The Ultimate Guide to Glacier National Park
Known as the “Crown of the Continent,” this Montana park contains 200 waterfalls, 700 lakes, and 700 miles of trails. Also: you can walk on a glacier.
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While other kids were meeting Mickey Mouse at Disneyland, I grew up going to and learning the difference between black bear scat and grizzly scat. My dad always joked that grizzly scat contains hikers’ bear bells. It’s how I learned to remember which bears were carnivores. For us Montanans, visiting Glacier, the holy grail of God’s country, was a given, a rite of passage. But for most of the national park’s —3.1 million last year—Glacier is one for the bucket list.
If you’re wondering what’s so special about Glacier, let’s start by singing the praises of scarcity. Not many places are left where you can see, let alone walk on, active glaciers. Still, the park is more than massive bodies of moving ice. It’s the “”—so named because its one million acres are part of the largest intact ecosystem in the country. As kids, during class field trips to Glacier from Lewistown (my hometown in the center of the state), we studied everything from edible plants to aquatic insects. Standing on our tiptoes in the visitor center, we’d reach across a raised-relief map to touch Glacier’s 8,020-foot Triple Divide Peak. The mountain is the only place in the country where : the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, or Hudson Bay.
In 1999, my family attended a Jack Gladstone concert at Glacier’s Lake McDonald Lodge and bought his cassette tape. His “Hudson Bay Blues,” a ballad about what it was like for Natives when the white man introduced the concept of shopping, was from then on our soundtrack for driving Going-to-the-Sun Road, the park’s main artery. Known as “Montana’s troubadour,” Gladstone is a member of the —the state’s largest tribe and Glacier’s original inhabitants from long before . Fortunately, the tribe is still very active within the park: members lead and host info-rich presentations.
Whether you come for glaciers, grizzlies (in addition to bells, bring bear spray and know how to use it), or , you’ll be in a near constant state of awe here. In his book , the great naturalist John Muir goes so far as to say everyone should spend at least a month in Glacier. “The time will not be taken from the sum of your life,” . “Instead of shortening, it will indefinitely lengthen it and make you truly immortal.”
What You Need to Know Before Visiting Glacier National Park
Cash isn’t king
In fact, it’s not accepted in the park, so plan on using your debit or credit card. You can also . Just make sure to print them or download them onto your phone before arriving at the park (where cell service is sketchy at best). , good for seven days, cost $15 if you’re on foot or bike, $20 for motorcycles, and $25 for vehicles. Rates increase by $5 to $10 May through October. Since the park is open 24/7, every day of the year, there may be no one operating the entrance kiosk; in that case, follow posted instructions for self-payment.
Beauty begets bumper-to-bumper traffic
in the summer can back up like an L.A. freeway. For that reason, vehicle late May through mid September to access both the road and the North Fork, the northwest corner of the park, where the roads are unpaved and services are few. To make a reservation, call 877-444-6777 or visit (and be prepared to pay a $2 processing fee). If you have reservations at lodging within the park (including campgrounds), or have booked a tour, that counts as your vehicle reservation.
Say goodbye to bars (of service) and gas
While I can usually get a signal in the area from West Glacier to Apgar Village and near St. Mary, most of the park is a dead zone. There are also no gas stations, so fill up in advance in the popular western and eastern entrance towns of West Glacier or St. Mary, respectively. Better yet, ditch the car and take advantage of the , which typically runs July 1 through Labor Day, with limited service through September. The shuttle vehicles are either Sprinter vans or 28-passenger buses, most equipped with bike racks. Additionally, special shuttles for hikers and bikers run every weekend from May through June.
Pets aren’t people, too
Unfortunately, Glacier isn’t very pet-friendly. No dogs are allowed anywhere outside of vehicles, except parking lots, developed areas, and the Apgar bike path.
How to Get to Glacier National Park
At (a size that could swallow Rhode Island), Glacier has five entrances: two on the west and three on the east. You reach West Glacier, the most popular, by taking Highway 2 e