Category: Glacier National Park

In Camping/Road Trip Adventure, Glacier National Park

On February 12, 2020

As we were nearing the end of our vacation, we knew we wanted to get some more hikes in and there was one part of the park we hadn’t been to yet.

We made a drive back along highway 2 early in the morning to Two Medicine Valley. This is certainly one of the quieter parts of the park and doesn’t appear to see near as many visitors as the other sections.

We decided to start the day off with a short hike to stretch our legs after sitting in the car for a while. It was the first trail we noticed on our drive into Two Medicine. Running Eagle Falls is a very easy short hike (0.6 miles) with nice wide paths and little to no elevation gain. A great hike to take with little ones sine they can splash in the shallow river when you reach the falls.

Running Eagle Falls was named after Running Eagle who was a woman warrior of the Pikuni tribe. She is held in very high esteem by the Pikuni people for her knowledge and wisdom, as well as the inspiring person she is.

We continued on the road to Two Medicine Lake where most of the trails in this area begin. We were aiming for Aster Falls.

Aster Falls is a fairly easy hike which would be doable for most families. It is 2.8 miles round trip with a total elevation gain of 320 feet. Huckleberries lined most of the trail.

Since we found the trail to Aster Falls easy compared to any of our other hikes, we decided to continue up to the Aster Park Overlook making the total hike 4 miles. This has considerable elevation gain of 780 feet over a short distance. Be prepare to hike switchbacks up due to the gain. The effort is worth it for the views up top.

I personally found it harder going down the steep hill than climbing up.

Once down we took a few minutes to enjoy the view of the lake and rest.

This hike deserved some more ice cream for the kids and a cool drink for us, especially with the temperatures getting quite warm again. We went into the general store in Two Medicine for the treat. This was probably the best general store for souvenirs we saw in all our time in the park.

On our drive back out we stopped at a few pullouts to take in the views and take a couple pictures.

We figured one couldn’t go to this part of the park and not stop in to see the lodge. Glacier Park Lodge is one of the original lodges. They had a great display at the end of the one hall depicting the history of the lodge and of the park. It was neat to read and see all of the photos. While we were reading about the history of the park our kids enjoyed working on the puzzles that were out on the tables. You don’t have to be staying at the hotel to go in and enjoy the lobby area where you can sit and relax out of the sun.

Our son loved seeing the Totem poles and gardens that were out front of the lodge.

There are some neat signs we noticed on the East side of the park along the highway. We stopped to see one of them and see what they were about on our drive back to West Glacier and camp.

When you have a child with loads of energy you are always on the lookout for interesting spots to stop and stretch legs, run around, or get sillies out. Luckily there were a few spots we could stop on the way back. One place we stopped was the Continental Divide.

This was a great way to spend our last day in Glacier National Park before heading home the next day.

To read about more of our adventures during our time in Glacier National park check out the links below:

Day 2 – Waterfalls and a boat tour on the East side of the park

Day 3- Driving the Going-To-The-Sun Road and hiking at Logan’s Pass

Day 5 – Quiet day exploring the west side of the park

Day 8 – Hungry Horse Dam

Day 8 – Hungry Horse Dam with Kids

In Camping/Road Trip Adventure, Glacier National Park

On February 10, 2020

Multiple times throughout our vacation we had passed through the town of Hungry Horse and kept seeing signs for the Hungry Horse Dam. We weren’t really sure what this would be or if it was something worth seeing, but with the heat, it was worth taking a drive up to see.

The drive to the dam is lovely along the side of a mountain.

Hungry Horse Dam is one of the largest concrete arch dams in USA, standing 564 feet tall. Interestingly this dam provides 60% of the hydroelectric power for the Northwest.

You can walk along the top of the dam. There is a sidewalk all of the way around. There is also a cute little free information centre/museum. It was quite interesting all of the history of the dam. They had some activities for the kids to enjoy so parents could check out the displays and information which was appreciated. The staff were friendly and glad to share information with visitors.

The Glory Hole was pretty neat to see. This is used when the water levels become too high in the reservoir to be able to quickly dump water down the river.

