Glacier National Park

AUGUST 5th - Idaho?

We left Seattle right after waking up & headed towards Glacier National Park in Montana. It is quite a drive, so we stopped in Smelterville Idaho and stayed at the Sands Motel... a local joint that was interesting and possibly haunted.



AUGUST 6th - Glacier National Park

We left Smelterville & stopped in a different Idaho town for gas. This town claimed to have the "center of the universe". It was weird.

So we left Idaho and entered Montana. It was almost evening when we got settled at Fish Creek Camp Ground. So, we hiked a little around the creek and lake surrounding the camp site, and then sat around the fire until bed time.

AUGUST 7th - Going-to-the-sun Road

The Going-to-the-sun Road is the major road running through Glacier, it runs from the west side to the east side of the park. We wanted to stay at Many Glacier tonight so we spent most of today driving and taking scenic stops/mini-hikes from the road. Our stops included:

• McDonald Falls
• The Loop Overlook
• The Weeping Wall
• Jackson Glacier Overlook
• St. Mary's Visitor Center
• and finally Many Glacier Park Campgrounds

When we arrived we had enough time to go to the Ranger Station and look at some detailed hiking trails. We hiked around Swift Current Lake and then up to Red Rock Falls. We had time to make a little fire before bed. The night was FREEZING so it was harder to warm up and fall asleep.

AUGUST 8th - Climb to a Glacier

We headed out for an extreme adventure. We climbed 1,600 feet for 11 miles to see the Grinnell Glacier. It was rough but completely worth the hike. On the way we passed Swift Current Lake, Lake Josephine, and Grinnell Lake. When we got to the Glacier it was astounding. It sits into a little nook in the mountain and is surrounded by a beautiful lake that runs down to become a waterfall that feeds Grinnell Lake. The Rangers say that all the Glaciers will be gone by 2020 now, so it was really special that we got to see one.


After the hike we got dinner and then ate ice cream in the cold. We had another fire, this one more successful than any of our previous fires. I guess we are getting pretty good at this camping thing.

AUGUST 9th - Last day at GNP

We packed up and drove back to St. Mary's Visitor Center. From there you can take a shuttle along going-to-the-sun road, and we had a few more stops to check out. Our hot spots included:

• The Rising Sun Visitor Center
• The Sun Point Overlook - with views to the major mountains
• Sun Rift Gorge
• Siyah Bend
• and the Logan's Pass Visitor Center which is located on the continental divide

Glacier is beautiful and worth the trip. It is one of my favorite places in the world!