Glacier National Park, Montana

When anyone asks me, "What is your favorite National Park?" I have always answered, "Glacier National Park." I can say my answer is still the same.

Glacier National Park is split by the Continental Divide to the East and West sides. The East Side is based out of Saint Mary's, Two Medicine, and Many Glaciers. We visited all three of these areas for hikes and boat tours. We then moved to West Glacier and visited Lake McDonald.

Two Medicine

Twin Falls

A half hour south of Saint Mary's is the Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park. We started out on the North Shore Trail along Two Medicine Lake and through the valley to make our way to Twin Falls. This was a 7.5 mile out and back hike through lush vegetation and Spruce and Fir trees.

Twin Falls

Running Eagle Falls

We also took the trail to Running Eagle Falls. "This sacred waterfall was named to honor Pitamakan, or Running Eagle. Near the falls she had a four day vision quest to lean her destiny. She became the only famed female warrior of the Blackfeet Tribe. She led many successful hunting and war parties, and was the only woman given a man's name in the tribe." ~NPS

Saint Mary's to Logan Pass

Highline Trail

On day two we took Going to the Sun Road from the Saint Mary's entrance the 17 miles to Logan Pass. This is an extremely busy area of the park so we needed to be there by 6:30 AM in order to get a parking place. Our journey on Highline Trail began here. This trail is 8 miles to the Chalet and from there we picked up The Loop Trail for another 4 miles to The Loop Trailhead parking lot, where we picked up a shuttle to take us the 10 miles back to Logan Pass. This was a 7 hour, 12 mile hike that will forever be a highlight of our travels.

Remember this for later: it was 55 F when we left.

Sunrise on Highline Trail

We found a friendly mountain goat who came to visit. We were told by a park employee that they feel safe around people so they come around a lot.

Check out the video of him crossing the trail

There are a lot of waterfalls because of all the snow melt.

The fluffy plants are called Bear Grass

Remember when I said it was 55 F when we left, well I quickly shed the sweatshirt and took off the bottom of my hiking pants. At this point we were still mostly in the shade.

The trail was anywhere from 2-5 feet wide. This is my view down on a narrow part of the trail.

The higher up we went the more snow we encountered.

Deer are still found at high elevations along with many species of marmots and birds.

This is The Chalet, elevation 7,024 feet. You can actually stay in rooms at this rustic historic site. You need to bring your own food and water with you. You can purchase bedding per person on top of the cost of your stay. There is no running water or modern toilets here either. The Chalet is only 1 of 2 that survived in GNP, originally built by the Great Northern Railway between 1914 and 1915.

The Chalet is where we ate lunch and left the Highline Trail, 8 miles from the start and about 5 hrs into our journey. As you can see, we stopped along the way to take pictures and enjoy the views.

The rest of our hike, from around 11:30-1:15 was on The Loop Trail and was all downhill, in full sun. Needless to say, we just walked the switchbacks down the mountain on a mission, to get to the end.

At this point in the day it was 95 F. HOT!!!

A 1/2 mile from the end of the hike we came to a waterfall and we jumped in, fully clothed, boots and all!!! I have never been so happy to see a waterfall before in my life. We think it saved our lives.

I will always love you, waterfall

The day's stats! My favorite is the Exercise ring, where I was 1330% of my exercise goal for the day.

I can say, this was a pretty proud moment for me. One of those bucket list items that I wanted to do while I was still young (50 is fabulous!!) and fit enough to do it.

Many Glacier

Many Glacier Boat Tour

After the hike the day before, I was really happy that I booked a boat/hike tour the next day. We left from the Many Glacier hotel at 9 A. This was a combo tour where we first took a boat across Swift Current Lake, hiked 1/2 a mile to Lake Josephine, where we picked up a second boat. We left that boat and hiked 3 miles round trip to Grinnell Lake and Hidden Falls. After we did that, we took the same route back across both lakes to return to the Many Glacier Hotel.

Many Glacier Hotel

Many Glacier hotel construction began in 1914 and was finished in 1915 as a series of Chalets. All the hotels in the park were originally built by the Great Northern Railway and were designed after Swiss Hotels to attract tourists to visit "The Alps of America" instead of traveling to Switzerland.

Swift Current Lake

Lake Josephine

Hike to Grinnell Lake

Hidden Falls

Grinnell Lake

On the way back across Lake Josephine we got to see a large, bull Moose

Saint Mary's to Logan Pass Again

Hidden Lake

Today's hike started once again early, 6:30 A from Logan Pass. This time we made our way to Hidden Lake, about 1.5 miles from the visitor center. A 3 mile round trip hike. The majority of this hike was an increase in elevation on a park established board walk because it is through mountain meadows where large snow melt is still occurring.

Logan Pass

Sunrise Video at Logan Pass

Start of Hidden Lake Trail

Hidden Lake

We found another friend

Grizzly Bear about a mile a way in the meadow off Hidden Lake Trail

Going to the Sun Road East to West

Construction began in 1921 and was completed in 1932 and dedicated in 1933. It is the only road that traverses the park, and goes over the continental divide at Logan Pass. It is approximately 50 miles long and is only open completely from July to October, due to heavy snow conditions.