After our visit to Yellowstone, we headed north….way north. Glacier National Park, nicknamed the “crown of the continent” is located about as far north as you can go in the wilderness of northern Montana. When we arrived we were so close to Canada that our phones dinged with a “Welcome to Canada” message! While we couldn’t visit its sister park in Canada due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, we did enjoy the gorgeous glacier-carved peaks and valleys, pristine lakes, and beautiful vistas of Glacier National Park.
Timed-Entry Ticket System:
The timed-entry tickets required for some parks this summer season is a new thing, so I am going to explain what we learned. For 2021, Glacier is one of 6 parks using the tickets to manage visitation levels and Covid-19 risks. This ticket is in addition to park entry fees and must be purchased ahead of time at Recreation.gov (cost is only $2). Each park has different policies on whether the ticket is needed for a particular entrance or road and what times the tickets are required.
When Glacier opened its summer ticket sales on April 29th, the system was overwhelmed with thousands of people trying to get tickets. They were sold out in 5 minutes and I wasn’t one of the lucky ones who was successful. The saving grace was a small reserve of tickets that would be released 2 days in advance to accommodate more spontaneous visits. I later tried before each of the 6 days of our visit and never got a ticket this way either—again system overload. I have to say that this was very stressful as we had to make campground reservations over 9 months in advance for this popular area but now we didn’t know if we would even get in.
Luckily, we learned that there are a few ways around the system. For Glacier National Park, the ticket is only required for the Going to the Sun Road which crosses the entire park from one side to the other. So, we had the option to use another entrance to see different parts of the park. We could also enter the park outside of the coveted ticket times of 6 am-5 pm. Finally, a third option was to get a reservation for a tour inside the park—we were able to get tickets on 2 different boat tours which would get us in on those days.
The final gotcha was that the Going to the Sun Road wasn’t even fully open when we arrived for our visit. Only about 13 miles on each end were open, leaving a spectacular 25 miles in the center that you couldn’t get to. It’s always a guess when the snow will be cleared off the roads each year and it usually happens around the last week of June. So, we decided we would just see what we could and hope for the best. Here’s how it went…
St Mary’s Entrance:
Our first venture inside the park was around 6pm. We were surprised that there weren’t many others using this late entry option and it was pretty easy to drive the 13 miles that were open on the Going to the Sun Road from this eastern gateway. We drove by the beautiful St Mary Lake and then stopped at several of the popular pull-off spots along the road.
Jackson Glacier overlook was about as far as we could go before the road was closed. The parking area gives you a great panoramic view of the park’s 7th largest glacier. According to the park rangers, a glacier is categorized as being at least 100 feet deep, 25 acres across, and must be moving under its own power.
The next day we had tickets for the St Mary Lake boat tour which allowed us to enter the park around 9 am so we could stop at the Visitor Center to get our passport book stamped. We enjoyed our boat tour of St Mary Lake even though the weather was drizzly and overcast that day. It was fun learning some facts about the park’s 2nd largest lake, which is 10 miles long and 300 feet deep. The view from the boat gave us a different perspective of the sights we had seen the first night.
Triple Divide Peak is an extremely unique geologic location in North America, with its summit being the highest water point of the continent. Normally along the continental divide, runoff flows towards either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. With Triple Divide peak two continental divides converge allowing water to drain three ways. If you poured a bucket of water at its summit , 1/3 would go to Pacific Ocean, 1/3 to the Atlantic, and 1/3 to the Arctic Ocean via Hudson Bay.
Two Medicine Entrance:
Our next outing to the park was at the Two Medicine entrance toward the southeastern area of the park. We took the tour there across Two Medicine Lake on a historic wooden boat. On the other side we were able to get off and hike to Twin Falls before catching the next shuttle back across the lake. We had great views of Mt Hinopah along the lake.
