The Ultimate Guide to Visiting Glacier National Park, Montana

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The Ultimate Guide To Visiting Glacier National Park, Montana!

All of my best tips for enjoying your Glacier National Park vacation and our detailed 8 Day Itinerary, including best hikes, maps and restaurants.

This is a bucket list trip for sure! Is Glacier National Park on YOUR wish list? If not, put it on it! Here’s a picture I took on our favorite hike, Grinell Glacier Hike, looking down at the shimmering turquoise waters of Grinell Lake. Glacier National Park is a fantastic family vacation, as long as everyone is capable and enthusiastic about hiking.  In order to see everything this park has to offer, you have to hike in to see the best views, aside from driving the Going to the Sun Road where the views are also incredible. This is also not an easy trip to plan, so I hope my tips and our detailed itinerary will help.  Glacier National Park is spread across 2 million acres and it takes about two hours to get across the park.  We stayed in three different locations in order to be close to the different hikes in each area.  You also need reservations for each part, more on that later.  Don’t let the planning deter you though, this trip is WORTH IT!

Our TOP 3 FAVORITE HIKES at Glacier National Park are: Grinell Glacier Trail, Avalanche Lake Trail, and Upper Two Medicine Lake Hike.  A close third is Hidden Lake Overlook.  They are all described for you below! VIDEOS on my Instagram saved highlight called Glam Places 5.

Grinell Lake, from the Grinell Glacier Hike

Grinell Lake, from the Grinell Glacier Hike, photo by Modern Farmhouse Glam

Me hiking Grinell Glacier Trail, overlooking Grinell Lake, Glacier National Park

Me hiking Grinell Glacier Trail, first view on the trail that overlooks Grinell Lake, Glacier National Park

Grinell Glacier Hike, overlook of Grinell Lake and Josephine Lake

Grinell Glacier Hike, overlook of Grinell Lake, Lake Josephine and Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park, photo by Modern Farmhouse Glam

Itinerary for our 8 day trip

We spent 3 nights in Columbiana Falls on the west side of the park, 3 nights on the east side/Many Glacier of the park near Babb, and 1 night near the Two Medicine area of the park, the SE section. Glacier National Park is very spread out, across 1 million acres.  It takes about two hours to travel the main road through the park, from one end to the other, on The Going to the Sun Road.  There are spectacular hikes on either end of that road, which means it works out best to stay in two different spots at least.  We added on the third lodging location to take advantage of hiking in Two Medicine, which turned out to be our second favorite hike and our fave dinner!

Day 1

Travel Day

Direct flight Phoenix-Kalispell International Airport, Glacier National Park on Allegiant, arrived late afternoon.

Rental car SUV pickup at airport (small airport, rental car place right there)

Dinner:

North Fork Pizza, Columbiana Falls (like 15 min from the airport) It’s conveniently in the same general area near grocery stores. It was really good and a fun place! Popular!

Grocery Stores– Stocked up at Super One for breakfast and lunch stuff to pack for hikes tomorrow. We did Super One so we could get bear spray. We bought two cans of bear spray for the four of us and the brand was Combat Assault. Grab some Windex to clean your windows throughout the trip! There was SO much dust and constructional the W Glacier entrance and our windows got filthy.  Glad to have the window cleaner for when we drove the Going to the Sun Road.   See details below on the wraps I made for packing on our hikes each day, they worked out great!

Smith’s is a better grocery store in same area in Columbiana Falls.

Check in to Airbnb in Columbiana Falls. The place we stayed in was awesome! This home was so spacious and cozy and had everything stocked that we needed.  We even made friends with the neighbor’s horses, cat and dog.  It was such a sweet place and we really enjoyed our stay. Finding good places to stay in Glacier was a challenge.  I’m thinking about putting together a list of my Airbnb recommendations for all the trips we’ve taken.  Lmk if you’re interested!

Day 2

Drive to entrance to W Glacier 35 min from our Airbnb house in Columbiana Falls.