We took a drive across the bridge to enjoy the views from the road along the reservoir and of the surrounding area known as the Hungry Horse Reservoir Recreation Area.

What are some places you hadn’t planned to see on a vacation or didn’t know about until you passed a sign for it? Was it a hidden gem?

To read about more of our adventures while visiting Glacier National Park check out some of the links below:

Day 2 – Waterfalls and a boat tour on the East side of the park

Day 3- Driving the Going-To-The-Sun Road and hiking at Logan’s Pass

Day 5 – Quiet day exploring the west side of the park

Day 9 – Two Medicine Valley

Glacier National Park Day 6 – Guided hike to Avalanche Lake

In Camping/Road Trip Adventure, Glacier National Park

On February 5, 2020

After having a nice quiet day to recover, it was time to get back to hiking.

I tend to wake up before anyone else when we are camping and I enjoy the peacefulness before the campground wakes up. I used this morning as a chance to head down to the lake and watch the sun rise since I was up about 6am. At some point my daughter woke up and came to join me down on the beach.

We hoped to be able to make the guided hike to Avalanche Lake in the morning. This is a very busy trail head as there are a number of trails that start from this parking lot. It can be tricky to find parking, so may be worth considering the park shuttle if you want to hike in this area. This is a 5.7 mile hike with a total elevation gain of 730 feet if you only go to the lake and turn around.

Luckily the hike left a few minutes late and we were able to catch up to them after finally finding a parking spot.

The first portion of this hike is along a boardwalk called the Trail of the Cedars. This is an accessible 0.8 mile trail that is part boardwalk and part paved path. It is a loop that is great for all ages and abilities with benches throughout for anyone who may need a rest. You could easily use a stroller on this path, or if you are in a wheelchair this is one trail that you could enjoy. The ranger stopped a couple of times for us to really take in the beauty of this rainforest and the size of the trees as it also gives a sense of this areas past.

Avalanche Canyon is the stop just before we turned onto the trail to Avalanche Lake. The colour of the water in this canyon is that stunning blue that doesn’t look real.

Then it was off up the trail to Avalanche Lake which started off steep and then became more of a gradual climb. Our ranger asked the kids to use their observation skills on the first climb, to see how many different coloured rocks they could observe. This was a great way to keep the kids moving and not realize how steep it was.

During the hike we passed an area where there had been a slide, saw massive boulders and enjoyed the hike. The nice part about this hike is that most of it is located within the trees so you don’t have to worry about the heat quite as much.

When we reached the lake, the kids thought it was a good time to have an early lunch so they could then wade in the water. There are lots of fallen rotting logs from a previous avalanche in this area. The beach area around the lake is quite large and so it was easy to find a spot to sit together and enjoy the view. There is no shade at the lake, so something to take into consideration when planning your day.

After some fun in the water, the kids asked if we could see where the trail lead that went around the lake. We started out on the trail and got up the one side when a family coming towards us warned us of a bear not far up ahead that did not appear to be shy of people. We decided that it wasn’t worth the risk and it was time to turn around and we would head back down to the car.

By the time we got back to the car it had gotten quite hot out, so we decided to go for a drive to keep the kids a bit cooler and see if we could find some ice cream.

Just outside the gates at West Glacier there is the West Glacier Cafe which has a good selection of ice cream and ice cream treats. A perfect spot to stop on a hot day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out by the lake and cooling down as needed.

What is your favourite ice cream flavour? My kids were taking full advantage of any opportunity to have Huckleberry ice cream.

To see what other fun we got up to on our Trip to Glacier National Park check out the links below:

Day 2 – Waterfalls and a boat tour on the East side of the park

Day 3- Driving the Going-To-The-Sun Road and hiking at Logan’s Pass

Day 5 – Quiet day exploring the west side of the park

Day 8 – Hungry Horse Dam

Day 9 – Two Medicine Valley

Glacier National Park Day 5 – Quiet recovery day

In Camping/Road Trip Adventure, Glacier National Park

On February 3, 2020

For the next 3 nights we were booked into Fish Creek Campground on the west side of the park. We had popped into the campground the day we drove the Going-To-The-Sun road to see if they had any sites available that would keep us in one site for our entire time there. Well, luck was on our side as we were able to obtain a better site than we had originally booked and for all 3 nights.

