Glacier National Park, MT
- crick54557
- Aug 24, 2025
- 7 min read
Tuesday, August 12th - Drive to West Glacier MT
We left Banff and headed to West Glacier on a beautiful six hour drive. We drove through more glorious mountains and glaciers. We then hit a section west of Banff which included Radium Hot Springs the Windermere Lake area and the Columbia Lake area. This 3 hour stretch was gorgeous as it contained huge lakes, views to die for, and lots of golf courses :)
We arrived in West Glacier and stayed at the West Glacier RV Park. It was a great campground, the locale was perfect and it wasn’t crowded :)
Wednesday, August 13th - Going to the Sun Road
We began our Wednesday with a round of golf at West Glacier golf course. The course. Was in excellent condition. It was a short course and completely flat so our scores were pretty good!
Glacier National Park has timed entry except if you come in from the East. We were lucky enough to score two permits for the “Going to the Sun Road”. Today our entry was at 1:00 pm and we decided to drive the entire 50 miles to the St. Mary’s entrance and back. It was just as beautful as everyone said. We were nervous it wouldn’t compare to Banff. It was much less crowded (due to timed entry), but the glaciers are all melting which is super sad. They predict within the next 30 years all the glaciers will be gone. In 1850, there were 150 glaciers nad today there are only 25 glaciers left. Everyone in the park is very worried about this because so many ecosystems rely on the glaciers themselves as well as the glacier melt water they produce.
The lower left is a picture of a road bridge and a horse pass under it. During the 1920’s they were transitioning from horse tours to car tours and this is one of hte compromises. The flags in the lower right are from the St. Mary’s entrance. The entrance shows the US flag, the Blackfeet Nation flag, and the Canadian flag.
On the return back we hit a lot of smoke as we think the wind shifted. The views were still outstanding.
A really cool feature on the Going to the Sun road is the weeping wall. This is a rock wall where there are a lot of springs weeping water onto the road way. Enjoy the video :) It might get you a little sea sick - hahahahaha
Thursday, August 14th - Highline Hike, Hidden Lake Hike, Moose, Bike Ride & Anniversary Dinner!
WOW what a busy day! We started our day at 5:30 am with an early rise to get into the park. We had a 7:00 am entry, but entered at 6:30 in hopes of finding a parking spot at Logan Pass. Logan Pass is the visitor center in about the middle of the park and is at 6,646’. We wanted to do the Highline Hike and the Hidden Lake hike. The parking lot has a sign that says it is permanently full. We got up there and sure enough the lot was full and we headed down the mountain in hopes of finding a pull out. By the good Lord’s blessing we scored hte last spot on the closest pull out! Yeah!!!
The views coming up to Logan Pass were glorious!
We began our hike on the Highline. It is called this because you are on a 3’ wide trail above the road way along the edge of a cliff. There is a rubber coated cable to hold on to. It was a bit sketchy, but totally safe.
After we crossed the cliff we were greated by an enormous Big Horn Sheep. He was about 30’ off the path and just munching on greens. He was there when we went first started out and when we came back.
We continued on for another 30 minutes and stopped and had a bit of breakfast. Enjoy the view!
After we got back from the Highline Hike we headed off to Hidden Lake. This hike looked like an easy hike, but it had 5,786 stair steps. Now that is a lot of steps! But, it was well worth it. Once we got past all the stairs we were greated by a high alpine meadow with wildflowers and small creeks.
We finally came to the Hidden Lake overlook. You could hike down to the lake, but we opted to go see some waterfalls instead. The lake and surrounding scenery was gorgeous.
We hiked back down to our car. The next stop was the Sacred Dancing Cascades. This is not really a waterfall, but water flowing over rocks that are dropping in elevation. It was so cool and the water was so blue.
We started out to the camper and we came across this Momma and Baby Moose. These were the only animals we saw in the park except the Ram.