Trail of the Cedars & Avalanche Lake Hikes:

Hike Trail of the Cedars (easy less than 1 mile, flat) and it continues to Avalanche Lake. 6 miles roundtrip for both. Avalanche Lake hike gains 500ft. Lots of nice shade on this hike. Gorgeous views of Avalanche Lake at the end. You have to continue to the Avalanche Lake hike, it’s the highlight for sure! Trail of the Cedars is a beautiful wooded hike amongst tall cedar trees and anyone can do this hike.  Make sure you keep going to Avalanche though!  Bring your crocs for the water.  It’s a rocky beach.

Trail of the Cedars, boardwalk style easy hike amongst the tall cedar trees, on route to the Avalanche Lake Trailhead

Trail of the Cedars, boardwalk style easy hike amongst the tall cedar trees, on route to the Avalanche Lake Trailhead

Avalanche Lake, Glacier National Park

Me in front of Avalanche Lake, Glacier National Park

This photo is not edited. Avalanche Lake is incredibly beautiful and all the colors are amazing.

This photo is not edited. Avalanche Lake is incredibly beautiful and all the colors are amazing.

Make sure you hike to the other end of Avalanche Lake where it's less crowded and you get a totally different perspective and view of this magnificent lake.

Make sure you hike to the other end of Avalanche Lake where it’s less crowded and you get a totally different perspective and view of this magnificent lake.

Avalanche Lake

One more picture of this water color because I can’t not share it. Avalanche Lake is STUNNING!

Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake were the perfect warm up hikes for what’s to come!

Afternoon & Evening:

Stop into the cute shops at the entryway to the park on your way out.  Huckleberry everything seems to be the thing! We found some great places on our hikes for picking wild huckleberries, stay tuned…

Also stop by The Huckleberry Patch for huckleberry ice cream or shakes. We ended up getting Moose Tracks ice cream there because it looked the best and it did not disappoint!

 

We checked out the farmer’s market on Thursday nights in Columbiana Falls for dinner 830 1st Ave W, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 The Coop Bldg- it was kind of a bust.  I thought we would eat dinner there at the food trucks, but didn’t look great.  Instead we went to:

Dinner at Gunsight Saloon.  Fun place and good food! Live band! I def recommend having dinner there if you’re staying in Columbiana Falls.

If you’re doing this itinerary for Day 1, you’ll need a reservation for the GTTSR, it lasts for 3 days. Here’s the link for making your reservations at the park on recreation . gov . You need these in addition to your National Park Annual Pass.  It’s such a pain and they sell out fast.  More details in my TIPS section at the bottom.

LUNCHES

What I made for lunch everyday to take in our hiking backpacks for lunch:

Turkey, cheese and spinach wraps! These worked out perfectly for easy and light transport in our hiking backpacks, so we could eat lunch on the trail once we reached our destination.  We had 2-3 each, wrapped in aluminum foil. Mission wheat wraps, turkey, ham, cheese, spinach, and ranch dressing.

We also each took two granola bars each for each hike.  We like Clif bars, RX No B.S. bars, Kind bars, Dave’s Killer bars and Cascadia Farms bars.

Another one of our favorite snacks are the salted shelled pistachio nuts. You can get them at Target and Costco.

You need more food and water on the hikes than you may think! It’s not fun being hungry on a hike or running out of water. There is NO food purchase anywhere close by on these hikes, you’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere. If you’re in The Many Glacier and Two Medicine Areas of the park, there are barely any food options at all.

We each had the equivalent of 4-5 water bottles in our hydration bladder for the longer hikes. We also carried Life Straws and used them!

hiking lunch ideas

I made these turkey, ham, cheese, spinach, and ranch wraps for our hikes for lunches. They are easy and compact to fit in your hiking backpack and we shoved them in next to our ice and cold water filled hydration bladders.

 

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Day 3

Drive Going to the Sun Road (GTTSR) one hour in to Logan’s Pass to hike Hidden Lake Trail and part of The Highline Trail. Logan’s Pass has a visitor’s center, which isn’t that great, but it’s a good bathroom stop before your hike.  The parking lot gets crowded here, but we didn’t have to wait more than a few minutes for a spot. We did not get here super early and did not have a problem.

