the view.
We stopped on one of our trips across to spend some time looking at Jackson Glacier.
One day we explored the Two Medicine area and hiked around Running Eagle Falls. The waterfall area was beautiful, and we explored around Two Medicine Creek. Of course, there was a little more fly fishing as well.
That evening on the way back to West Glacier, we stopped by Lake McDonald to watch the sunset. We were the only people around!
One of the prettiest and easiest Glacier National Park hikes was the Trail of the Cedars near Lake McDonald. This trail is level and can be accessed by strollers is a 0.8 mile loop.
While we were on vacation, we saw animals everywhere! Many of the trails were closed due to bear activity, and we understand why. We saw multiple black bear and a grizzly bear in addition to bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and smaller animals like marmots.
During our trip we saw sooo many rainbows. We saw one almost every day that we were there. We even managed to capture a few.
We loved our time visiting this National Park and are already talking about when we can visit again. It was a great family vacation destination! (See part of our trip to Canada to visit Banff National Park)
