Glacier National Park: A Special Place

Good news, Glacier National Park is a wonderful place full of clear, baby-blue, glacier-sourced lakes and streams and several rugged, glaciated mountains. Bad news, the glaciers will be gone by 2030. Well that’s climate change. Scientists aren’t sure how the disappearance of the glaciers will affect the park’s ecosystem.

We really liked our campground. Only 1.5 miles from the park entrance in West Glacier, Montana. Lots of trees, shade, and quiet for the most part. Only challenge is the sites are on a steep hillside making towing and backing into the site a bit difficult but we got it done.

For our first activity, we rode from camp to the park and on to the Apgar Visitor Center — all on bike path. From the visitor center, you can hop on a shuttle and go pretty much anywhere in the park. Very cool.

The next day, we drove the Going to the Sun Road scenic drive over to the Many Glacier area. One of the most scenic drives in America. There was no parking at Many Glacier — now we see why the shuttle is necessary. We improvised and did a different hike and then came back to Many in the afternoon. We got lucky in that they were allowing vehicles in again right when we got there. From the lodge, we hiked Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine — baby blue lakes with spectacular mountain and glacier views. We grabbed beer and chips from the lodge’s mini store to enjoy with great views of the lake and mountains — cheapest beer ever for a National Park — $2.25 for 19 oz tall boys 🙂 On the drive from East back to West Glacier, we got caught in an insane thunderstorm. Rain so heavy I thought we were going to have to pull off but I still had a little visibility so we continued. Thunder and lightning continued for some time. Once we got back up the mountain and nearing Logan Pass, the storm couldn’t make it over the mountain and it cleared up completely. Crazy climates in this area. It did eventually end up raining and some thunder in the middle of the night at our camp in West Glacier too.

We opted for a partially lazy day with a Lake McDonald paddle. This is another baby-blue lake fed from glacier water. We paddled and chilled on the lake all morning until we realized the bottom chamber on the kayak had an air leak. We were not in danger of having to swim, but it did compromise the steering and made for more work getting back to the boat launch. A few days later, we checked the kayak, found the leak, and patched it. Hopefully the patch holds, the leak is in a weird spot with a crease making it tricky to get the patch to seal. It seems most if not all of the leaks we have had with this kayak have been a result of little pieces of gravel getting wedged in tight spots and eventually puncturing the vinyl. The rest of the day we hung out on the lakeshore of Lake McDonald with a picnic. It is cool how Glacier has so much beautiful water you can boat or swim in. This park has a summer camp kind of vibe. I am enjoying it very much.

Because of difficulty finding parking in any of the park’s popular areas, we decided to take the shuttle for the rest of our stay. We shuttled to the Avalanche area and hiked the Trail of the Cedars and on to Avalanche Lake. Trail of the Cedars is a short boardwalk loop through an old-growth cedar grove. Feels like an Ewok could pop out at any turn 🙂 We took the Avalanche Lake trail which follows Avalanche Creek and ends at the lake. More baby-blue water — so clear and pure it seems unreal. At the end of the trail we took an off-trail path to the far end of the lake. Had to take off our shoes and wade through some snow melt streams that were very cold but we made it to a clearing with great mountain and glacier views reflected in the lake water. Amazing. On the shuttle ride back, we got off at the Lake McDonald Lodge stop and hit up the bar for a refreshing, much-deserved beverage. An excellent day.

I decided to do a solo ride to Logan Pass on Going to the Sun Road. A bucket-list ride for me. But I didn’t plan on doing it because it seemed like the vehicle traffic was too heavy and no shoulder to ride in. They don’t allow bikes on the road from 11 am to 4 pm because of the traffic. So I shortened the route to 40 miles and started at sunrise to get up and down from the mountain before the traffic picked up. The plan worked perfectly. The only hiccup was I wanted to be on the bike at 6 am, but I forgot the road is closed at night — 10 pm to 6 am for construction. I got held up for about 20 minutes before the road opened. Parked at McDonald Lake Lodge and hit the road. There were very few cars at 6:30 am. I made it to the top at 8:30 am and still traffic was relatively light. This was the easiest 3500 ft climb ever. Steady 5-6% grade. I stayed in the big chain ring all the way up. The temps were also very helpful – about 50-55 degrees the whole ride. I was able to push it somewhat hard without fear of overheating. The ride down was so fun. The views awe-inspiring. Loved it.

We took the shuttle to Logan Pass on our final day in Glacier. The wait for the shuttle adds about an extra hour out and an extra hour back to your day. But I think it is a small price to pay to not have to circle around the parking lot hoping to snag a spot when right when someone leaves. Or having to park a half mile to a full mile away and add that to your hike. At Logan Pass, we did the Hidden Lake trail. We were hoping to do the full 6 mile out-n-back to the lake but we could only do 3 miles because the remainder of the trail was closed due to bear activity. This is common in Glacier NP. You just have to improvise. It was fine though because the trekking through snow was alot of work and I was fine with the shorter distance 🙂 Luckily we brought our trekking poles and Yak Trax so we were good with the snow and ice on the trail. So many people hiking in tennis shoes and totally unprepared for the conditions. We witnessed lots of falls. The scenery on this hike was wonderful. Wildflowers everywhere, snow melt brooks and waterfalls, lush green grass fields in contrast with the granite mountains and white patches of snow. And lots of wildlife — mountain goats, bighorn sheep, marmots. On our way out of the park for the final time, we stopped off for a scoop of huckleberry ice cream — my new favorite 🙂

Yes Glacier can be a bit overwhelming with the crowds, but it is a magical place and worth the extra effort it takes to enjoy. Just be flexible and don’t get rattled if things don’t go exactly to plan 🙂

Next stop in our journey…Oh Canada!! We cross the border tomorrow on our way to Jasper National Park 🙂