Going to the Sun Road is AHHHHmazing! You feel like you’re in Switzerland.  You drive along the ridgeline of stunning majestic mountains, past waterfalls, and through tunnels.  The views are spectacular.  There are a few spots on this road that made me feel fearful of heights. There are some narrow road spots with a view over the edge of the steep drop-offs. If you’re afraid of heights, driving this road from the east to west side provides a better sense of security, as you’re hugging the side of the road along the mountain and not the edge of the drop-off side of the road. We the full length of the GTTSR both directions and I felt completely fine driving east to west, but very unsettled driving west to east.  There are some CRAZY spots! You HAVE to do this road if you’re coming to the park, it’s a MUST DO! You need a reservation to get onto this road and into all sections of the park.  See my tips section below for more info.

I don’t have many pictures from GTTSR because we were really taking it all in, plus I was driving for a good bit of it.

Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park, MT

Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park, MT

Going to the Sun Road tunnel

Going to the Sun Road tunnel

Going to the Sun Road, Lake Mary

Going to the Sun Road, Lake Mary

Download ahead of time The Guide Along App.  $12 and you get your own personal tour guide along the GTTSR and throughout Glacier National Park.  Worth it! We loved it and the kids named our tour guide Francisco and we called him Franny for short. Haha!

Highline Trail:

We attempted the Highland Trail and I DO NOT recommend it! The trail goes along the ridge of a very high mountain with a straight drop-off, down onto the road! You hold onto the railing for the first section, with a steep drop-off down to Going to the Sun Road.  That railing section went on for way longer than I expected.  I did not enjoy it lol.  Then the railing disappears and you’re STILL on a sketchy trail, but this time without a railing. It goes on that way for a long time and apparently the majority of the trail for 4 miles in.  We went in about a half mile and decided to turn around.  My idea of fun is not being scared and worrying about someone in our family taking a misstep and falling to their death.  No thanks! Anyone else with me?! We went across the street and did Hidden Overlook Trail instead.  It was a great decision for us.  That trail is AMAZING and not scary.

If you decide to do the Highline Trail, here’s the details: it gains 690ft and is 10 miles long one way, then shuttle back.  We planned on only doing the first 3 miles ish. 4 miles in takes you to Haystack Butte and then turn around and come back. “The Loop” which is the last 4 miles if you continued is steep downhill and grueling apparently, plus no shade. People talked about how miserable the Loop part is and I would def not recommend doing that.

Highline Trail's steep drop-offs, Glacier National Park

Highline Trail’s steep drop-offs, Glacier National Park. This is the beginning of the section with the railing and drop off down to Going to the Sun Road.  Yikes. It’s scarier in person.

Highline Trail, about .5 miles in. Glacier National Park

Highline Trail, about .5 miles in. Glacier National Park. Where we turned around and decided it wasn’t for us lol.

Start of the Highline Trail, Glacier National Park

Start of the Highline Trail, Glacier National Park

Hidden Lake Overlook Trail:

Hidden lake overlook trail- mountain goats, wildflowers. Steps and elevation. Look for bighorn sheep and marmots, too. It’s 1.5 miles and 460ft elevation to the overlook and then another 1.5 miles to the lake, dropping 780ft in elevation. We went just to the overlook.

I don’t recommend the hike continuing down to the actual lake.  That much of an elevation descent does not sound like fun or worth it to me! It was closed anyway when we were there, due to bear activity.  I have more info on how to find our trail closures in my Tips section toward the end of this blog.

There’s a good amount of sun exposure on this hike.  Wear your suncreen!

Hidden Lake Overlook, Glacier National Park

We made it to Hidden Lake Overlook, Glacier National Park

We saw three mountain goats up close on this hike! A mama, dad and baby-so sweet!

We also saw a pack of big horned sheep and got a pretty good close-up view of them, as they were heading down from the cliffs and crossing the trail!

