First trip to Glacier

[ynpwolfluvr]

So, my husband and I will be making our first trip to Glacier the second week in July. We will be arriving either Monday or Tuesday, the 8th or 9th, and have never been before, except through the park on the train. We have been camping in Yellowstone for 12 years so we know about bear safety and those sorts of things, but we know nothing of the geographics of the park itself. We will be coming in from the west after a trip to Seattle, and will be staying for 4 or 5 nights. So where would you suggest camping? First day will probably arrive in the afternoon or early evening, should we make reservations somewhere? Should we plan on one place or moving elsewhere for a couple of night? We will just be using our small backpacking tent and mostly camping out of our car, so moving isn't a huge deal. What are the highlights we should make sure not to miss? We are not big hikers so if we can hit the highlights of things to see from the road or short, easy hikes in less time than that we may revise and stay a shorter time and hit YNP for a few days too.

Basically, we are clueless about driving times, where to go, what to see and do! Any help at all is appreciated.

[Hockey Ref]

Welcome to the chat! The link below offers a lot of information for first-timers, including info on camping, where to go, hike, eat, etc.

http://glacier.nationalparkschat.com/ph ... ?f=1&t=580

Re. camping, advance reservations may be made only at the St. Mary and Fish Creek campgrounds. All others are first-come, first-served. Different campgrounds reach capacity at different times depending on the date, location, size, etc. Some campgrounds often fill by noon or earlier during the height of the season. The status of Glacier’s campgrounds can be found at: http://home.nps.gov/applications/glac/c ... status.cfm

The Fish Creek campground is on the west side of the park, so if you are coming from that direction and need a guaranteed place to stay, I'd suggest making a reservation there. After that, I'd suggest relocating to the Many Glacier area on the east side of the park or the Two Medicine area in the southeast corner, especially if hiking is the thing you want to do. Personally, I find the east side of the park more scenic than the west side, but opinions differ on that. Read the Q&As at the link above for info on scenic hikes and where they are located (there also is information on short, easy hikes in the Q&As).

Driving times from one side of the park to the other can be long. The park has one major road, the Going-to-the-Sun Road, that goes roughly east to west. It's only 55 miles in length but can take a couple of hours or more to negotiate, especially if there is traffic or construction, and that's if you don't stop along the way. And even when you reach the end on the east side, you still have another half hour or so before you reach Many Glacier and a bit longer than that to Two Med.

I suggest reading the Q&As above. If you still have questions, let us know. Someone will have an answer!

[pitamakan]

Definitely agreed with Hockey Ref that a campground reservation at Fish Creek the first night is a good idea. In July and early August, the major park campgrounds fill almost every night, and with a late afternoon arrival finding a spot without a reservation could be a challenge.

Beyond that, there are several different areas of the park you can visit, even with minimal hiking. The east and west sides of the park are very different geographically, and it's good to plan a little time in each. If you enjoy unpaved roads and getting away from the crowds, a drive into the North Fork Country can be very cool. Stop at the Mercantile in Polebridge for fresh baked goods, and then take the backroads up to Bowman and/or Kintla lakes. (Nice campgrounds at both those places, too.) This has become my favorite part of the park.

On the east side of the park, my favorite area is Two Medicine ... there's a good campground there, great scenery and short hikes, without the Many Glacier crowds. For a first visit, I'd recommend nights at both Many Glacier and Two Med.

A lot of the park's classic hikes are all-day affairs, but there are some really exceptional shorter ones, too. If you camp at Fish Creek, the short walk to Rocky Point is a good one, and heading up the Sun Road the two-mile hike to Avalanche Lake is a classic. Stopping at Logan Pass, the short hike to Hidden Lake Overlook has great views and a good chance of seeing mountain goats ... lots of people on that one, though. St. Mary Falls on the east side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road is great, and both the Many Glacier and Two Medicine areas have numerous possibilities for shorter, nearly-level walks to wilderness lakes and waterfalls. At both those places, the walks can be combined with boat rides.

There's all kinds of other information on this site, along with lots of hardcore Glacier folks ready to answer questions. Hope you have a great trip!

(Oh, and I have to say it: Glacier beats the heck out of Yellowstone! )

[ynpwolfluvr]

Thanks so much! I'm going to get reading on those links and start making some plans. Sounds like we can find lots to do for several days even if we don't do any long hikes, so Yellowstone may have to wait until fall. But it will always be my favorite. And I will be there next month for a week so I can probably get through the summer without going. One more question and I may find it in the links but can we go into the Canadian part of the park without passports?

[Hockey Ref]

Thanks so much! I'm going to get reading on those links and start making some plans. Sounds like we can find lots to do for several days even if we don't do any long hikes, so Yellowstone may have to wait until fall. But it will always be my favorite. And I will be there next month for a week so I can probably get through the summer without going. One more question and I may find it in the links but can we go into the Canadian part of the park without passports?

You definitely need passports to cross into Canada and to return to the U.S. side (there's a question on that in the Q&As). Just to be clear, there is no "Canadian part of the park." Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada is a separate park run by the Canadian government. The two parks share a common border but are otherwise distinct entities.

