We were there in mid-September. It was freezing cold and we barely had the gear to withstand it. We stayed at Glacier Lodge in East Glacier. Also, make time for a day in the Red Cars if the weather is decent. if it isn't, you won't enjoy it as much. That place is probably best in mid-Summer. You are damn near in Canada and the weather lets you know it in the fall.

Swiftcurrent Lake

Jammers

West Glacier

Kalispell is a great town.

Coming into Kalispell

Another idea is to bring your passports and take a day trip up to Waterton Lakes. There you can visit the Prince of Wales Hotel, eat at Weiners of Waterton, and take a tour of the lake. The tour is aboard the International, a 100 year old boat that was assembled on Waterton Lake. The boat will take you down the lake to Goat Haunt, which is back in the US. You then have the option of riding the boat back to Waterton, or hike along the Lakeshore Trail back to Waterton, which is about an 8 mile hike. Or you can do the reverse route by buying a ticket at the tour office, hike the Lakeshore Trail south to Goat Haunt and then catch the boat back.

I love this area. Bring your bear spray.

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
Don Draper,

Grinnell and the Ptarmigan two of my favorites.

Elaborate on Your Dad and the tunnel doors! What a piece of history there. When, how, etc?

Dad was a seasonal ranger mostly based at Polebridge in the early 60's. One of his future brother-in-laws was a packer at St. Marys at the time. On his days off he would often go over to the east side and go on packing trips with him. Not sure if it was a door that was getting repaired or what (as I'm pretty sure the tunnel was built long before that). He did remember that he had his own saddle though... haha. My mom's dad was supervisor of roads in the park, and was in charge of clearing Logan Pass every year. I think he (grandpa) worked for close to 45 years in the park.

IIRC the tunnel was blasted out in the 20's or 30's ? Next trip over I'll think of Your Dad when I go through the door. Very neat Family history. Even GNP at the time was different than today....FAR less crowded.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:

The drive around the Park is nice, but one must really hike to truly get an idea of Glacier. I started hiking the Park far too late in life, one of my true regrets. Get out and hike!

Another good reason to check out the maps by Jake734 that Silent mentioned. I bought his 'Day Hikes of Glacier Park' map guide ($11.95) before going. He ranks the trails by length and location within the park. His descriptions also tell you the elevation change and level of difficulty. The maps are extremely reasonably priced considering the very useful content he packs into them.

Another good one, though in soft cover form....

https://www.amazon.com/Hiking-...ativeASIN=1493031481

Some perspective of the fires

Pay attention to the alerts, probably be Smokey, but gorgeous none the less

One of my best friends did the Pitamakin-Dawson hike this past weekend and said the smoke was brutal