We camped in Loop C which we would highly recommend if you camp here. There are no hookups and generators are not permitted in this loop. The reason we like this loop is that the sites are quite large and some of them even back onto Lake McDonald. Our Site was one of those sites that backed onto the lake. While the site doesn’t open up right onto the lake, there is no one behind you and it is a very short walk down through the trees to be on the beach. This is especially nice when your children decide to wake up early in the morning since you can take them down there for a nice walk or to throw rocks.

Or even an early dip! We did go for a nice swim later in the afternoon as well when the air had warmed up considerably more.

We decided today would be a good day to take it easy so we didn’t overdo the hiking with the kids. We spent some time playing board games and walking around the campground in the morning.

When the kids started to get a bit antsy we headed over to the visitor centre in West Glacier to see what they would recommend for hikes with the kids or anything we maybe weren’t aware of. We also used this time as a chance to go for a drive and get a better lay of the land and a sense of how long it would take to get to trail heads from the campground.

A fun stop is Apgar Village where there is a nature centre. This is a log home nestled in the trees, with interactive hands on exhibits about the park. This a great place to drop in on a warm day as it is located in the shade. It is a great place to learn about the park and the wildlife you may possibly encounter. The rangers here had a wealth of knowledge and information to share with us and we had a great time chatting with them about the changes they have seen over the years in the park. There are scheduled ranger led talks in front of this building throughout the summer.

After dinner was the perfect time to go and check out McDonald Lake Lodge. The kids thought it was a neat lodge with the log beams, and even more exciting was the fact that the Red Jammers are parked here at night. They also enjoyed checking out the gift shop and seeing if there were any items they wanted to use their spending money on.

We finished off the night with a special treat at Eddie’s Cafe in Apgar Village. You can sit out on the patio and enjoy watching the people go by while watching the lake. A slice of Huckleberry Peach Pie, an order of Huckleberry Cobbler and a slice of Chocolate Overload Torte were what were ordered. My husband and the kids had dessert and shared bites of each. The servings were quite large, and I was surprised the kids finished theres. My youngest said the Peach Huckleberry pie was the best and delicious.

When you travel with kids, do you build in a rest/quiet day? Do you plan out your trips in advance or just roll with it?

If you missed the previous posts about Glacier National Park, you can find them here:

Day 1 – Getting our Bearings in St Mary

Day 2 – Waterfalls & a Boat Ride

Day 3 – Driving The-Going-To-The-Sun Road

Day 4 – Hike to Iceberg Lake

Glacier National Park Day 4 – Full Day Guided Hike to Iceberg Lake

In Camping/Road Trip Adventure, Glacier National Park

On January 31, 2020

When you ask our kids what was their favourite part of our trip to Glacier National Park, they will tell you it was our hike to Iceberg Lake. This was a great accomplishment for them and they were pretty proud of themselves for having completed it. This was a 12 mile hike with an elevations gain of 1364 ft.

We left the camp site early in the morning to ensure we would make it to the trail head with plenty of time. This trail is located in the Many Glaciers area of the park. The park was so peaceful on our drive over. We lucked out and saw a fox wandering down the road during our drive. The views were lovely, but be prepared the road is a little rough in this portion of the park.

We chose to join the Ranger led hike up to the lake due to the frequency of bear sightings in the area and we also thought it would be a great way to learn more about the park. The meeting location for the hike was in front of the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, as the trail is located behind the cabins. We were the only family joining the ranger led hike with kids so we did discuss it with the ranger before leaving and we were told we were more than welcome to join in. Our concern was if if your children would be able to keep up with the group. Our kids more than kept up throughout the hike.

Our ranger Diane went through how the hike would work, and anything we needed to be aware of before heading out. As well she wanted to make sure everyone had sufficient water for the hike.