We ended the day with an early 38th Wedding Anniversary dinner. Our anniversary is on the 29th, but we will have company that weekend so decided to go to the Belton Chalet Restaurant. The chalet was built in 1910. The train tracks came to West Glacier and now the road. The road crew was coming in from Whitehorse (50 miles away) so they needed a place to stay. They built the chalet to house them. It had the original floors and the food was magnificent. After dinner we hit downtown and listened to a local band play. It was a glorious day!
Friday, August 15th - Polebridge, Bowman Lake, Bike Ride & Chores
Today we headed to the most remote part of the park, the NW corner. We went to Polebridge which is a cute little town that boasts a general store, saloon, and rental cabins. It is the hub for backpackers and was a nice change of pace from the crowds in the park. The main reason it is not visited is that you need to drive around 30 miles of really bad gravel roads to get there. The entereance is super quaint and houses several park service employees.
Once we entered the park we went another 6 miles on even worse roads and were greeted by Bowman Lake. It was just breathtaking.
We went on a 5 mile hike along the lake and ate several thimbleberries along the way :)
On our way back we stopped at Polebridge for lunch. We went back to camp, I did a nice bike ride, Mike took the jeep for a wash and we did laundry. Leaving for Babb and East Glacier tomorrow.
Thank you West Glacier and Polebridge - it has been glorious.
Saturday, August 16th - Babb, Crossing to Canada, Waterton National Park
Today we broke camp and headed over to Babb, MT. Babb is on the west side of the park, north of St. Mary’s and only about 15 miles south of Canada. We stayed at the Thornston Motel. We couldn’t find a campground on the web, but there were e in town :(. Once we got checked in we headed north to Canada. Waterton National Park in Canada is connected to Glacier National Park in the US. Together it is an International Peace Park.
The town of Waterton feels like a baby Banff. It has the same architectural feel, but different types of mountains and more lakes.
We went to Waterton, walked around town, read some history, hung out at the lake, has supper at 4:30 pm (yep we are blue hairs :).
Overlooking the town is the Prince of Wales Hotel. It was also built by the Pacific Northwest Railraod and is very reminiscence of the Fairmont in Banff. The Prince of Wales is more Swiss looking. We were lucky enough to get a table in the lounge and enjoy a cocktail. The servers wear kilts and the entire structure is magnificent.
We then went outside for a beautiful view of the lake. There is a sign in the hotel that says “If it isn’t Windy it isn’t Waterton”. That was true, the wind coming down the valley off the lake was gusting at 50 mph. Mike almost got decapitated by someone’s hat that flew off their head. It was so funny and sort of scary.
We crossed back into the US and hit the hay in Babb.
Sunday, August 19th - Many Glacier, Start Driving Home
We arose and headed back into the park. We had a reservation to ride the boat at Many Glacier and the lakes there. The road is completely closed and you can only get to the Many Glacier Hotel if you are staying there or have a boat reservation. They are doing a bunch of utility work. We arrived super early as they said parking was going to be bad. We got on the boat an hour early and had a wonderful trip.
The name Many Glacier is a misinterpretation of the Blackfeet language. The real interpretation is the land of many ice. There is no Many Glacier. The hotel was built by the Pacific Northwest Railway in the Swiss Chateau style. The same as the Fairmont and the Prince of Wales.
We first crossed the Swiftcurrent Lake in the Swiftcurrent valley. Gabby was our captain and it was her birthday so the whole boat sang her Happy Birthday. The Many Glacier boat tour is a family held business and has been operating since before the park became a park. It was founded by two Blackfeet that realized the tourists would want to see the lakes.
After we got off the boat we got off and hiked a quarter mile to Josephine Lake. There we got on another boat to cross that lake. Jadyn was our Captain and she just graduated from LaCrosse (small world).
If we were not starting the drive home today we would have gotten off and hiked back to the hotel, but since we are driving we stayed on the boat and went back, hiked to the Swiftcurrent lake where the boat was waiting for us. We hopped on and headed back.
Thank you Many Glacier and Many Glacier Boat Tours - what a great way to spend a Sunday Morning.
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