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I may be biased, and I’ve only been to four national parks so far, but I think Glacier National Park is one of the absolute best parks in the country. I don’t know of anywhere else in America that you can still see a glacier, turquoise glacial waters, the Milky Way, the Northern Lights, and grizzly bears living their best lives all in one place. Even the air in Glacier National Park is significantly more fresh than most other places I’ve been.
The glaciers in Glacier National Park are rapidly disappearing, and are said to be gone by the year 2023. That’s only three years away!!! Mark and I had plans to knock a couple other parks off our list before hitting Glacier, but when we heard that stat it got bumped straight to the top of the list and we were determined to make it happen ASAP.
Spanning over 1,500 square miles with over 700 miles of trails, you would be hard pressed to ever get bored in Glacier National Park. While in a perfect world I think everyone should spend a week in Glacier National Park. Sometimes that just isn’t feasible and you need to work with what you got!
Mark and I decided to spend Labor Day Weekend in Glacier National Park, but due to the limited flights we could find leaving early on Saturday morning we really only ended up having two full-ish days in the park.
That being said, in this Glacier National Park itinerary, two days should be plenty of time to do and see all the same things we were able to. I promise you will not be disappointed!
Getting to Glacier National Park
Arriving in Montana
More and more people are opting for road trips over air travel right now. If you go the roadtrip route, I would highly recommend renting a camper van! By roadtripping in a campervan you won’t need to worry about using the limited time you have in the park setting up a tent and getting your space ready (assuming you were planning on camping) because it will all be taken care of for you in one tidy little space!
If you do choose to fly to Glacier National Park, your best option is to fly into Glacier Park International Airport. The airport is located in Kalispell, Montana and is about a half hour drive from the park.
Driving to the Park
Before you even get to Montana, make sure you download the map of Montana for offline use on Google Maps! I cannot stress this enough!
It is extremely rare to have cell service in a national park anyway, but I lost service about ten miles before we even reached the park. I had not downloaded the map before we got there and we were desperately lost for the first hour or so we were there. Learn from my mistake and download the map before you even leave for your trip.
Okay, now that we got that technical detail out of the way…
You are going to need to rent a car when you get to Montana if you are not driving yourself all the way there. Like any other airport, there are plenty of rental car companies available. Pick whichever one you prefer, but I would not suggest getting the smallest and cheapest car available. You really never know what you’re going to get with the weather in Glacier National Park, and if you’re not used to driving in snow in a tiny car you definitely want to get a slightly bigger one with better traction.
Mark did all of the driving while we were there, so here are his tips for driving around the park:
The roads are extremely narrow! Go slow and try to look ahead to get an idea of the turns ahead of you (how sharp is it, how much room will you have, is it safe for you to move off to the side if you need to make room for a bigger vehicle coming, etc.)
Try to hug the middle line of the road rather than the outside lane. Aside from the fact that you are often perched at the edge of a pretty steep drop off, we found that were a ton of really deep holes along the side of the road. They were like nature’s pot holes and I almost had a heart attack the first time we accidently hit one!
My own two-cents: Like most national parks, there are a lot of beautiful, scenic pull offs throughout the park. However, unlike most parks, it’s usually impossible for you to just turn around quickly if you pass one you wanted to stop at. The biggest perk of driving super slow (other than safety of course) is that it will be easier for you to spot these pull offs ahead of time.
Where to Stay
You have three main options for types of lodging in Glacier National Park: camping, staying in a hotel in town, or staying in a lodge or AirBnB type place.
Because we were only spending 2 days in Glacier National Park, we opted to stay at the Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish, MT. It was nice, and they have a shuttle to downtown Whitefish that was super helpful, but I would not recommend eating dinner in their restaurant. You’ll get a much better experience going to one of the local places downtown! (But more on that later…)
If you want to camp, there are 13 campgrounds scattered throughout the park. I would recommend booking your spot far in advance. Also, thanks to the pandemic, a lot of the campgrounds are closed right now so make sure you check the status of the campgrounds before your trip.
Glacier National Park Itinerary: 2 Days
Mark and I’s personal style of hiking trips is to start off easy and save our hardest hike for the last day. We would rather be sore when we get home than sore our entire time there. But, if you prefer to do the opposite you can of course do this in reverse and cater it to your liking.
Day 1
-First, you need to stop to get some trail snacks and “summit beers”. Judge us all you want, but I just love cracking open a local beer at the top of a mountain or when I arrive at a scenic spot. It’s made even better when you can find a beer named after the hike you’re doing!
