Cross It Off: Spending 2 Days in Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park has been at the top of my travel bucket list for so so long and after
finally visiting all I can say is…wow. It exceeded every single expectation I had and if this
national park isn't on your travel bucket list it needs to be. It was honestly one of the most
beautiful parks I have ever been to. Scroll on down to read more about my time here
and be sure to check out the YouTube video linked at the end of the article for even
more footage (including videos of my friend Kristin and I swimming in the freezing
cold Grinnell Lake and tons of wildlife shots!)
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Quick History of Glacier
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Glacier was designated a national park by President Taft on May 11th, 1910 after large efforts
put forth by influential leaders of the time such as George Bird
Grinnell (who actually has a glacier and lake inside the park named after him!)
who pushed for its creation. With this declaration Glacier became America's
10th national park.
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Things to Know Before Visiting the Park
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The best time of year to visit the park if you are wanting to drive the entirety of Going
to the Sun Road and do a lot of outdoor activities such as rafting and
hiking would be late June - mid September. (I would definitely shoot for
going after July since things had just started opening up when I was there and there
were still quite a few hiking trails closed due to snow. I was there in late July.)
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During the summer season your best bet on avoiding crowds in popular areas
such as Logan Pass would be to try and get there early (about 7am) or later in
the afternoon (after 4pm). Parking is definitely a hot commodity and sometimes
people can get a little crazy as I have heard so be nice and courteous to others
and be prepared to maybe having to park a little ways from trailheads.
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There is a LOT of wildlife in this park including bears so please be aware when
you are out hiking and driving through the park. Carry bear spray and do
NOT approach OR feed the wildlife. It is not worth the photo op if you get
attacked and feeding wild animals is not good for them.
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While there is quite a bit of wildlife in the park, the number one killer is actually water.
So be cautious when out hiking or rafting. Avoid slick
rocks and logs, don't go wading into raging rivers, and be sure to wear a life
jacket when you are on a boat or raft.
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There are places to stay within the park with a wide range of prices that include both
campsites (some are first come first serve while others do offer reservations) and hotels.
If you find all these to be full (which is likely during the peak summer season if you don't book early)
the nearby towns of Columbia Falls (where I stayed) and Whitefish are great options as well.
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Finally, Glacier is currently taking part in a timed entry situation meaning you have to
have a reservation IN ADDITION TO a park pass in order to enter the park between the
hours of 6am and 4pm (any time outside of these times a reservation is not required). The
reservation costs $2 and can be made on the Recreation.gov website. This reservation system
will be in effect until September 11th, 2022. Also if you are needing to buy a reservation be sure
to be on the website and ready as soon as the reservations go live. When I was there I logged
on to the website 5 minutes after they released the timed entry tickets and they were already
all sold out for the ENTIRE DAY.
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Now.....On to my Glacier adventure!
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Day 1: Trail of the Cedars & Avalanche Lake
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I followed Kristin into Glacier National Park via the Camas road and we made our first stop
at one of the most well known sites in the park, Lake McDonald. Lake McDonald stretches
10 miles long and is 464 feet deep making it both the largest and deepest lake
in the park. Fun fact, this is the lake that made me
want to go to Glacier in the first place after seeing pictures of its colorful rocks!
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After about 15 minutes standing on the shore Kristin left to go do some work in another area of the park
and I made my way to the Avalanche parking area where you can find the trailhead for
Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake. I arrived at the parking area about 9:30am
and there wasn’t a parking spot to be found. In fact there wasn’t even anywhere to
park along the road. Definitely a place you want to get to early like about 8am or so
if you want to park near the trailhead.
I ended up parking the truck about a mile away and hiked up to the trailhead
along the road. The views I saw along the way, including a gorgeous raging
river, made the extra hiking time all worth it though.
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Trail of the Cedars
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Trail Name: Trail of the Cedars
Round Trip Length: 1 mile
Estimated Hike Time: 20 minutes
Elevation Gain: 60 feet
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I began my trek on the nice wooden boardwalk and was just in awe with the scenery
I saw. There wasn't a ton of people around me on the trail so I found myself, more
than once, semi-alone amidst all the towering trees that surrounded me on all sides. There
were so many moments where I just had to stop and take it all in. The trees, the
smells, the sun rays peeking through the branches, and the sounds of the birds
chirping in the trees and the water rushing in the streams. This was exactly what I needed.
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I even got to see a couple of uprooted trees which I thought was pretty dang cool.
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Avalanche Lake Trail
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After probably about a half mile on Trail of the Cedars I came to the intersection to
head to Avalanche Lake.
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Trail Name: Avalanche Lake
Round Trip Length: 4.5 miles
Estimated Hike Time: 1.5-2 hours
Elevation Gain: 730 feet
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The incredible views continued as I pushed deeper into the forest with water next to me
almost the entire time and somehow even more trees stretching up toward the sky.
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Avalanche Lake
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Eventually I reached the magnificent Avalanche Lake where I found myself a little log
to sit on to read Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky and eat a quick little protein
bar snack. Aside from the gnats that were flying around like crazy it was absolutely perfect.
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I had a couple of adorable little chipmunks come over to say hello along with a mountain
bluebird and then, according to a man with a pair of binoculars, there was a bear
trekking along the mountainside just above the lake (can be seen in YouTube video).
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After sitting in serenity for about 30 minutes the sky opened up and it started to
rain so I decided it was time to start making my way back to the truck.
