After all the years Andrew and I have been together and going to Montana, can you believe I’ve only ever been to Glacier National Park once?! My in-laws have a view of the mountains from their house, the Park is a central tourist destination in the area, and we buy National Park passes every year but I’ve still only ever gone the one time.
This is simply because Andrew and his family lived with this national treasure in their proverbial backyard for years. Why would they want to go at the height of summer when all the tourists are around? I get it. But this trip I decided I wanted to do all the touristy things there are to do in the Flathead Valley so I didn’t listen to everyone who told me it would be too crowded and not worth it, packed up Ted, a cooler full of food, and away we went.
My strategy went like this: We’ll go and check it out. At my first stop, I’ll decide if it’s too busy or stressful to continue. If it’s not, I’ll keep going. Rinse and repeat.
Since I had been warned about crowds, I wanted to go in without a set destination or list of things to see. I had a list but I was willing to throw it away at any point in the trip. Why so many crowds? Aside from the fact that Glacier National Park is a top tourist site in the area, half of the park was closed due to COVID so it was concentrating all the visitors to the western half of the park. That on top of people only traveling domestically equals more crowding than usual.
But let me tell you guys that our trip to Glacier National Park was the most peaceful, easy, and calm part of our entire trip to Montana. I don’t know what happened but there were no issues the entire day. It was such a great experience. There was no traffic, no crowds, no lines of cars. When we arrived at the park entrance there were a handful of cars in line waiting to get in but nothing like the miles-long lines that was shown on the cover of the NYTimes. And the rest of the day seemed to follow that pattern.
Our first stop inside the park with Lake McDonald Lodge. While the Lodge was closed due to COVID, the beach, several cafes, and restrooms were open. It was a nice scenic spot to get out of the car, stretch our legs, snap a few pictures, and let Teddy run around a bit.
From there we drove up to the Trail of Cedars which is a great nature walk to do with kids. The Trail of Cedars connects to the Avalanche Lake hike, which I had planned on doing but it was closed due to bears so we stuck to the shorter trail instead.
At this point, Teddy fell asleep so I didn’t do any other hikes inside the park. I simply continued slowly driving up the Going-to-the-Sun Road, stopping whenever I felt like it to get out and snap some pictures. It’s such a scenic drive that I actually stopped quite a bit and now have way too many photos of the landscape to share.
The Going-to-the-Sun Road generally ends at Logan Pass, where the continental divide is located. There is a visitor center and a couple of easy trails that start from that point. However, due to COVID, the visitor center was closed as well as the parking lot there at the top. They wanted to minimize the number of people congregating and using those trails since there has been such high demand. Many people were parking along the side of the road, then hiking up the road to the top of Logan Pass for the views, trails, and experience. Since I had a sleeping toddler in the car, I just turned around and started the drive back.
After I drove all the way back down, Ted woke up we stopped for some lunch. Our final stop inside the park was at Apgar beach on Lake McDonald. My father-in-law told me about the little town of Apgar which is inside the park and totally worth the stop. You can buy lunch, get ice cream, rent kayaks, canoes, or paddleboards and go out on the lake or just enjoy amazing views of the lake from the beach. Teddy and I found a little spot to have some snacks before heading back to my in-laws’ place.
On the route back to Whitefish/Kalispell, there is a Huckleberry Store which is also worth the stop because they have great huckleberry ice cream, among other flavors. We didn’t stop this time but I’ve been in the past and can say it’s worth the stop.
And that was our day trip to Glacier National Park. It went much smoother than I expected and like I said before it was incredibly peaceful the whole day. I really loved seeing all the different license plates from all around the country. We are so lucky in this country to have protected land like the National Parks available to us to see and enjoy.
Now please enjoy my best pictures from the day.
Ana Luiza
