Glacier Park Chat
Before/During Resources: This forum, the one-page NPS trail maps, Jake Bramante's Day Hikes map, HikingInGlacier.com.
Lodging: In between flights to/from Missoula, we stayed one night in Kalispell, three nights at Apgar Village Inn, five nights at Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, and one night back in Kalispell. It was all good.
Provisions and support: Rented a Subaru Outback at the airport (5 miles on it when we got it, layers of dirt on it when we returned it), hit up Walmart in Kalispell (cooler, ice, simple breakfast/lunch fare, snacks, bug spray), rented bear spray from Glacier Outfitters in Apgar, re-stocked groceries at IGA in Browning, did laundry at Swiftcurrent. Thumbs up to all.
Dinner: Jammer Joe’s, Eddie’s, ‘Nell’s, Swiss Lounge, Two Sisters. Ranged from fine to great but ‘Nell’s has to get massive points off for being ridiculously understaffed – parties of two, once finally acknowledged, were leaving after being told there would be a 30 minute wait in a less-than-half-full restaurant. On the other hand, the name has two apostrophes which is cool.
Trails we hiked: Upper McDonald Creek, Trail of the Cedars, Johns Lake Loop, Apgar Lookout, Sun Road beyond vehicle blockade at Avalanche, Rocky Point, Apukini Falls, Bullhead Lake and beyond including Fishercap Lake and Redrock Falls, Aster Park Overlook including Paradise Point and Aster Falls, Twin Falls, Running Eagle Falls, Swiftcurrent Lake Nature Trail, Grinnell Lake including Hidden Falls including boat shuttles one way, Sun Point, Baring Falls from boat tour, St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls. Plus lots of walking around and exploring at various overlooks, picnic areas, etc.
Wildlife: Grizzly (from car, crossing Many Glacier Road near Sherburne Dam), black bear (from car, lumbering down Sun Road not far from Avalanche), bald eagle (near Apgar Village Inn), ptarmigan and mountain bluebirds (Apgar Lookout trail), deer everywhere.
Boating: All the historic boat tours plus kayaking on Swiftcurrent Lake.
Favorite waterfall: Apukini Falls (according to Isaac and Cheryl, I’m undecided).
Favorite hiking: Grinnell Lake (according to me and Cheryl, not much of a workout, just a beautiful day and everything was gorgeous; Isaac would probably vote for Apukini Falls because he really, really liked the falls).
Favorite restaurant: Two Sisters, hands down (according to me and Cheryl, Isaac doesn’t get a vote because he’s a picky eater).
Favorite boat tour: St. Mary Lake (not only beautiful, but we had wonderful weather, the boat was less than half full, and our teenage skippers/guides were a lot of fun).
No access: Sun Road opened two days after we left, Avalanche Lake trail closed due to aggressive bear activity.
Weather: Fantastic. Warmer than expected but not too warm. A little light rain now and then. Our boat tour guides at St. Mary said we got a very rare calm, beautiful day.
Skeeters: Thanks for the warning. We wore long sleeves mostly and the bug spray did the rest.
Conversation: Couple from Hawaii on our Sun Road hike who took a bunch of picture of us with our camera, older couple from Flathead Lake area on top of the Aster Park Lookout who were enormously knowledgeable and entertaining, guy at the Spiral Spoon who probably uses the same lines over and over but was fun and funny nonetheless, lady from the Swiftcurrent laundry who re-introduced herself after watching me play the piano at Many Glacier Hotel.
Souvenirs: Normal stuff like T-shirts plus an unmatched cherry spoon and spatula from the Spiral Spoon.
Most repeated joke: “Lichen is a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi and, like a lot of relationships, sometimes it’s on the rocks.”
Realization: Guided walks and ranger-led stuff are informative but too slow and crowded for us. Also, enough with the lichen joke.
Did I say I was going to keep this short? *checks* No, I said simple. I’m still in compliance.
How about some photos? About half are from the cell phone.
There was a light rain when we first arrived. Lake McDonald from near the Apgar boat ramp.
Our practice is to get up semi-early and get going. We were first up and had the Apgar fire lookout to ourselves.
Too far away for a good shot, so I took a bad one.
Fun musical interlude one night in Apgar. It’s an alpine horn (or alpenhorn or alphorn).
Cheryl and Isaac pose with their favorite waterfall. I kept getting the name wrong until I came up with this dad joke: What does the convenience store owner on The Simpsons wear to the beach? An Apukini!
The Sinopah on Two Medicine Lake.
Two Sisters waiter: “Have we made any decisions?” Dude eating with his family: “Yes. I’m going to live here the rest of my life.”
This is what we look like. This is also what Swiftcurrent Lake and Grinnell Point look like.
He didn’t want to paint me taking a photograph so we did it the other way around.
Interior of the newly-remodeled Many Glacier Hotel with just a hint of the double-helix staircase.
Chief Two Guns on Swiftcurrent Lake.
Path to Lake Josephine on my favorite hiking day. The weather and scenery couldn’t have been more gorgeous.
Looking into the morning sun from Sun Point.
It’s not quite in the park, but I love this sculpture.
And that's kinda it, I guess.