I recommend getting your hands on either Going to the Sun IPA or Wild Huckleberry Lager from Great Northern Brewing Company. Both are delicious, Going to the Sun is named after the famous Going to the Sun Road, and depending on the time year you’ll probably be snacking on wild huckleberries along the trails so why not indulge in a huckleberry beer???
– Your first hike of your 2 days in Glacier National Park will be the Rocky Point Nature Trail. This is a very easy, 1.9 mile trail that has some pretty spectacular views of Lake McDonald and lots of informational signage along the trail. Take your time to read all the information about the various wildlife in the park and the major fire that destroyed over 130,000 acres of the park back in 2003.
-When you’re done with your hike, use this day to drive Going to the Sun Road. Going to the Sun Road is 50 miles long and it takes about two hours to drive from one end of the road to the other. For a more immersive experience, the National Parks Service created an audio tour that you can download to accompany you on your drive. You can find that here (I think it’s free).
While it takes about two hours to drive the entire length of the road, I would give yourself at least three hours. You are going to want to stop every few minutes to admire the gifts from Mother Nature and you’ll definitely want to spend some time at Logan Pass, the highest point along the drive.
-If you’re not making dinner, I would recommend going to Great Northern Brewing Company for dinner. They are located right in downtown Whitefish and have some pretty epic nachos!
-After dinner, you may want to consider a quick cat nap or an extra caffeine boost. Glacier National Park has some of the darkest skies in the world and you would be missing out if you didn’t go stargazing for at least a little while!
Day 2
-Rise and shine! You’re in for a big hike today! For day two, you’re going to end your trip with an epic hike to Iceberg Lake. It is 10.4 miles roundtrip, but it is 100% worth every painful step!
Get to the trailhead by parking behind the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn (you won’t get towed, I promise), put your sunscreen on, make sure you have plenty of water, and get movin’!
This trail brings you to Iceberg Lake, which has the stunning pictures of turquoise waters that you always see on Instagram and assume are photoshopped because surely no water in the world is that beautiful! I am here to tell you that it absolutely is, though depending on the way the light hits it sometimes it is more blue than others.
Some words of advice about this trail:
Pack plenty of snacks and plenty of water. You have a full day of hiking ahead of you and you’ll need plenty of fuel.
Start as early in the morning as you possibly can. We had to stop for a bit because there was a moose and her calf in the middle of the trail, we stopped for a picnic lunch about halfway to the lake, and you’ll definitely want to spend some time at the lake itself.
Speaking of moose, be prepared for plenty of animals along this trail! We saw the moose, deer, and we missed a couple grizzly bear cubs my mere minutes. Always remember to stay far away from any wildlife, particularly 25 yards from moose and 100 yards from bears and wolves (the length of a football field). You can read more about staying safe in grizzly country here.
Slow and steady wins the race. There are some decently steep portions, especially towards the end, and you don’t want to tire yourself out too quickly. This is almost literally a (half) marathon, not a sprint, and if you’re not used to doing hikes this long it will take a lot out of you.
If someone tells you that you can “easily” do both the Iceberg Lake Trail and the Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail, which has a turn off the Iceberg Lake Trail a few miles in…don’t freakin’ listen to them!!!!! We made this mistake and it tacked on an extra five freakin’ miles to our already long hike! Not only does it make it longer, but at the end of the trail where you would reach the tunnel there’s this stupid steep, 800 foot ridge you need to climb via switchbacks. Eff that, we skipped that and hiked all the way back to get to the Iceberg Lake Trail.
Towards the end of the trail you will reach a turquoise blue lake that is kind of off in the distance. Do not get distracted by this siren of a lake! This is not Iceberg Lake and is only there to distract you from the real deal. Beautiful, yes, but somehow nothing compared to Iceberg Lake. Continue up the trail about a quarter mile and prepare to be amazed!
-If you’re still around for dinner, I recommend hitting up the Great Northern Bar & Grill for a Rodeo Burger and a huckleberry margarita. You just hiked 10 miles; you deserve it!
Bonus Adventure
If you have longer than two days in Glacier National Park, make sure you bring your passport! Glacier borders Canada and you can easily do a day trip to the Waterton Lakes National Park of Canada.
Want to learn more about Glacier National Park?
This guide by Moon was a lifesaver! Everything you ever need to know about the park is in this guidebook. My favorite part about Moon Guides is that they are normally written by locals, which adds a huge extra dynamic that you won’t find in other guidebooks. (Not sponsored, I just seriously love them!)
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