I'll be interested to know if Yellowstone remains your favorite after you visit Glacier!

[ynpwolfluvr]

Thanks for clearing that up. And I will let you know how we feel after we visit.

[pitamakan]

I'll be interested to know if Yellowstone remains your favorite after you visit Glacier!

Me, too.

Anyhow, since you're a wolf person, I thought I'd share a couple photos I took in Glacier last May ... this was in the Big Prairie area, north of Polebridge. And just shot with my iPhone ... no telephoto lens.

[ynpwolfluvr]

Very nice! We had a couple close up encounters in YNP in October last year. I actually love all wildlife and am not partial to any one species over another. I am just as happy watching marmots play as seeing a grizzly bear. So,of course, we are hoping to see wildlife, but also wildflowers, as that is what my husband loves. We usually got to YNP in May or October so there isn't many of those at those times. Hoping July in Glacier should be great for flowers and weather in general since we are tent camping.

[Tara]

Is this Ria? I think so...Hi Ria! I doubt you are going to change your mind about Yellowstone being your favorite park but you'll enjoy it. From what I think I remember of you, I would guess you'd enjoy the North Fork and Many Glacier areas the most. The problem is you can't reserve a campsite anywhere in the North Fork. You could reserve one at Fish Creek, head to the North Fork for a day trip or stay up there one night and then the 3rd night have a site reserved at St. Mary or Johnson's over on the East side of the park and then get up really early your 4th morning and head to Many Glacier to get a site for your last two nights. The North Fork and East Side will be the most like Yellowstone scenery-wise and also your best bets to see wildlife. Enjoy YNP next month...sounds like the wolf-watching has really picked up again!

[ynpwolfluvr]

Hey, Tara, was hoping you'd show up. I actually am hoping to see something different than Yellowstone. I love it but I love other things too. I am still just getting an idea of how the park is laid out so don't have a real plan yet. I am hoping to work up an itinerary and post it and see what helpful hints I get. I will probably ask over at dot net and the Loon page too. That's one of the things I love about Yellowstone, I know where everything is and exactly where I want to be. But we have tried to get to Glacier for a long time and this is the year! We would like to do some short, fairly easy hikes, one or two a day depending on weather. And of course we would love to see some mountain goats, the one thing we don't get to see up close in Yellowstone. I hear Logan Pass is the place for that. The Highline trail? I am still researching, but not a lot yet.

On a side note, how are you and your family? We just recently became grandparents, have a beautiful granddaughter that is a little over a month old. Someday we will bring her with us and start showing her all these beautiful places.

[Jen]

If you need to reserve a campsite in the North Fork , you could always try here http://www.homeranchbottoms.com/ and then get an early bird site at Bowman or Kintla the next day. Greg at Home Ranch is good people and will treat you well! (Tell him Jen sent you.)

[Tara]

On a side note, how are you and your family? We just recently became grandparents, have a beautiful granddaughter that is a little over a month old. Someday we will bring her with us and start showing her all these beautiful places.

Congrats Ria!!!! How fun!
We're ok...I'm recovering from a hysterectomy (3 weeks ago) and its been slow and I'm very impatient sitting around Hoping to get to Glacier this year but not sure yet. Think of you whenever we drive by your exit on the freeway and when we spend time in TRNP (you were the first to tell me how wonderful it is).

Yes, Logan Pass for Mtn. Goats...either hike to the HIdden Lake Overlook (or hike down to the start of the Highline Trail - you're bound to see some at one or the other or both!

[ynpwolfluvr]

Oh, I am sorry to hear that, get well soon. Surgery is no fun at all!

I am really excited about my trip and hoping all this political stuff doesn't slow down the plowing of the pass over GTTS. But I am thinking we should be good. If not, Yellowstone should be all opened up by then. We did go ahead and get a night at Swiftcurrent Inn on Thursday so we can take our time getting there and then hopefully get a space right away the next morning at Many Glacier campground. We will enjoy a real bed then too. It will be fun to explore a whole new area.

[ynpwolfluvr]

I now have my reservations for Tuesday and Wednesday at Fish Creek at site C117. If anyone has any thoughts on or pics of that site, I would love to hear or see them. Since we will be arriving late afternoon, probably will just do a little car exploring Tuesday evening and then stay on the West side Wednesday. Then Thursday will be heading east and explore up and over Logan Pass and get ideas of things we may want to come back to see if we don't run out of time. Friday will be Many Glacier area and Saturday St. Mary and Two Medicine. I realize it will just be an overview, but either I will be hooked and have to come back or it will be sufficient. Most likely will be hooked and then have the ongoing debate every year of where to go in Montana.

If anyone sees any red flags with this plan, let me know. I did get a park guide and will try to plan out some options. We also love ranger led activities so I am anxiously awaiting the release of that info online just to get some ideas in mind.

[elscout198]

see if this works

This site has all of fish creek (and other parks) best used by using the public campground tab, then sort by state and even alpha

http://www.campsitephotos.com/campground/Fish-Creek