road trip review: stanley ID, grand targhee WY, Glacier NP

trip was TUE 8/5- SUN 8/17. Flew MSY to BOI then rented a car for the trip. Dropped the car at and flew home from Glacier Airport thru DEN. it was amazing

here,s the route



Stanley ID 8/5 & 8/6
Love stanley, this is our third stop there. Right next to the sawtooths, tiny and casual and awesome. The drive from Boise is nice too. Stayed at the Stanley Town Square LINK second time there it's super nice. expensive but really really sweet, incredible view of the mountains



best meal of the trip was the first one, at Stanley Supper Club. sounds fancy, its not. But it's good. 10/10 on that. They made us a cold salads/fried chicken picnic to go for the next day as well.

we slept in, then went to Basin Hot Springs. Its on Basin Creek which runs into the salmon river. the pools are homemade and you have to adjust the plumbing when you get there, but totally private from the road and the creek and usually no one there.



after a few hours there we went to the rental private springs behind mountain village resort, these were great too. view of the mountains from a deep spring fed pool. awesome



a few rounds at rod and gun bar and that was that for stanley. Had breakfast the next day , got another soak in at the resort hot springs, and hit the road

Grand Targhee Resort Alta WY 8/7, 8/8, 8/9, 8/10
Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival
The drive kinda sucked once we got out of the mountains, but we took a detour to Craters of the Moon NM LINK which was some freaky looking terrain. Eat a gummy before you go you'll think youre in an episode of star trek. Got to the resort not knowing what to expect and it was happily laid back and casual. the festival was tons of fun.



heres the tetons, from the top of the ski mountain



only downside was the food was mediocre and expensive. this would become a theme..

Boulder MT 8/11
Halfway stop, we chose poorly . Ennis or Augusta would have been better choices. Let's move on, 1/10

Glacier National Park 8/12, 8/13, 8/14, 8/15
Again a pretty shitty drive, but easy. First night in St Mary Village where we were able to get supplies/etc, next two nights at Many Glacier Hotel and then a night at an AirBNB outside Kalispell. no real reason to post pix these places are well photographed.

Highly recommend starting on the east side. no need for timed entry on the road and you can quickly get in (st mary village is on going to the sun road just outside the entrance). We hiked Hidden Lake, Avalanche lake and a part of Highline on the first full day. 10/10 on the first, 8/10 on the second just because the payoff is possibly not worth the time (6mi round trip). Lots of sheep and goats at Hidden Lake. we had to abandon the mission at highline, the winds damn near blew us off the mountain. catch it next time. Get to Logan Pass EARLY. 6am was almost too late.

From there we went to Many Glacier, which i had to stalk the cancellations windows to snag. price wasnt actually that bad, and its a must. Food was better than it needs to be. We hiked from the hotel past the lakes to Grinnell Lake, then back around the other side of the lakes looking for moose







Last day we hiked St Mary's and Virginia Falls. our parking luck ran out here and we had to park a mile & half up the hill, which sucked coming back. Great hike though, blow past the riffraff at St Marys and go straight up to Virginia Falls. much more beautiful, way less people, and a great place to hang swim, eat, chill out. 10/10.

Stayed in an AirBNB with a steam sauna and hot tub that night, which was nice. Got our clothes washed, re grouped. This is it if you want to stay in that area LINK. Great beer at pizza at Moose's Saloon in town. Do not attempt this place if easily flustered, but its great.

Missoula MT 8/16
Drove the two hours down to missoula to see Billy Strings at the Adams Center. Missoula is fantastic. Stayed at the doubletree on the river, had drinks and dinner on their riverside bar area before the show. then walked 5 minutes over the pedestrian bridge over the river to the show. i'm calling that convenient. heres the view from the room patio which is right on the bank of the river



10/10 on missoula. Drove back to the Glacier Airport (nicest airport ive ever seen), then flew the friendly skies.

hope this is helpful we had a blast. Perfect weather everywhere and the people could not have been nicer. Really happy people everywhere we went.