The hike starts out with a fairly steep climb, but then levels out a bit more and the rest of the hike isn’t too bad even though it is a steady climb. Our ranger always seemed to know when everyone would need a break for a few minutes and would stop to tell us some facts about the area we were hiking through.

We did take a longer break near the halfway mark at Ptarmigan falls which is in a lovely wooded spot with some great rocks for sitting on. The break was long enough for a snack and for everyone to be able to run up to the washroom if needed. There is a pit toilet here.

Shortly after this break we hiked back into the opening and the views really opened up. Walking along a cliff edge there were some great views and we could get a sense of where we were heading to.

When we were nearly there the trail was loaded with wild flowers on either side and a small gorgeous blue lake . It was beautiful and a nice surprise.

Iceberg lake did not disappoint and was a great spot to sit and enjoy our lunch. During our lunch we even had the chance to see a chunk of ice and snow fall into the water, creating waves. Some people chose to jump in for a swim, but this is glacial water so extremely cold. There is a pit toilet not far from the lake, for those who may need it before heading back down. The colour of the water in Iceberg Lake is actually that colour, there has been no editing done on these photos. It really is something else.

The day was starting to warm up considerably so we figured we better get going as we wanted to make sure the water we had left would last us all of the way down.

To keep the kids motivated and also to ensure we didn’t startle a bear, the kids and I sang our way down the mountain. I may have also had a secret stash of M&M’s to sneak the kids one every once in a while.

The kids did well and were pretty proud of themselves when we completed the hike. There was a small amount of whining towards the very end, but I think we were all feeling it at that point, since it was a hot day.

The general store at the trail head serves up great soft serve ice cream, so the kids were rewarded with a big cup of it each. That seemed to energize our two completely. After they finished they wanted to race to the car, and with their energy, no one would have known they had just hiked 12 miles.

One can’t drive through the Many Glaciers area without stopping on the side of the road for at least a couple pictures of the mountains.

We headed over to the St Mary visitor centre to pick up our trailer where we had dropped it for the day before making the drive over to West Glacier. As trailers cannot be taken on the Going-To-The-Sun Road, we took the long way around the bottom of the park along highway 2. This is a very scenic route, where there were a number of picnic areas. Driving along highway 2 around the park takes approximately 2 hours.

We were booked into Fish Creek on the west side of the park for the next couple of nights. Will discuss the campground in detail on the next post as we arrived quite late this night.

Have you hiked to Iceberg Lake? Any favourite memories?

If you missed any of our previous posts from our trip to Glacier National Park you can find them here:

Day 2 – Waterfalls and a boat tour on the East side of the park

Day 3- Driving the Going-To-The-Sun Road and hiking at Logan’s Pass

Day 5 – Quiet day exploring the west side of the park

Day 8 – Hungry Horse Dam

Day 9 – Two Medicine Valley

Pinnable image of Iceberg Lake hike, Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park Day 3 – Driving The Going-To-The-Sun Road

In Camping/Road Trip Adventure, Glacier National Park

On January 29, 2020

When driving the Going-To-The-Sun Road you want to head out early for great light and views without the crowds. The parking lot at Logan’s Pass fills up very early. If it’s full on your drive over in the morning, try to aim for 5pm or later on the way back over and you will probably be able to find a spot. Plan for a full day to explore the road as there are hikes all along the route as well as pull offs and some picnic spots near the bottom on the West side.

There are lots of pull offs along the road to stop and take in the views which we appreciated. The road is narrow and winding so you are not able to take trailers or vehicles that are wider than 8ft or longer than 21ft. If you have a truck where you can fold in mirrors you will find that at certain points you will have to fold them in when passing vehicles going in the other direction.

Once on the other side of the park our first stop was Sacred Dancing Cascade which is a pull off with a very short boardwalk/path to see the falls.

We took being on the West side of the park as an opportunity to stock up on a few grocery items and drove over to Kalispell as we knew we were going to be camping on the West side later in the week and would have time to explore this side of the park.

After a picnic lunch of grocery pick up we started making our way back up over Going-to-The-Sun Road. We had noted a few spots we wanted to stop on the drive over.