We saw mountain goats and big horned sheep on the gorgeous Hidden Lake Overlook Trail, Glacier National Park

We saw mountain goats and big horned sheep on the gorgeous Hidden Lake Overlook Trail, Glacier National Park

Afternoon:

Stopped by Lake McDonald Lodge after our hike, which is on Going to the Sun Road.  Behind the lodge is beautiful Lake McDonald, with its clear water and colorful pebble rocks.

Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park

Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park

Evening and Dinner:

We tried to go to Backslope Brewery for dinner, but it closes early! We got there around 7:30 and they wouldn’t seat us because it closes at 8. Bummer. (On Yelp, it looked like the garlic parmesan fries and Thai Bowl or Diner Bowl were good.  You can follow me on Yelp here)

We went across the street to Mudmann Burgers and it was pretty average.

Head to grocery store (Smith’s) and pack food for the next couple of days! Not much in Babb/Many Glacier areas, where we head to the next day. Stock up!

Back to Coumbiana Falls house for last night in this area of the park.

If you’re doing the itinerary we did on this day, you’ll need reservations for GTTSR

Day 4

Check out of Columbiana Falls house and drive GTTSR the whole way (2 hrs) to next rental house in Babb on Duck Lake (near West Glacier entrance)

GTTSR: places to stop: Big Bend, Jackson Glacier OverlookWild goose island overlook (just look as you drive by), Overland Bend

Check into next Airbnb rental house in Babb, on Duck Head Lake.  This place was not the best, not the worst either.  There are very few good housing options in this part of the park. We ate lunch at the house because there weren’t any options that were available or open.  Luckily we had enough food packed in the cooler to hold us over.

Fischer Cap Lake Hike (short hike):

Head into the Many Glacier entrance to the park to do small hike to Fischer Cap Lake for moose. Keep an eye out for wildlife on this road into the park.

Before or after the short hike, head into Swiftcurrent Motor Inn gift shop and grab some soft serve ice cream, yum! It was only $3.50 to fill your cup with blackberry and vanilla soft serve.  We got this a few times because it was so good!

Fill your cup for $3.50. Yum!

Now for Fischer Cap Lake to see moose…Go to the far end of the parking lot at Swiftcurrent Motor Inn.  Turn left at the snake looking tree to head down the lake, or there are other options, including one trail down that has a small brown sign marking Fischer Cap Lake.  We missed it the first time!

When you see this snake looking tree, turn down toward the lake to see moose on Fischer Cap Lake, Glacier National Park

When you see this snake looking tree, turn down toward the lake to see moose on Fischer Cap Lake, Glacier National Park

Moose we saw in Fischer Cap Lake

Moose we saw in Fischer Cap Lake

TIP: this trail is BUGGY! Bring your bug spray.  There were a ton of flies and the bug spray did not seem to deter them, yuck! It’s still worth suffering through the bugs to see the moose in the lake, though and it’s a short hike luckily.

Videos of the moose, which are WAY better than a photo HERE.

Drive to the Many Glacier Hotel, close by and park.  Walk down through the hotel and to the water. We took a boat ride from here the next day, but had some time, so decided to check it out. You could probably hike to Grinell Lake at this time, but we wanted to have an easy day since tomorrow is our biggest hiking day.

Many Glacier Hotel

Many Glacier Hotel

Dinner:

We ate at Nell’s in the Swiftcurrent Motor Lodge, not very good.  The sweet potato fries were good, but the mac and cheese, caesar salad and burgers weren’t very good.  Go to Two Sister’s for dinner instead.  More on that later.

Reservations needed for Many Glacier & GTTSR for this day.

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Day 5

Grinell Glacier Hike:

Our favorite hike in the park.  Also the hardest one we did.  With great effort, comes great reward.

By taking the boat ride, you shave 2 miles off of the hike each way!

Boat Ride at 8:30 AM  -4 tickets paid $150. Glacier Park Boat Company  www.glacierparkboats.com.  Located directly behind the Many Glacier Hotel on the water.  We took the 4:30 return boat back after our hike.  There are options.

