Ok this one is going in the top 5 no matter what else we see! This place is spectacular. We might’ve been a bit surprised. Jerry had visited once before with friends but didn’t experience all it had to offer so this time we made sure he did. We saw more animals here than any other national park – we saw a BEAR, sheep, goats, marmots, deer, birds and more. There are blue lakes, glaciers, animals, waterfalls, and you can’t take a bad picture. It’s reminiscent of the Grand Tetons but even more fabulous! Glacier required reservations this year due to its popularity but we never felt like it was overcrowded or too busy. We also like to hit parks in the afternoon after all those early birds leave.
Going-to-the-Sun Road is the breathtaking road that traverses the park from west to east or east to west and climbs to 6646 feet and crosses the continental divide at the top at Logan Pass. We arrived early enough the first day to travel west to east and then eat dinner outside the park and then return east to west and got back to our RV at midnight! It’s a little crazier in total darkness and then we had a little construction snafu at the end, but more about that below.
The road climbing higher and higher. This is one of many waterfalls that spill under the road and some actually run onto the road. This water is all from snowmelt.
A view near Logan Pass (so almost to the top but not quite)
Some snow and a glacier. Glaciers are basically snow in the mountain ranges that doesn’t melt over many years, and becomes dense ice. It moves slowly and carves and changes the landscape around it.
Some arch work under the roadway
Timelapse of part of our drive on Going-to-the-Sun Road west to east to Logan Pass (the top)
Bighorn sheep which we spotted while hiking to Hidden Lake who we will later see IN THE PARKING LOT BY OUR CAR!! ????
Gorgeous wildflowers and the view makes you want to sing “The hills are alive…”
Melting snow on the path to Hidden Lake near Logan Pass
Look Ma! No jacket
This was snow but it wasn’t too chilly while the sun was shining
The lake is no longer hidden, although it is still Hidden Lake
Kristi wandering around up here while Jerry takes pics, not realizing there were goats all around that she didn’t see!
Mountain goats
Snowmelt making cute little waterfalls everywhere along the path
The long walk back down from Hidden Lake. The boards are over parts that are very marshy and muddy from snowmelt
Kristi came out of the bathroom and Jerry was at the car and suddenly bighorn sheep were all over the parking lot and people were scurrying trying to get pics and get out of the way!
Licking up water from cars. An obviously better choice than the pure and pristine clear snowmelt streams where they were before. Weirdos!
The moon coming up while we were on the east side of the park
After a very long day of traveling to the campground from North Dakota, driving Going-to-The-Sun Road east and then back west, being in the park from 4 pm to 11:30 pm – we came upon this girl stopping traffic (of which there was very little) who stopped us just as we were a couple miles from our campground at the edge of the park. There are no lights in the park at all, it’s known as a “dark sky park” which means it’s great for night photography of stars and skies. Anyway, this was the only light on in the park.
She told us that we were waiting for the “pilot car” to come and escort us down the road past some construction. But this took 20 minutes of waiting! TWENTY! It was almost midnight. So, she tried to make it better by giving us a handful of licorice. She’s eating licorice in this picture!
Kristi was thankful for the licorice but beginning to think we might be on candid camera or something.
Before the pilot car arrived, this car got in front of us. This lunatic with no license plate. He pulled up past all the waiting cars to ask her what was going on and then he was not able to back his car back in the line so got in front of us all. He was such a weirdo that the pilot car driver stopped and got out and asked him to stop trying to pass her because he was driving so erratically behind her. After her escort was finished we had to follow him out of the park the rest of the way. He drove on the wrong side of the road, and only got back over in front of us each time a car came the other way. It was bizarre. Pretty sure he was wasted. We were really glad when he turned a different way outside the park. But he didn’t get any licorice, so there’s that!
Our first bear to see and get picture proof. (We did see one quickly run across the road in Yellowstone)
Moseying along the roadway while lots of cars take pics.
This area of the park is called “Many Glacier.” It should be called many glaciers and nobody knows why it isn’t but there’s no S. This does not sit well with Kristi we can assure you. This is Many Glacier Hotel and it is precious! It sits on Swiftcurrent Lake and is a series of chalets with a Swiss alpine theme. Even the employees are dressed in Swiss costumery.
We hiked from the hotel around both Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine and the views and water were stunning. We did about a 6 1/2 mile figure 8 around them and up over them.
Wildflowers everywhere
We just never knew lakes could be this beautiful
It’s like the Caribbean but it’s a lake
The cute little tour boat. We tried to get reservations but could not. This tour takes people from the Many Glacier Hotel across Swiftcurrent Lake, the people get out and walk 1/4 mile to Lake Josephine and get in another boat to tour that lake and then they go back to the first boat to return to the hotel. It’s a clever and fun looking tour. Instead we just had to walk all that if we wanted to see it! Which we did, so we did.
After 6.5 miles, THIS was pretty disappointing. Come on Glacier, It’s June 30th we are well into the season!
So, this is how far Kristi had to walk from the closed bathroom – over to THAT hotel on the other side of the lake to get to a bathroom.
The start to Avalanche Lake
Avalanche Creek is the rushing water from the snowmelt in Avalanche Lake which we were aiming to find
Oh deer
We made it to the gorgeous blue lake!
A hoary marmot! What a terrible name for the cutest little guy you ever did see. The video below of him eating the plant is SOOO adorable!
Underwater grass in the shallows of the lake
We hiked around the lake to get to this private spot and Jerry filmed a video for work here!
Love the blue water, can’t get enough
Chipmunk
The sound of the waterfalls rushing down into the lake is very loud. We were over near the bottom of this fall in the pics above.
We went to dinner at Lake McDonald Lodge and met Steve while waiting in line. We decided to eat together and exchange info about our travels. Steve is from a small town in Indiana called Rising Sun which is just down the road from our son-in-law Josh’s family.
Montage of drone footage just outside of Glacier National Park over the Flathead River. This gorgeous blue river flows a really long way into Flathead Lake which is also gorgeous.