There are lots of waterfalls all along the road which are pretty neat to see. Note how low the barriers are along the road, which meant our oldest was too nervous to get out and look at some of the pull offs.

When we reached Logan’s Pass some of the parking spots were starting to open up so we lucked out. Since the sun doesn’t set until quite late we decided we would take the hike to Hidden Lake. This hike is for a large part a boardwalk and stairs to protect the surrounding landscape. The hike is 3 miles with an elevation gain of 500 feet. The trail is fully exposed so, this is best done early morning or early evening and make sure to have water with you.

Watch for mountain goats along this trail as this is their habitat and they will stroll right across the path. Make sure to give them as much room as possible when you see them coming as they are wild animals. We also saw California ground squirrels and a marmot.

Our youngest loved spotting all of the wildflowers along the trail.

This is a beautiful trail and the views are stunning the entire way. We couldn’t believe that we were here and that this was real.

When you reach Hidden Lake there is a viewing platform and this tends to be a busier spot on the trail. The trail continues on if you wish to do more hiking. When we were there, people coming from that portion of the trail warned of bears, so we decided that was as far as we would go.

Once we got back to the parking lot the visitor centre at Logan’s Pass was closing up. Being that it was getting fairly late it was time to keep heading back to our camp site.

At this time of the evening the road was much quieter. We lucked out and saw a black bear on the side of the road on our drive back down. As always, keep your distance and leave the animals alone. There was a family in a vehicle in front of us on the road that were harassing this bear. I pulled out my zoom lens and took this photo from a distance.

Being that it was quiet, it was a great time to stop at the Jackson Glacier pull off so the kids could see the shrinking glacier and get a sense of how quickly glaciers are disappearing.

We then headed home to get a good night’s sleep as we had planned to join a full day ranger led hike the next day. This campground is very open and does get quite windy in the afternoon, early evening. This area of the park sustained a forest fire in 2003 and as such there aren’t any big trees yet. Some of the sites appeared to be a bit more private that others. These are small pull through sites with no hook ups.

If you are visiting the park in June, it is best to check the road conditions to find out if Going-to-the-Sun rd has opened yet. The road typically opens late June and remains open until Thanksgiving, this however is all weather dependent.

Have you driven the Going-to-the-Sun road? If you have driven this road, what were your favourite stops or hikes?

Don’t forget to come back each week for more details of our trip.

If you missed the previous posts, you can find them here:

Day 2 – Waterfalls and a boat tour on the East side of the park

Day 5 – Quiet day exploring the west side of the park

Day 8 – Hungry Horse Dam

Day 9 – Two Medicine Valley

Glacier National Park Day 2 – Waterfalls and a Boat Tour

In Camping/Road Trip Adventure, Glacier National Park

On January 27, 2020

The kids were up early and raring to go for our first full day in the park. We were hoping to get in a couple ranger guided hikes to waterfalls.

Since we were up so early it gave us a chance to take our time and pull off at the scenic lookouts on our way to our first hike.

The first hike we joined was the hike to Baring Falls. This is an easy child friendly hike that is 2 miles with a 400 ft elevation gain. This trail follows along the lake for a portion as well as through a burn site from a forest fire that happened in this area in 2003.

This would be a quick hike if you did this on your own, but with the ranger it was a couple hours due to stopping to tell us stories of the parks history. It was neat to hear about the huts and accommodations that had been located in this area and see the photos. Once we got to the falls then we were left to do our own thing and hike back at our own pace.

Since this hike was short enough we had time to head back to camp for lunch and to refill water bottles before we needed to be at the dock for our ranger led boat tour of St Mary’s Lake. One our way back to our campsite we lucked out and saw a young grizzly in the distance at Two Dog Flats. We pulled over, I put on my zoom lens and was able to capture a shot while the kids watched through their binoculars from their seats.