Hike Grinell Glacier 4 miles each way, gains 1800ft (this is with taking the boat). It’s rated a moderate hike and it is challenging.  Oh so worth it. Probably the BEST hike we’ve ever done.

Massive mountains, waterfalls, wildflowers, lakes, ice...oh Montana you are GORGEOUS! Grinell Glacier Trail, Glacier National Park

Massive mountains, waterfalls, wildflowers, lakes, ice…oh Montana you are GORGEOUS! Grinell Glacier Trail, Glacier National Park

Stunning views on the trail, looking down at the turquoise water of Grinell Lake.

Grinell Lake, looking down from Grinell Glacier Trail.

This may be my favorite picture of the trip. Grinell Lake, looking down from Grinell Glacier Trail.

We made it to the end to see a glacier! There aren’t many left in Glacier National Park.

Grinell Glacier!

We made it to Grinell Glacier!

Grinell Glacier

My daughter in front of Grinell Glacier

Grinell Glacier

Grinell Glacier deserves a .5 shot

Grinell Glacier

Me in front of Grinell Glacier. It was quite the hike to get here, excited!

My Nike Pegasus tennis shoes served me very well on this trip! I got them a couple weeks before the trip, hoping that the added cushion would help me and it really did.  I like these WAY better than my Brooks.  I’m back to being a Nike girl again.  My feet felt great on these hikes! I also used this patellar stabilizer on my knee (which also gives me problems) and it seemed to help.  I did not have any knee problems on the trip, but can’t say the stabilizer had anything to do with it.  I think God just answered my prayers.  And I’ll link my favorite workout shorts, as seen above, which I have in a gazillion colors.  They’re the best!

I love the contrast of the red wildflowers with the icy clue water of Grinell Glacier

I love the contrast of the red wildflowers with the icy clue water of Grinell Glacier

Wildflowers on the trail overlooking Grinell Lake

Wildflowers on the trail overlooking Grinell Lake

Last look at the prettiest lake we've ever seen. Ah Grinell Lake, you stole my heart!

Last look at the prettiest lake we’ve ever seen. Ah Grinell Lake, you stole my heart!

Dinner:

Dinner at Two Sister’s Cafe in Babb. Only open 4-9 everyday except Saturday. We loved this spot for dinner! The breakfast, not so much…it’s like microwave breakfast burritos from their to-go hut….eww.  Just stick to the dinner there- it was yummy and a fun atmosphere.  It’s SLIM pickins’ for food options in this area.  We decided not to try the other restaurant in town, the Cattle Baron Supper Club because it looked super expensive and we were just wanting something casual.

Two Sister’s Cafe in Babb, the best (and one of the only) lol spots to eat

Day 6

Redrock Lake and Redrock Falls Hike:

Red Rock Falls hike is past Fischer Cap Lake. You start at the same place, right at Swiftcurrent Motor Lodge.  It’s about 1 1/2 miles into the trail. 2 miles in is the waterfall. 200ft gain elevation.  Bullhead Lake, which is the next lake past Red Rock Lake might be a good chance of seeing bear or moose. We only went to Red Rock Falls and did not continue to Bullhead Lake.  It didn’t seem worth the extra miles. 

*This hike is buggy, bring your bug spray. Flies, yuck! The bugs did not bother us when we were in the water.  They also seem to stay off of you less when you’re moving and in the sun, rather than standing in the shade. Still def worth the hike!

Red Rock Falls, Glacier National Park

Our kids sitting on Red Rock Falls, Glacier National Park

Continue up the trail and you'll get to this upper waterfall and pool. We had it to ourselves! We all swam in it!

Continue up the trail and you’ll get to this upper waterfall and pool. We had it to ourselves! We all swam in it!

Red Rock Lake is beautiful

Red Rock Lake is beautiful

Red Rock Falls, Glacier National Park

We had fun hunting for thimbleberries on this hike! There were tons of ripe ones for the picking. And oh how I love Aspen Trees!

