Glacier National Park

We hit the road in 2020 on our Grand Glacier Stone road trip, and the third stop was Yellowstone National Park. We spent three days in the park and a fourth day in the Whitefish area. Glacier National Park required more research than Yellowstone did, we were familiar with its reputation, but not how it got it. Because of COVID, the eastern side of the park was closed, this not only limited what we could see, it made other sites a little harder to get to. This was the third national park of our road trip, and we still hadn’t seen a bear, we were starting to think that we were going to be out of luck.

Going-to-the-sun road

The drive from Whitefish to Glacier is about a half hour, and it’s not hard to figure out when you’re close. Each day we saw a thick layer of fog settled into the valley as we approached the park.

Upon entering the park, we stopped at the Apgar Visitors Center to get the lay of the land. Glacier National Park is home to one of the most famous roads in the national park system, the Going-to-the-Sun Road. This road goes from the west entrance to the east entrance of the park with a summit at Logan Pass. We were able to complete all but the last 5 miles of the 50 mile road because of the park closure, but we don’t feel like we missed much.

The first big site along the way is Lake McDonald. This long but narrow lake offers views of the mountains to the west and, on calm days, has a glass like reflection. Starting at the north end of the lake, the road begins following Haystack Creek. There are turnouts all along the way to get pictures through the valley of the crystal clear water and the multi-colored creek bed.

Once we began the trek up from the canyon, the roads began to get more and more narrow and the sights more beautiful.

As we approached Logan Pass, the views got wider and we were able to capture more of the hillside and valley. A little bit of construction along the way helped make up for the lack of turnouts, giving us time stopped along the road for pictures.

Logan Pass is the top of the road, but if you want to park here you have to be early, lucky, or persistent. The parking lot always seems to be full by 9 am, and even earlier during the peak season, we didn’t need a spot this time but on the way back we tried to park and had to follow people in the lot for a while before giving up. It seems the only people that had any success hounded people all the way from the sidewalk. After Logan Pass there are a number of turnouts to stop at for pictures, there is also Siyeh Bend where the road turns back on itself. As we drove along Saint Mary Lake looking for a spot for pictures, we came upon a sure-fire indication of something important…. a crowd in the middle of nowhere. And sure enough, we were not disappointed, we finally came across our elusive sight…. BEARS! A mama and her three cubs to be exact. There were about a dozen cars parked along the road with a park ranger already on guard. We couldn’t have asked for a more amazing experience, the bears were on a small cliff overlooking the road, keeping them far enough away to be safe, but close enough for some great pictures.

After our bear encounter we decided to go home…. not really, but we could have and it would have been an amazing trip. We kept heading east towards the bottom of the canyon along Saint Mary Lake. The next stop was bound to be a letdown after the bears, but somehow it just kept getting better. We stopped at Wild Goose Island Lookout, which is an outcropping in Saint Mary Lake and a westerly facing view straight down the lake through the mountains. The sights here are postcard material on a clear day with two great spots for pictures, we even briefly saw another bear but it quickly disappeared into the woods.

We continued our trip along the Going-to-the-Sun Road towards the east gate but were forced to turn around at the Rising Sun Picnic Area. On the way back, we stopped for a picnic lunch at a turnout overlooking the lake and then continued on to the Saint Mary Falls trailhead. This nearly 2 mile trail heads down into the valley from the road along a burned out section of the park. The trail doesn’t have too much of an elevation change after the first little bit.

Johns lake, Mcdonald trail, and rocky point trails

We had a pretty light hiking day planned today, because tomorrow’s going to be a beast. On the agenda was Johns Lake and Rocky Point trails followed by some winery stops, but you’ll have to scroll down to read about those. The great thing about these two trails were that we didn’t need to go up the mountain, so traffic was light and parking was pretty easy. Johns Lake wasn’t much, but the trail went along Haystack Creek with its shallow flows, Sacred Dancing Cascade and McDonald Falls.

Our second hike of the day was on the far side of McDonald Lake, which gave us a different view of the park. A lot of the area along this trail was burned in the Robert Fire in 2003, the scars are still evident along the first half. The McDonald Lake Trailhead is a straight shot out to the Rocky Point Trail. The trail is mostly flat, with an elevation near the lake to get up to Rocky Point. We didn’t see any wildlife, but the sites were very photogenic.

After only a half day of hiking, we hit the wineries around the area, you can read more about it towards the bottom.

The Highline Trail to the Garden Wall Trail

Because of COVID, there was only one way to see Grinnell Glacier and the Upper Grinnell Lake, that was the 16 mile round trip Highline Trail. In normal years, there’s a shuttle running from The Loop Trailhead back to Logan Pass, making this more like a 12 mile trail. With social distancing requirements, the shuttles were shutdown, which means that by the time we made it to the top, there was no choice but to go back the way we came. The trail starts off easy enough, mostly downhill with the sun rising at our backs and the moon still lingering in the sky.

The next four miles of the hike were fairly level with more amazing views and sightings of Mountain Goats and Bighorn Sheep up along the hillside. They paid little attention to the hikers and were pretty content with their grazing and posing.