There are three ways to access St Mary’s Falls. You can take the boat tour of the lake which will cut off part of the hike, you can hike from the Baring Falls trail head or hike from the St Mary’s Fall trail head. The Baring Falls and St Mary’s Falls trailheads are located along the Going-to-The-Sun Road. If you choose the boat tour option you can join a ranger led hike to the falls and you will cover 3 miles with an elevation gain of 250 ft, making this a great option with young children. If you hike from the St Mary Falls trail head , the hike is 5.2 miles with a total elevation gain of 700 feet.

During the boat tour of the lake, the ranger told us stories and information about the park and the surrounding area, as well as answering any questions anyone had about the park. There is the option to sit outside at the rear of the boat or inside the boat.

Throughout the hike you travel through burn site and see varying landscape. Part of the trail is along a cliff over the lake. We had a great ranger for this hike who really engaged the kids and kept it interesting.

At the waterfalls, we were given a bit of time to sit and have a snack and look around. There were some families who had hiked in on their own that were enjoying swimming in the water at the falls.

On the hike back to the boat, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for wildlife. We stopped and watched a moose off in the distance for a bit with our binoculars. He was swimming so it was neat for the kids to see.

Have you done either of these hikes? What wildlife did you encounter?

Don’t forget to come back later this week for more of our trip to Glacier.

If you missed the first post about our trip to Glacier National Park you can find it here:

Day 2 – Waterfalls and a boat tour on the East side of the park

Day 3- Driving the Going-To-The-Sun Road and hiking at Logan’s Pass

Day 5 – Quiet day exploring the west side of the park

Day 8 – Hungry Horse Dam

Day 9 – Two Medicine Valley

Glacier National Park Day 1 – Getting our Bearings in St Mary

In Camping/Road Trip Adventure, Glacier National Park

On January 24, 2020

This summer our big family camping trip was to Glacier National Park.

Glacier National Park is situated in Northwest Montana in the Rocky Mountains. The park has a number of entrances, but we chose to start our vacation off on the East side of the park as it is the closest to our home.

The east entrance is located in the village of St Mary which is just over 3 hours from Calgary.

We crossed the border at the Piegan-Carway Port. As it is a small port, be prepared to wait in a line up during busy summer months.

We had been a little late at trying to book a campsite within the National Park so our first night we camped at KOA St Mary. This campground is not very well maintained, with sites overgrown and lots of Cow Parsnip throughout the sites (beware with little ones as it can cause nasty burns on your skin). It is completely open with no privacy between sites. One thing to be aware of at this location is that the wind whips up in the afternoon so make sure to stow away any loose items before heading out for the day.

St Mary KOA is situated on a lake so can be a nice spot to cool off in the morning or evening.

Being that we couldn’t bring fresh food across the border, we had to pick up groceries after checking in at the campground. The staff at the KOA told us the closest grocery store was Browning. Browning is about 45 minutes from the KOA and with road construction in the area it took us longer.

We found out on our way back that there is a small grocer right in St Mary outside the park gate which had more fresh options than the store did in Browning. These are small grocers so you can pick up your basics, but don’t expect anything fancy. It was sufficient to get what we needed to make meals while on this side of the park.

Our first stop with any National Park is always to the visitor centre to get the lay of the land, pick up maps and chat with the rangers to get a sense of must do hikes. We also like to pick up a copy of the schedule of activities. In Glacier National Park there are quite a number of ranger led hikes as well as kid geared activities.

Of course we had to grab a photo with the park sign. The nice thing about going in the evening is that the visitor centre tends to be quiet, giving us a chance to chat with rangers a bit longer and for the kids to collect their Junior Ranger Books to complete throughout our time in the park.

There are some great views from the St Mary visitor centre along with a number of paths and shorter hikes.

We arrived at the park early enough to find out about the children’s evening program at the campground just inside the park. The kids really wanted to attend. They had lots of fun learning about some of the wildlife we may encounter in the park.

Check back later this week to see what we got up to on our first day in the park.

Have you been to Glacier National Park? What were your favourite spots, hikes or memories?

To read about what else we did on our trip to Glacier, check out the links below:

Day 2 – Waterfalls and a boat tour on the East side of the park

Day 3- Driving the Going-To-The-Sun Road and hiking at Logan’s Pass

Day 5 – Quiet day exploring the west side of the park