We found a huge thinbleberry bush patch

Thinbleberry bush

 

Other hike options for this day (if you’re not too pooped like we were after hiking Grinell Glacier yesterday) are: Hike Iceberg Lake. Moderate hike in Many Glacier area. 9 miles total. 4.8 miles each way, 1200ft gain.  Looks awesome.  It’s steep at the beginning but gets easier.  Takes about 5 hours total. 

OR Hike Cracker Lake, 6.1 mi each way, 1400ft elevation. We weren’t up for all that elevation in these two hikes, so decided to do a little easier going trail, which was Redrock Falls.

Need pass for Many Glacier to do this itinerary. I couldn’t get a reservation for Many Glacier for this day, so I booked a one way return boat pass into Many Glacier Area paid $19.

Dinner:

We went back to Two Sister’s…it’s pretty much the only game and town and we liked it! It was only about 8 minutes from where we stayed and one of the only places to eat when you leave the Many Glacier entrance to the park.

Grizzly Bear Sighting:

We decided to head over toward the Many Glacier entrance to try to spot some wildlife and I’m SO glad we did! We got super lucky and got to safely watch a grizzly bear in a field close to the road for almost two hours! He caused quite the ruckus, with at least 20 cars pulled over, trying to view him devouring berries.

This spot was right along the road going into Many Glacier, along Sherburn Lake.

Watch the amazing videos of the grizzly bear on my Instagram stories or YouTube.

We also saw a young fox on the way out as it was getting dark!

Our Grizzly Bear Sighting in Glacier National Park, MT

Our Grizzly Bear Sighting in Glacier National Park, MT

Day 7

Check out of Babb house and drive to E Glacier Two Medicine Area, about an hour. There are two ways to drive there, both the same amount of time, so we took the more scenic route on 89, instead of the 2. We saw a Ptarmigan bird and cattle stopped in the road along this route.  It gets pretty high up in the mountain and you ride the ridgeline for a bit, but it’s not scary like the GTTSR.

Hike Two Medicine Upper Lake + Twin Falls

Take the boat ride to shave two miles off of this hike!

Boat 11AM Two Medicine – Glacier Park Boat Company. Paid $76 for four people.  We took the 3:15PM return boat after our hike. There are options.

Hike Two Medicine Upper Lake + Twin Falls 4.4 miles total (up and back) with boat, gains 350 ft (taking the boat knocks off a couple miles of the hike) Take detour to see Twin Falls after hiking up to Upper Two Medicine Lake.

This hike ranks as our second or third hike of the trip (Grinell Glacier #1 and Two Med and Avalanche Lake #s 2 and 3).  It was incredibly beautiful…the massive mountains, alpine pine trees, flowers, huckleberries, moose and more.  The trail was pleasant and enjoyable to walk on and not much elevation. The views felt like what you’d experience in Switzerland.  It also was not crowded at all. Pictures just don’t do it justice.

Upper Two Medicine Lake Hike, Glacier National Park, photo by Modern Farmhouse Glam

Upper Two Medicine Lake Hike, Glacier National Park, photo by Modern Farmhouse Glam

Me on the trail of Upper Medicine Lake Hike

Me on the trail of Upper Medicine Lake Hike

We saw two moose on this hike.  The first was a HUGE bull moose near the creek along the trail.  He was busy eating something and we were careful to stay back.  The second was a female moose off in the distance in the lake.

Boat Ride across Lower Medicine Lake to Trailhead to Upper Two Medicine Hike + Twin Falls

Boat Ride across Lower Medicine Lake to Trailhead to Upper Two Medicine Hike + Twin Falls. Can you see our kids in the first photo at the top of the falls?

 

Need Passes GTTSR and Two Medicine, we secured our pass with the boat ride.

Afternoon:

Drive up the 2 and check out the Buffalo Bison Farm Blackfoot Reservation. We saw a herd of bison in the distance, but maybe you’ll be lucky and see them closer to the road. If you want to see an AMAZING bison spotting we had in Grand Teton National Park, check it out here in video or here in my blog.  There were HUNDREDS of bison that crossed the road right in front of our car.