This area was also where Mike competed in his 3rd Vacation Races half marathon in 4 weeks. This race was more challenging with the first 5 miles being straight uphill, but he was happy to improve his time and place 4th in his age group.
Many Glacier Entrance:
On day 4 in the park, we decided to visit the Many Glacier region. Despite a lot of road construction and dust, it was worth the trek to the northern area that is home to many beautiful lakes. We hiked to Grinell Lake which amazed us with its turquoise waters and numerous waterfalls tumbling down the steep cliffs of the glacier. We didn’t get to hike to the glacier itself due to snow closures, but the view was still so cool.
Going to the Sun Road:
We were so happy when the Going to the Sun Road, one of the world’s most spectacular highways, finally opened a few days into our stay. We got to the park at 5:30 am and were able to go up to Logan Pass—the halfway point and pinnacle of the road along the Continental Divide.
Although the road was clear, the other areas still had a lot of snow. We hiked to Hidden Lake through a whole snow-covered alpine meadow. It was nice and peaceful when we started out early in the morning, but definitely more crowded on the way out.
Then we drove the rest of the Going to the Sun road all the way to the western side of the park. The road hugs the cliffs as it goes around narrow curves and over mountain hills, passing numerous waterfalls along the way from the melting snow.
We stopped near the west entrance at Lake McDonald which is the largest lake in Glacier National Park. The lake was formed due to glacial carving and is 10 miles long and 472 feet deep. The colored pebbles near the shore are very popular for photos.
Animal Sightings:
I am happy to report that our animal sightings are increasing! Here are a few of the ones we saw during our time in Glacier National Park.
Here again, as at Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, we found the area was full of all things Huckleberry. We had huckleberry desserts, drinks, beer, and ice cream in addition to purchasing a few products to take home. We enjoyed meals at Two Sister’s Restaurant and Johnson’s Cafe not far from our campground at East St Mary KOA.
On our way to Glacier National Park, we were fortunate to be able to stop and see Air Force friends Jim and Carol Tweet in Boseman. What a fun weekend to catch up on old times (20 years ago we were all stationed in Osan Korea together for 2 years). Thanks for letting us “moochdock” at your gorgeous ranch!
Overall, we felt like we got to see everything we wanted to at Glacier National Park even without a timed-entry ticket. Going in early or late actually avoided many of the crowds that are there in the peak hours of the day. This beautiful park goes on our favorites list!
Hi Robin, Wow, how exciting and timely to see this post. Our oldest grandson lives in Kalispell and works in Forestry. We are planning a trip to see him. His mom and brother just got back from there. She will enjoy this blog.
Oh I am so glad this post came at a time to help your trip planning! That’s what it’s all about–sharing our journey with others and maybe helping out too.😁 I hope you have a great time and enjoy seeing your grandson.
Thank you Robin for your wonderful newsletter. We loved your pictures and information about Glacier National Park. We will be there in September. Your pictures are so beautiful! So glad you were able to get in and see most all of the park. Safe journey to your next destinations.
Hi Holly,
Thanks so much for your nice comments. I am so glad my post was timely and hope it will help you in your trip planning. I enjoy being able to hear about others’ experiences and things they enjoyed at a location. Enjoy Glacier and safe travels to you also!
Robin — We do enjoy your blog! Great to keep up with you two, and to see the beautiful pictures! Bet it was fun seeing the Tweets. Can’t wait to hear of the next adventure of you & Mike. Keep sharing! 😊
Hi Nolan,
I’m so glad y’all are following along with us on our journeys😊. We really enjoyed our visit with the Tweets and have been fortunate to connect with other friends along the way as well. I recently added the “Where are We?” section on the sidebar of the blog page to hopefully facilitate meeting up with more friends. Hopefully we’ll make it back through Oklahoma one day and can catch up with you and Kathy. Stay safe!
These views are absolutely stunning and breathtaking. Glad you were able to see this magnificent park and that was really interesting how it all happened. Glad it worked out and thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks Sandi! Glacier is one of our favorite parks so far– we were so glad that we got to see and experience all of it.
