Glacier National Park

My favorite national park in the US so far! Nothing had prepared us for Glacier NP as we made the long drive all the way into Montana from Seattle, planned at the last minute. Going to Glacier NP was not at all on our cards, we were instead planning to go to Yellowstone NP, since my wife was almost in the 3rd trimester of her pregnancy, and we were planning to leave Glacier NP for a later time when we could do a few hikes. However, the historic floods and closure of the YNP had us plan another trip, and Glacier NP it was, since we were able to find some good accommodation on the eastside of the park. Turned out to be a great decision, even through we went in June and the Road to the Sun was closed.

Drive from Seattle

The drive from Seattle was pretty long, about 11-12 hours of driving which we split into 2 days, spending a night at Moses Lake, WA. The drive from the I-90 exit towards Kalispell was particularly beautiful. The rest of the drive to St Marys/East Glacier was no doubt beautiful.

Itinerary

Day 0: reach St. Mary’s , stay

Day 1: Many Glacier in the morning, plus a boat ride, drive through Road to the Sun, till the point it was open, boat ride at St. Mary’s, a few walk in the area

Day 2: Two medicine, boat ride and a bit of hiking around the boat ramp , evening at Lake McDonald, stay around Whitefish

Day 3: Drive back to Seattle

I would definitely like to spend a whole week the next time I visit GNP, focussing more on the eastern side of the park. We just scratched the surface in this trip, and hope to see more of the park in future trips.

Highlights and observations

All the drives in the park, particularly close to Many Glacier and East Glacier
Boat rides on the lakes, particularly Many Glacier
We should have stayed longer on the east side and possibly skipped the west side altogether.
whitefish-handcrafted-spirits hd some amazing food, so did the Wich Haus in Whitefish