You can also drive the opposite way on the 2, past where we stayed at Summit Mountain Lodge and head to the Goat Lick Overlook.  The goats supposedly hang out here and lick the salt off of the rocks. We did not have much luck there and only saw two mountain goats in the distance.  Maybe you’ll get lucky!

Cabin & Steakhouse:

Check into Summit Mountain Lodge cabins (about a 40 min drive from the park) $542 for two cabins, stayed in the Huckleberry Cabin and Rising Wolf Cabin, which were next to eachother. Our kids loved having a sleepover party in their own cabin!

Eat at the Summit Mountain Steakhouse, which is on the same property as the cabins and lodge.  It was delicious and the view from our table on the outside back patio was incredible! The two best dishes we ordered were the Great Northern Beef Tenderloin and Sea Bass with Garlic Shrimp and Cheesy Risotto. YUM! The ribeye was delicious, too. Stop and have dinner here even if you’re not staying here, it was the best meal of the trip! And make sure you eat outside on the patio.

Summit Mountain Lodge & Steakhouse

Summit Mountain Lodge & Steakhouse. Our favorite dinner at Glacier National Park. And what a view on the patio!

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Day 8 Wed July 26

Check out of Summit Mountain Lodge and head back to Two Medicine entrance to do another  couple easy hikes and then go back across the GTTSR the opposite direction that we’ve done.  Our flight is late evening, so we have a full day left!:) If you have an earlier flight home, you could travel the 2 instead, toward airport. (it’s a 1 hour and a half drive if you went straight to the airport)

Running Eagle Falls Hike:

Easy hike, .3 miles each way and little elevation.  We’ve never seen a waterfall quite like this one before, with the water coming through an arch in the rock! So cool!

Running Eagle Falls, Glacier National Park

Appistoki Falls Hike:

Huckleberry picking galore! I’m so glad we did this hike, not for the waterfall, which wasn’t much to see, but for the surprise abundance of huckleberry bushes! We had SO much fun picking huckleberries.  I had shoved ziplock bags in our hiking backpacks for this reason, in case we came across this fortunate situation.

Huckleberries have a yummy tart flavor and we loved them.  Here’s what they look like.  They have almost a circle within a circle.  They are singular berries and not in a clump. The clumped ones are called Service Berries. The bears love both!

Huckleberry Picking in Glacier National Park.

Huckleberry Picking in Glacier National Park

Need GTTSR and Two Med reservations for this date. Could not get Two Med reservation for this day, so I bought a one way boat trip for $10 well in advance.

Flew out of Kalispell airport around 8PM in the evening. In case anyone is trying to get an idea of cost, our flight roundtrip cost $2280 for four people.

TIPS & Thoughts on Glacier:

Get your reservations 120 days in advance here. You must secure these reservations the second they are released and even at that you may not get them.  If you can’t get a reservation, book a boat tour in the area to assure you can get into the area of the park you are looking for on each particular day. The boat tours also fill up fast.  One person return boat trip will get your whole family into the park entrance.

You can also snag your yearly National Park pass online way ahead of time.

Download ahead of time The Guide Along App.  $12 and you get your own personal tour guide along the GTTSR and throughout Glacier National Park.  Worth it! We loved it and the kids named our tour guid Francisco and we called him Franny for short. Haha! You can also buy tour guides for other national parks, which we plan on doing in the future!

Glacier is a HIKER’S park in my opinion.  I don’t think it would be worth spending the planning time and money to visit this National Park over some of the others unless you are capable and excited about hiking.  You could drive the Going to the Sun Road, which is fabulous, but you really need to hike in to get the experience at Glacier.

Buy bear spray at Costco in Kalispell when you get there or at Super One Grocery Store-Counter Assault Bear Spray.  You cannot bring bear spray on the airplane.

As seen in my itinerary above, it’s best to stay in 3 different locations of the park, for 2-3 nights each.  It takes about two hours to get from W to E Glacier entrances, so you would not want to travel that distance and then start a hike. 1 night in Two Medicine was enough to get to see that part of the park and do the Upper Two Med hike.