Our family is headed to Glacier later this month, thank you for all of the helpful info. I was so excited to see all of the animal sightings, lets hope we have the same luck!
Hi Amy, I am so glad my post was timely and hope it will help in your trip planning. It was sort of a running joke with us about animal sightings because despite numerous warning signs about animals, we saw very few in Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks before visiting Glacier. I think going early definitely helps–safe travels and I hope you see lots of animals!
I feel like I need to come jump in the RV with you!! I am blown away by the photos. I am definitely going to add this to my list of places to visit. Thank you so much. I’m inspired!!
Hi Joy, thanks for the sweet comments. I am always happy when my blog helps or inspires someone.😊 I hope you do get to visit Glacier National Park–it was definitely one of our favorite and most beautiful destinations!
Your pictures are gorgeous! It looks like you had an amazing time. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Erin, we did love visiting Glacier National Park. It’s hard not to take great pictures when the scenery is so stunning!
Such great pictures of the bears! How exciting! I can’t believe there can still be snow through June. We want to go here soon!
Hi Katie, Thanks for checking out my blog. We were amazed to actually see the bears in the wild too, although I am glad we sighted them from the car and not on a hike where they could have been a little too close. Yes the snow surprised us too, but at Logan Pass the altitude is 6647 feet so it stays colder longer. I hope you are able to visit Glacier soon–it was definitely one of our favorites!
We have the same state map as you : ) So far, we’ve stuck to the Midwest & Southeast. I hope to make it out West someday to see all the beautiful places like in your photographs. Those colored rocks reminded me of some we saw by one of the Great Lakes. Maybe one day we’ll see y’all down the road ; )
Hi Julie Ann, We have made big progress on our state map this summer getting much of the northwest covered. Our big gaps are the east coast, which we hope to do next summer. There are so many beautiful places out west–I hope you will be able to get there soon. We homeschooled our two children too, but that was before we discovered RVing. We’d love to meet up with you on the road someday.😊
Beautiful pictures and great information. We are headed there in September and are really looking forward to it. Thank you for sharing info about boat tours! We are also full-time RVers/travelers. See you on the road!
Hi Suzannah, I am always happy when my blog is helpful. The boat tours were fun, but as with everything else you need to book as early as you can. I am on your email list–probably from a previous 10K challenge event.😊 Safe travels!
We visited Glacier in 2019 and when I heard about the timed ticket system I was glad we got the visit in before the pandemic hit! I’m glad to read there are ways to work around the restrictions. I’ll keep those in mind if the timed entry continues as a crowd control measure in future years, because Glacier is definitely a spot worth going back to again and again.
Hi Colleen, Thanks for checking out my blog. You were definitely lucky to visit Glacier before all of these changes! You are right, though, we could go back many times to see the beauty in Glacier National Park.
Wow, so beautiful! Sounds like a really great visit and happy you were able to get in and see so much of the area. We picked up a travel trailer towards the end of last year and are trying to get out and see and do more. Thanks for the great tips and beautiful pictures to inspire us to visit there even more now.
Hi Lisa,
We have loved our RV travels. I hope you are able to get out and use your travel trailer to see the country. We’ve been amazed at the beauty and interesting places that we never knew were out there!
Looks like such a great trip and I really love the map to check off states. We’ve wanted to visit Glacier for a long time now. Hoping we can head up that way next summer.
Hi, thanks for checking out my travel blog. Glacier was an amazing place and I hope that you will be able to visit it next summer!
You’ve chosen the best place on earth for trekking. The Glacier National Park is stunning. Spending some time in the park can be do lots of wonder for overall health, be it mental and physical.
Hi Aparna, yes we loved our time in Glacier National Park. So many different areas: glaciers, mountains, lakes, wildlife, and plants. It is definitely one of our favorites!