As we approached the Garden Wall Trail, we could see hikers part way up the path and started to get the picture of what was ahead of us. The sign says .6 miles, but it is not, and we’d bet money on that. This was a grueling hike, and we took every opportunity to stop for a short rest. Additionally, there’s a false summit of sorts which is only about half way up the trail, a lot of soul searching occurred at this point but we decided to keep going. The top was a great relief, but as we approached, the wind picked up significantly, meaning that our plan to hang out and have lunch felt less and less like a good idea. The only animals at the top were a lot of bees along with some chipmunks who appeared to be well fed by hikers and were looking for more.

This hike was a beast, there’s no way around it. Sixteen miles round trip and walking sunrise to sunset. We took hiking poles and 3 liters of water per person, along with snacks, lunch, and multiple layers. Don’t take this hike lightly, there are no bathrooms or places to get more water along the way unless you have a method of sanitizing creek water. We did cross paths with a couple that were already out of water while only about a quarter of the way in, we felt it for them, but we also warned them about what was ahead.

Highline Ridge was our last hike at Glacier. This was an amazing experience, we were able to mix some good driving destinations in with some great hikes and get beautiful pictures all along the way…. and then of course, there were the bears.

The eats of whitefish (and surrounding area)

We stayed in Whitefish during our Glacier National Park trip and tried out some of the local fare in and around the city.

Piggyback BBQ - Just a short hike from downtown Whitefish, the BBQ here was very good. Like many places, we did a couple of the sampler dishes to try as much as possible. We split the ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and mac & cheese and they were all delicious. The beer selection was solid, a lot of good ones that we’d seen along our trip so far.

The Desoto Grill - This was another solid BBQ choice that was pretty close to our wine stops for the day. We split a three meet entrée and found the mac & cheese and cornbread to be the best sides of the ones we tried, the coleslaw was not a good choice.

Second Street Pizza - We looked long and hard for a place to eat after the Highline Trail. We ran into issues where a lot of places were closed early on Sunday. This pizza here was pretty great, the ordering process was a bit painful, but worth the wait.

Great Northern Bar - A local burger joint and bar that came highly recommended from TripAdvisor. Food is ordered from a window in the back, with the burgers and fries being very good. The beer selection is excellent with a lot of local options.

Loula’s Cafe - Our last full day in the area we decided to do breakfast and Loula’s Cafe had some great TripAdvisor reviews. The everyday breakfast options were very good, the pancakes were enormous, and they had multiple quiche options. They also ran a bakery with pies and other baked deserts that seemed to sell out pretty quick each day.

Beer and wine stops around whitefish

The food was great but we spent some of our down time checking out the local beer and wine scene, which had some great choices.

MontaVino Winery - We went here twice, once to dine in, and once for take out, and it was pretty darn good. They’ve got a pretty big menu that, sadly, we didn’t explore much beyond the pizza. Their wine and beer selection was pretty large. We also tried Rainier beer for the first time, we didn’t actually know that was a real beer, just thought it was made up for the show Longmire.

Trailing Loop Winery - Seems like a solid local establishment, it wasn’t too long of a wait to be seated. The menu was pretty big, we had the Chicken Friend Steak and the Nachos. The beer menus was pretty large too and they offered flights which made it all the better.

Waters Edge Winery - We wanted to go to Firehole Bar-B-Que Co. but they were closed for the season, so next we tried Beartooth Barbecue, but it’s a small place and the front of the line never seemed to arrive. Our next choice was the 50’s era diner across the street that was a fun little stop. The food was good, they had hand made milk shakes, and the décor was a fun trip into an Elvis movie.

Backslope Brewing - Our first stop of the day and we sat outside in the cool air and enjoyed a large variety of beers. The food menu looked pretty good but it was a bit early for lunch for us. Their beer menu seems to change fairly frequently, so any reviews we could provide might be meaningless, definitely worth a stop after a long day of hiking.

Bias Brewing - In the heart of Kalispell, and empty before noon on a Monday, Bias Brewing had a fun beer hall look with a solid selection of beers. We tried a number if IPAs and a Coffee Blonde Ale and they were all great.

Kalispell Brewing Company - Just a short walk from Bias was Kalispell Brewing. We tried the Hefeweizen, Pilsner, and IPA, which were all great.

SunRift Beer Company - Our final beer stop of the day was only a short drive away, it seems like they could host quite the party during normal times, but with COVID, we had to wander around a bit to find our beers. The beers here were so good that a bee got into one before we even got a chance to taste it, a free replacement later and we were set.

Glacier National Park, the Whitefish area, and Northwestern Montana in general was an amazingly scenic destination. The entire region around Flathead Lake had the feeling of a summer resort lake town and we’ll have to come back a little closer to peak season to see it in all its glory. We didn’t get to see the parts that are only accessible from the east side, so that’ll be on the list for our next visit. While certainly not easy to get to, it was well worth the trip, even if we don’t make it back out this way, we got to see the bears, the crystal clear lakes, and the glaciers while they last. Who knows, the park might have a different name in a few years, but hopefully it will be just as much fun.