Glacier National Park 2019

On Wednesday evening after the community block party, Ryan and I sat down with my aunt and uncle to plan our route up to Glacier National Park the following day. This would be a longer drive as it’s a 4.5-5 hour drive depending on the route you take. My uncle recommended the slightly longer but more scenic route that takes you through Missoula and Kalispell. This would put us at the west entrance of Glacier, which makes sense because our hotel was also on the west side of Glacier. So we got up and headed out very early on Thursday morning, ready for our drive.

On the way, we stopped at Wheat Montana Bakery & Deli to pick up some breakfast. I had a Bear Claw pastry, and I think Ryan had an egg sandwich. We also got chai tea and hot chocolate, respectively.

The drive was indeed scenic, and we found our hotel. Because we made reservations a bit late, we were not able to get a room in one of the lodges with the national park, but the hotel we found was about a 30 minute drive from the western entrance. We found some lunch at a lackluster Mexican restaurant that had rather bland food, then headed up to the park for a bit just to check things out.

We parked at the Apgar Welcome Center, then took a short walk to take a look at Lake McDonald. We noticed there were kayaks available for rent, and decided that might be a good plan for the following morning. Ryan’s ankle was a bit sore from our long hike the previous day, so doing something that didn’t require much walking seemed like a good plan.

On the walk back to our car, we ran across some people who spotted a bear cub in the trees. They were just standing there looking at it. Ryan and I kept on walking, knowing that if the cub was there, the mom wouldn’t be far behind. We were glad we borrowed a can of bear spray from my uncle, but we hoped we would not have an opportunity to use it.

Back at the hotel, we needed to start thinking about dinner. So far, we hadn’t been too impressed by much of the food in Montana. The receptionist at the hotel had mentioned that there was a farmer’s market across the street every Thursday…and today was Thursday! Perhaps there would be some food there we could get.

This farmer’s market turned out to be a pretty big deal! There were, of course, farmers selling their crops at many booths. We found one selling fresh huckleberries, so we decided to give them a try. There was also a stage with live performances, including a group doing some Hawaiian dancing. We thought this was a funny foreshadowing of the trip we had planned for the following year in Hawaii (editor’s note: that trip never happened due to COVID). Also, there were lots and lots of food trucks!!! I ended up getting some Pad Thai, and Ryan got a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. We both decided this was the best “restaurant” food of the whole trip!.

The following day, we drove back to Glacier for a day of exploration. Our plan was to kayak at Lake McDonald in the morning, and then take a famous Red Bus tour in the afternoon on the Going-to-the-Sun road. We got there early, and we were the first people at the kayak rental booth. We were instructed to always wear our neon-colored jersey over our PFD in order for the boat crew to be able to keep an eye on us more easily from shore. Then we were told how far we were allowed to venture out, and what kinds of sights to look for along the way.

Our paddling journey started out peacefully enough. We started out paddling around the circumference of the lake, stopping to view an eagle’s nest. Then we decided to race across the diameter of the lake. As we were in the middle, the wind started picking up and we encountered some pretty big waves. Things got a bit dicey, and we knew it was time to head back into shore, paddling against the waves as we went. The sky was getting darker, and we could tell a storm was coming on! But we made it back to shore safely, but a bit weary.

Back on shore, we changed into some dry clothes and found some lunch at a place in the park that served sandwiches and stuff. The sandwiches were fine, but way overpriced.

After lunch, it was time for our tour on the Red Bus. These historic buses have been around since the 1930s (although with slight updates). There are a few reasons we chose to do the Red Bus Tour. First, we wanted to go on the Going to the Sun road, but the drive sounded a bit annoying to do ourselves. It’s pretty steep, narrow, and windy, so it would be difficult for the driver to enjoy the scenery. Next, the red buses have roll-back tops, so it is supposed to be easier to enjoy the scenery. Finally, the driver is able to give us information about the park as we go.

Well, the tour was slightly delayed in its start due to a sudden downpour with hail. Finally, we were allowed to get in the bus, but were given some musty blankets due to a leak in the canvas roof (it was leaking right down over where Ryan was sitting). Due to the weather, we also had to ride with the roof up most of the time, rolling it back for only a brief amount of time before it got too cold. However, the driver did do a good job giving us information about the park. Unfortunately, despite the name Glacier National Park, only 25 active glaciers are still present, and of those, most are not in places where the average visitor is able to see them. There is one that you can hike to in the east side of the park, but due to time, we would not be able to see that one. There are a couple that you can supposedly see at a couple of points of the Going to the Sun road, but the cloud cover was too thick during our visit for us to see the glaciers. Nevertheless, we did find what we could see impressive.

Now it was time to head back to the hotel for the evening. On the way back, we stopped at one of the many country stores advertising huckleberry products. I got a slice of huckleberry pie, and Ryan had a huckleberry shake. A note about huckleberries: they only grow in the wild in specific parts of the northwest United States and Canada. They have never been successfully cultivated. Visitors to Glacier National Park are permitted to pick up to one quart of huckleberries per person per day. They are also a favorite of black bears and grizzly bears, and have often also been used for medicinal purposes by indigenous people in the area. They look and taste kind of like a small, tart blueberry.

We stopped at a small pizza place for dinner. Again, not anything memorable.

The next morning, we had to get up a bit early to check out and drive out to the east side of the park for a boat tour. The drive to get from the west side to the east side is surprisingly long, especially if you go around the park instead of taking the Going to the Sun road across the park (as a side note, the Going to the Sun Road is closed due to road conditions for most of the year. It opens in late June after the snow is cleared up. This means that it is very popular and very crowded in July).

We made it to the boat dock in time for our scheduled tour of Two Medicine Lake. Calling this a boat “tour” is a bit misleading. While they do provide a bit of information along the way, it’s more like a boat shuttle that takes you across the lake to a trail head. Oh well, it wasn’t expensive, and the weather was great for a change!

When we got off the boat to do our hike to Twin Falls, we were a little disappointed to be in the middle of a long line of retired army vets who were here for a reunion and reenacting their army days as they hiked the trail. Fortunately, they gave up and decided to turn back about 3/4 the way down the trail, leaving us alone to enjoy the rest of the hike in more peace and quiet.

While the boat tour was not quite what we expected, it was nice to get a chance to see the east side of the park, which is much more rustic and wild than the west side.

To head back to Bozeman, we decided to take a different route back. This one took us through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and east through Helena before returning to Bozeman. It’s also a slightly shorter drive. Ryan astonishingly found a Surge at a gas station in the Blackfeet reservation (we thought those didn’t exist anymore)! The drive back was much flatter–more plains and less mountains.

All in all, we had a great time on our Montana trip. The pictures do not do justice to the scenery. We lucked out by being there after they had had an unusually rainy summer, as everything was much more green than it usually was in July. We saw evidence and heard stories about forest fires from previous years, and how the west half of Glacier has to evacuate during fires, but the east side is usually protected by runoff from the mountains. Our trip made us wonder how anyone could support removing federal protections from our national parks. We also learned that while Montana has some of the best scenery we have ever seen, it also has some of the most bland food we have ever eaten. Usually when I travel, I take pictures of every meal, but I didn’t on this trip. But food aside, we still had a great time.