Take the boat rides in Many Glacier and Two Medicine to shave a couple miles off or your hikes.

The sun sets late! Like at almost 10PM!

Your best chance of spotting wildlife is in the early morning or evenings.  That’s when they come out looking for food and getting a drink of water by the lakes.  We watched a grizzly bear for about two hours, while he devoured berries in the brush field next to Sherburn Lake.  That’s along the main entry road to Many Glacier.

We were disappointed with the lack of amenities in and just outside the park, like hardly any restaurant choices. The Many Glacier and Two Medicine areas are so remote and you’re so limited as far as things to do or places to eat. It’s still totally worth if for the hikes, but it would be great if it had a little more to do.  For example, Rocky Mountain National Park has the adorable town of Estes right near the park, which really adds to the overall experience. Outside of the west entrance, the town of Columbiana Falls has a cute Main Street with restaurants, but you can only spend a few days there until you make the two hour trek across GTTSR to the other spots, and then you’re stuck with very limited commercialization of any sort.

We took our time and enjoyed each hike.  Spending time and relaxing at the hike destination was awesome.  There are amazing sights and beauty to take in and we did not want to rush ourselves.

Map of Glacier National Park:

Trail updates and closures:

Text 333111 and comment GNPTRAILS to get alerts when a trail is closed.  This was very helpful! Trails get closed sometimes due to bear activity. 

What we carried in our hiking hydration backpacks:

Some of these items are linked on my Amazon Hiking Essentials List or my Amazon Travel Essentials

Hydration backpack with hydration bladders

Small bug spray– one for all four of us

Small suncreen- one shared between all four of us. This is my fave face sunscreen.  I wear it daily and wore it on the hikes.

Blister bandaids

Crocs– we LOVED having these on our lake hikes

extra pair of socks

Two granola bars each per person

Life Straws– one each (glad we had these, my daughter ran out of water and used it on the Hidden Overlook Trail)

Things we packed but didn’t take in the hiking backpacks because the weather was surprisingly HOT and not cold:

hot hands

small mylar blanket– one each

small rain poncho

Ibuprofen

Mosquito bracelets (not sure it it’s due to these or not, but I did not get a single mosquito bite on our vacation)

Packing list:

Nose saline spray I love this stuff! When the kids were little the pediatrician said he uses this daily and since then I’ve been doing the same.

Waterproof pants

Poncho (we did not have ANY rain on our trip, so did not need any rain gear, but it’s so important to have if you do get stuck in a rain storm.)

Coats. Gloves. Hats. (didn’t use these- it was hot!)

Mole skin (blister bandaids) 

Snacks

Backup pair of tennis shoes. My fave tennis shoes are Nike Pegasus! 

Crocs

Lots of workout outfits. My fave workout shorts linked here.  They are so comfy and flattering.  Lulu dupes.

Several hoodies

Cooler backpack (used as a carry on the airplane and used for drinks when we got there)

Collapsible cooler from Costco (easy to pack in suitcase and glad we had it when we got there)

Camelbacks hiking backpacks and hydration bladders

Hiking waist packs

Cell phone charger packs

Small umbrella (didn’t need)

Lip stuff

Windbreaker

Trekking poles

Pocket knife

Ibuprofen 

Food, nuts, bars 

Bandaids with Neosporin  

Rain gear

Extra socks in backpack

First aid kit 

Hand sanitizer

Keurig- we always take a small Keurig with us so that we can easily make coffee in the mornings because some of these places we stay at are remote.

I wear KT Tape for knee issues and it really helps me when I’m working out or hiking.

My Amazon Hiking Essentials List

My Amazon Travel Essentials

Me in front of the crystal clear waters of Avalanche Lake, Glacier National Park

Me in front of the crystal clear waters of Avalanche Lake, Glacier National Park

I hope you enjoyed my Ultimate Guide to Glacier National, Montana! Send me a DM on Instagram if you have any questions! Have a fabulous trip with YOUR family to Glacier, you are going to LOVE this place! It’s truly incredible. XO-Amy
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My favorites on Amazon, including my hiking essentials

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