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It rained the entire hike back, but luckily the trees provided a nice cover for the majority
of my hike and it wasn’t until I exited the forest and began walking along the road
that I actually started to get soaked.
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Going to the Sun Road
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After eating a few more snacks in the truck I decided I still had a little time before needing
to be back at Apgar Village to meet Kristin at 4pm so I continued on Going to the
Sun Road in search of the Weeping Wall. I ended up making it all the way to Bird Woman
Falls before turning back.
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Bird Woman Falls
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Day 2: Many Glacier & Grinnell Lake
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Kristin and I set out for Many Glacier about 8am and began our drive on Going to the
Sun road. However, we had to stop and get a pic with the Glacier
National Park sign first of course!
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Going to the Sun Road...Again
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This road is 50 miles long and runs between West Glacier and the town of St. Mary. At its
highest point, Logan Pass, the road actually goes over the Continental Divide
which I think is pretty awesome. Logan Pass was actually the only place we stopped along
Going to the Sun Road where we took in some gorgeous mountain views and got to see
quite a bit of snow! Kristin even spotted a mountain goat up on the mountain out in
the distance. (You can see the footage from Logan Pass plus the bighorn sheep we
saw along Going to the Sun Road in the YouTube video at the end of the article!)
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Hiking to Grinnell Lake
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We made it to Many Glacier before they closed it (due to the high volume of cars they will
shut down this section of the park at times until the volume has gone down) and stopped at a little
visitor center type area to check out a map and decide where we wanted to hike. We saw
that the hike out to Grinnell Glacier was unfortunately closed due to snow, but after talking to a ranger
and a couple of other hikers we decided hiking out to Grinnell Lake was the next best choice.
We parked the Subaru by the trailhead, took a quick and MUCH needed potty break, and
then headed out onto the trail.
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Trail Name: Grinnell Lake Trail
Round Trip Length: 7 miles
Estimated Hike Time: 1.5-2 hours
Elevation Gain: 220 feet
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*If you don’t want to hike so much there is the option of taking the shuttle boats across
Swiftcurrent Lake and Josephine Lake which would shave about 5 miles off of your hike.
The Swiftcurrent boat departs from Many Glacier Hotel and will take you to the
second shuttle boat on Lake Josephine that you can then board to be taken to
the opposite shore of Lake Josephine. (It costs ~$35 to ride the shuttle boats.)
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Hidden Falls Overlook
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Before we made it to Grinnell Lake we were distracted by a little sign that read Hidden
Falls Overlook and decided to wait to cross the swinging bridge and check it out. We
hiked up this insanely steep switchback trail that had me huffing and puffing worse than
any hike I had done so far in the park, but eventually we made it to a little wooden deck
where you could see, through the overgrowth of trees and plants, Hidden Falls.
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The bugs were pretty bad here so we didn’t stay too long to look at the waterfall, but I do
have to say that I think it was worth the extra little bit of hiking.
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Grinnell Lake
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We made it back down to the Grinnell Lake trail, crossed the swinging rope bridge, and then, not
long after that, we found ourselves staring out at the gorgeous crystal blue water of Grinnell Lake.
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We stayed here for a little while taking in the view and then after watching a few other hikers
get in the freezing cold water, Krisitn and I decided we wanted to as well. I felt instant
regret, but Kristin couldn’t have been happier. Had I not asked to head back she
probably would still be swimming in that freezing water to this day
happy as a clam. Lol
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Redrock Lake
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After making it back to the Subaru we headed up and over the mountain so we could
hike out to Fishercap Lake to eat the sammies and chips we picked up from the St. Mary
supermarket earlier that day and crossed our fingers for some moose sightings.
However, on our hike we ended up missing the turnoff for Fishercap Lake and instead
hiked all the way out to Redrock Lake which was almost a whole mile extra. This ended
up being a great mistake though because not long into our lunch we actually got to
see a moose out on the water! When we did finally make it to Fishercap Lake afterwards
the people that were there said they had been waiting for over 3 hours to see a moose
so I’d say we lucked out! (We were also told multiple times by other hikers there
was a bear on the trail, but we never saw it. Apparently it is very common
for this trail to have bears on it though so do be aware when you go.)
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Gas station sammie never tasted so good after skipping breakfast and tons of hiking. lol
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Wildlife!
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After eating at Redrock and a quick pit stop at Fishercap we loaded back up into the Subaru
and made our way over to Two Medicine and then to the Goat Lick Overlook in the hopes
of seeing some mountain goats. On our way out though we had to stop because right
off the road were 2 bears! They looked like a mama and a baby bear and they
were so stinking cute!
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Sunset Views
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Driving to Goat Lick Overlook we had to stop and take a few pictures of the
amazing sunset. Sunset and sunrise are always my favorite times in a national park!
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Goat Lick Overlook
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With the sun inching closer to the horizon we made it to Goat Lick Overlook where we
saw 8 mountain goats and even some with babies! If you are wanting to see some mountain
goats this place is probably your best bet!
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So that does it for my 2 days in Glacier National Park. As I said in the beginning paragraph
this park is better than I could have ever imagined and if I wasn't so averse
to the cold and snow I would definitely consider moving closer just to be near
this park. Absolute must visit national park, I cannot wait to go back, and I am so
happy I got to explore it with my girl Kristin! See y'all in the next one!
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