Glacier National Park tips.

If the east side of the park is open, try to visit and spend a night or two over there. Last year the east side was closed due to the Indian reservation. When you go to the east side, drive the Going to the Sun Road.

I think Many Glacier is the best part of the park. The lodge there is cool but expensive and probably books up way in advance. There are also some decent options to stay in St. Mary or further south in East Glacier Village. Also on that side, Two Medicine Lake is a good spot to stop to take photos or have a picnic.

The best hike in the park, imo, is Grinell Glacier, which starts near the Many Glacier lodge. You can also take boat rides across the lakes for part of this hike if you want to save your legs. The hike to Cracker Lake is also a good hike in Many Glacier.

The best easy hike in the park is the Hidden Lake Overlook hike which starts behind the Logan Pass visitor center at the peak of the Going to the Sun Road. Just a warning, parking there is very difficult even in non-Covid times so you may have to plan on using the parks shuttle system to get there if it is running. Another good easy hike is Avalanche Lake.

We went last August and took the ski lift at Whitefish Mountain which provided a great view of the surrounding area. If the east entrance is still closed my advice is to get to Glacier as early as possible because parking fills up quickly. Army-Navy Surplus store in Whitefish had the best deal on bear spray and was one of the few places to carry it.

I think AUFANATL nailed it. Been there maybe a dozen times now and would duly recommend all those activities.

Going to the Sun Rd has been closed into August when I’ve been there before but that’s rare that late into the summer. If you were only there one day driving through the park beginning at Lake McDonald Lodge and pulling off at Logan’s Pass to do the Hidden Lake hike and stopping at all the overlooks would be my top suggestion. If you plan on camping I have a picture I took at Two Medicine Lake campground that’s been my desktop background for years. That’s my favorite campground in the park but it’s on the east side. Opposite entrance from where you’re coming from if leaving from Whitefish.

Whitefish is a bit further from the park. My brother lives there and it’s over half an hr drive each way to go to the park so gets to be a lot of driving if you plan on making the trip multiple days. My parents have a Airbnb less than a mile from the West Glacier entrance to the park and have views of the park from the house. First summer they’ll be renting it out.

If you’re only there a few days though I’d stick to AUFANATLs recommendations but Ill throw in another suggestion and say Polebridge and picnicking at Bowman Lake for anyone staying more than a few days. Interesting little community in the park with no electricity and you can stop at the Polebridge Mercantile to load up on drinks/snacks on the way to Bowman and we always see tons of deer on this gravel road.

The best kayaking trip I’ve done was the north and middle fork of flathead river if that’s your thing. I remember we did a full day rental last summer for $25/ea and picked those up on the way to the park and launched near Polebridge. There are plenty rental places between Whitefish and West Glacier. That was a lot of fun with beautiful scenery but that’s definitely an all day activity and unless you went with a tour group that could bus you back to your cars, requires your group to have multiple cars that can load kayaks since you’d need one at the pick up and drop offs.

ETA: fams favorite restaurant is Abruzzo in downtown whitefish. We make a reservation there every time we visit. Great Italian, carbonara pizza as an appetizer and they make their own pastas from scratch

You should get up to Polebridge Montana, the Northern Lights Saloon is quite an experience.

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You should get up to Polebridge Montana, the Northern Lights Saloon is quite an experience.

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Huckleberry Bear Claw for the win!! We stopped in there on the way to Bowman Lake. To say Polebridge is remote is quite the understatement
Fantastic Day it was.

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fams favorite restaurant is Abruzzo in downtown whitefish.

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Can second that. It was delicious. Can also recommend the Jalisco Cantina for a good Mex meal.

Thanks for all of the tips. I’ll be staying in the Grouse Mountain Lodge in whitefish for 4 days for a conference, then I’ll have 4 days to see whatever I can in the park.

Reclusive moose Cabins

My sister n law and her husband. Great people who can answer any of your questions and help you customize your visit.

Sorry for the Hijack but this thread is perfect timing so I hope you don't mind.

Couple questions for those of you gentlemen in the know... The wife and I were planning on a trip to GNP in June and staying a week. Is this a good time of year or is it going to be packed? Neither of us want to be stuck in a vehicle all day trying to get from point A to B (like Gatlinburg). Originally we wanted to go in mid to late September but work obligations has us pushing this up. We could do Early October also but do not want the weather to be to cold that roads are closed and whatnot.

Also, is a week enough time to spend a couple days in GNP and spend a couple days in other areas sight seeing in places like Cooke City on down into Wyoming?


There has been some excellent info in this thread so far, so thanks to those of you who have shared.

Not an expert but I think June is a crap shoot in terms of weather, with early June typically being bad and late typically June being ok. Even still, the Going to the Sun road sometimes doesn't open until after July 4.

On the flip side, if you luck out and get nice weather and cleared roads in June, you will have less crowds in the park as most people plan trips in the mid-July to mid-September window to avoid weather obstacles.

All National Parks have been crazy during Covid. There's just no getting around that. People can't travel internationally and most city destinations have restrictions. So millions of vacationers are turning to the best option left - our National Parks. You can avoid some of the crowd by going to places outside the park. Plenty of beautiful scenery and hikes in Montana.

I saw that a couple of weeks ago. We’ve decided to postpone this trip for at least a year. We’ve got several other trips planned so this one ended up getting cut.