Beautiful lakes and mountains with hikes for all abilities and the iconic Going-to-the-Sun road.
We set off from Gardiner at the north entrance of Yellowstone at around 7 a.m. to start the long drive to Glacier. The previous morning we had spent seven hours with guide Lianna from Yellowstone Wolf Tracker seeing so many different animals including wolves, black bears and grizzlies. She also gave us some very good recommendations for place to eat in Gardiner and also Western Cafe in Bozeman, where she said we had to try the famous cinnamon rolls.
We both had the "Bobcat Special" - two cinnamon roll French toast, two eggs (over easy), bacon and hash browns. It was OK but the cinnamon roll French toast was a bit too sweet for our taste, would have been better to have just the cinnamon roll with coffee. They call their filter coffee "pour-over" - that's a new one one to us!
We continued north, passing through wide open agricultural land with many stretches of long straight road - and it got very windy. We arrived at St Mary, just outside the east end of the park, around 2 p.m.
We stayed at the St. Mary Lodge in the Great Bear Lodge. We had a great room on the top floor looking out to the mountains. It's in a very good location both for getting to the Many Glacier area and for access to the Going-to-the-Sun road.
Glacier NP1 is named for the numerous glaciers within its confines, though they are all quite small compared to say, the Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland. All of the glaciers are currently in retreat and many are projected to disappear entirely within ten years or so.2 But most people come here to hike a few of the many trails or simply to drive the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road.
We made an early start for Many Glacier, leaving at 6:45, hoping to get on boats that would take us across Swiftcurrent and Josephine Lakes so that we could hike to Grinnell Lake with a guide.
Many Glacier Road, from Route 89 to the Many Glacier Hotel, is pot-holed and rough in places but easily passable with care. It took us no more than half an hour to get to the hotel and we had no trouble parking at that time.
All the boats were fully booked so we put ourselves on the waiting list for the 9 a.m. (with guided hike) and 11 a.m. boats and went off in search of breakfast. Only option was Heidi's coffee shop where we got sausage, egg and cheese toasted muffins from the slowest moving server ever!
Back at the dock we were really lucky to get on the 9 a.m. boat - weird that quite a few who'd obviously bought tickets didn't show up.
It's a short boat ride across Swiftcurrent Lake then an easy walk across to the boat on Lake Josephine which is much bigger than Swiftcurrent.
The walk from Lake Josephine to Grinnell Lake is also an easy one. Our guide was very good, lots of info on the flora and fauna of the area, the people associated with the development of the park, how it compares to other major parks in terms of visitor numbers etc.
Lodgepole pine, spruce fir and aspen trees predominate on the east side of the continental divide which runs through the park. Beautiful Beargrass can be spotted on the walk and also the very nasty Giant Hogweed - steer well clear! The ethereal hanging lichens are fascinating, a combination of fungus and algae coexisting in a symbiotic relationship.3
Grinnell Lake is a beautiful spot, calm blue waters framed by mountains and very peaceful.
After the trip we were in perfect time for lunch at the Many Glacier Hotel. We'd originally tried to stay here but were so glad we didn't - St. Mary is so much more convenient for getting to different places in the park, and we saw into one of the rooms on the ground floor - it looked like a cell, very small, dull decoration and sparsely furnished.
However, lunch was excellent and we were seated at a table by the window with a terrific view over the lake to the mountains. The Iceberg burger and my Surf and Turf - beef with a crab cake (I adore crab!) - were very good with excellent fries and a glass of Pinot Noir. Andrew's Huckleberry Cobbler with Huckleberry ice cream was outstanding - we both love the huckleberries. The after dinner drink "Slice of Pie Cider" that he had was not so great though: a "Wildrye Distilling Apple Pie, Wildrye Ramsdell's Parrot Dark Rum, Warm Apple Cider" tasted a bit odd and may in any case be better suited to the cooler months.
The view of Wild Goose Island in the middle of St. Mary Lake is probably the most famous image of the park. It is close to the east end of the Going-to-the-Sun Road and we visited twice, once late afternoon and once early morning to see it in the different lights.
On our afternoon visit we went on a little further to Sun Point and Jackson Glacier Overlook before returning to the hotel, and spotted our seventh bear of the trip, this another young male Black Bear, oblivious to traffic, chewing on something in the middle of the road!
Sun Point also overlooks St. Mary Lake but almost at its western end - more fine views.
Jackson Glacier Overlook provides the best view of a glacier from the Going-to-the-Sun Road, though the glacier is still almost 10 km away.
The following morning we drove the full length of the Road from east to west, stopping first at Wild Goose Island Overlook for the early morning shot - by far the better time.
From there we went to Logan Pass where, even though we were very early, we were lucky to get a parking spot straight away, they were few and far between. We hiked the trail to Hidden Lake Overlook, along with a few others, though the trail wasn't crowded at all at that time. It's not too strenuous and the gorgeous view of Bearhat Mountain at the end is well worth it.
Seems the beautiful coloured rocks can be found in many areas of the park.
The return is downhill all the way so a lot quicker than coming up. There were an awful lot of people starting out on the trail and it was beginning to get very hot, many without hats which always amazes us.
Back to the car and travelling further west, stopping at one or two view points on the way.
We stopped for a quick lunch at the Lake McDonald Lodge and were planning on taking a walk to Rocky Point on the north shore but couldn't park at the campground and the road to the trailhead looked appalling so we just headed straight to Whitefish where we were staying overnight at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake.
We had a huge room, very well appointed, with two massive beds and a luxurious bathroom, though the mattresses were so soft we both had a very poor night's sleep. Dinner was very good though: excellent cocktails, and my lump crab, avocado and grapefruit starter was very good, followed by a superb filet mignon; Andrew roast red pepper and tomato soup followed by an equally good fillet of elk with a white parsnip chocolate sauce.
