Brittany In essence, our trip was a road trip. We flew in to Salt Lake City, but from there we drove the remainder of our trip. We began the long drive from Yellowstone to Glacier, expecting to lose cell service along the way, and with paper maps as our back up plan. I would strongly suggest having paper maps and knowing how to read them instead of purely relying on cell phone service. It was a long trip, but there were plenty of beautiful views along the way, and even a few cattle drives that we were able to view as we drove.
Glacier National Park has two sides to the park, but the west side is far more busy than the east side. Because of this, the park service has implemented a ticket reservation entry to limit the large crowds. From what I’ve read, because the park is so popular and there are really only a month or two for peak season, it was unsafe to have so many visitors when emergency vehicles could not get through. I knew this, but was not exactly sure how it actually worked. They had their last big snow on Memorial Day and we visited at the beginning of July. At that time, Going to the Sun road was still not completely open. I thought that the ticket system was not in effect until the road was completely open. I also didn’t realize that there is ONE road in the west side of the park and it requires a ticket to get in. When we arrived at the west entrance around 2PM, we got to the ticket part and were turned away because we did not have a valid ticket. The young girls that we talked to were super nice. They told us there are ways around the ticket reservations such as reserving a kayak or some type of service inside the park. Also, the entry system was only from 6AM until 4PM, which I also knew, however, there was a partial road closing each day from 10PM until 6AM, and I wasn’t sure where that road was and if we’d be able to get in before 6AM and through that road without having a ticket. The girl also said they left around 4PM and we could drive right through after that time. One more piece of advice about the tickets, you reserve on recreation.gov and they release tickets something like 120 days ahead and also the day before beginning at 8AM. I was very bummed that I misunderstood all of this information so we went to our VRBO and to make our game plan. We called Bill’s parents and asked them to try to reserve us a ticket for the following day on the next morning because our internet service was severely lacking in that part of the state. They were unable to secure a ticket, they were gone within minutes of releasing them.
We decided to visit a local winery we had seen on the way in. After a wine tasting and talking to the girl that worked there, she suggested that we go to the less visited east side of the park because in her opinion it was prettier and had a lot of great hikes. We decided we would go to the park after 4, try to get in as much as we could at that time, and go from there.
After 4, we were able to enter with no problem but it was much more crowded at that time. Once in, we drove in as far as we could before the road was closed and found a parking spot. The color of the water was stunning!
We decided to hike Trail of the Cedars and then walk as far as felt safe on Going to the Sun road.
It was so peaceful walking Going to the Sun road and there were still deer that we frequently saw, but I was also still cautious about seeing a bear. That took us to the end of daylight on our first day. We went back to our VRBO and reserved a tandem kayak for the following day, which would allow us to enter the park without a pass.
Our first full day in the park, I wanted to get some hiking in but knew we couldn’t get too far out because of our kayak reservation, which we could get beginning around noon.
We chose to hike to Avalanche Lake which was fairly easy with a beautiful view. We then picked up our kayak to paddle along Lake McDonald. We paddled to a little spot, and ate a picnic lunch and then went back. It offered an amazing view and a different perspective than what we had seen.
After that, we hiked the McDonald Creek Trail which had amazing views of the water from the “other side”. At times, we could see Going to the Sun road and visitors on the other side of the creek. Much of the trail is wooded, and it was not nearly as crowded as some of the others we had already visited so of course I was afraid of running into a bear. So, we played a little Kenny Chesney as we hiked, and hopefully the wildlife enjoyed our little concert.
The next day was our big hiking day. The Highline still wasn’t open and I didn’t expect it to be during our trip, but I wanted to make it to the Grinnell Glacier overlook as well as Iceberg Lake. The views along the way of the Grinnell Glacier trail are spectacular. The water is a beautiful blue that we always see from alpine lakes. Unfortunately, the trail was partially closed. We ran into several hikers who said they hiked through the snow to the end of the trail but I remembered how slippery the snow was on the way to Delta Lake and I did not trust myself to make it without falling. We went as far as we could, but I drew the line when we reached the snow.
Next, we headed to a ranger station, to get my stamp and also ask about the Iceberg Lake trail. The rangers were very nice. They said the Iceberg Lake trail was not fully open because there were three spot that were very steep where you would have to hike through snow. They showed us how we would go if we chose to complete the trail but said they would not recommend it due to the incline. Just like Grinnell Glacier, there were several hikers that had gone to the end of the trail but this snow was on a ledge and I definitely didn’t trust myself on that!
We have some unfinished business in Glacier National Park. We will return at some point to complete the Highline, Grinnell Glacier Overlook, and Iceberg Lake. One of the highlights from the trip is coming up next when we Goforth and Explore Waterton Lakes Peace Park and have high tea!
