This past summer, we celebrated our anniversary with a two-week roadtrip to my favorite place: Glacier National Park.
It was my husband’s first ever trip to Glacier – though he’s been listening to me rave about it for years now – and I was so excited for him to finally see the park with his own two eyes.
I’m just going to go ahead and spoil the ending: it was epic! We hiked 91 miles (146 km) over the course of twelve days. We visited waterfalls, overlooks, summits, lakes, and glaciers. We saw bears, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, marmots, and pikas. We soaked our feet in crystal clear water and marveled at the beauty of thousands of wildflowers.
Six nights in a campground were book-ended by three nights at Glacier’s historic hotels and two nights in the backcountry at Sperry Chalet. It was warm and sunny almost every day and, despite the awful fires to the north, the sky was free from smoke.
We both came down with mild colds halfway through, but thanks to Zicam, Dayquil, Nyquil, and a few extra hours of sleep, we still managed to stick to our itinerary. Runny noses aside, this trip was truly everything we could have asked for.
I came home with well over 1000 photos so, as you can probably imagine, sorting through them all and writing about the trip has been a daunting endeavor. But I now have at least a rough draft for all my posts, and I’ve narrowed down the photos to a slightly more acceptable number, so I thought I’d begin with an overview. Below you’ll find my favorite photo from each day of our trip, as well as a quick summary of the day’s activities.
Day 1
After spending the night at my mom’s place, we drove the remaining few hours up to East Glacier and checked into the historic Glacier Park Lodge, our home for the next two nights. This photo of Glacier’s Two Medicine Valley was taken from a pullout on Highway 49 on the final stretch of the drive.
Day 2
Our first hike in Glacier was to Dawson Pass, and it was a very scenic destination. But my favorite photo of the day isn’t from the pass. It’s from the trailhead. Or, more accurately, it’s from the boat dock at Two Medicine Lake. We boarded the historic wooden tour boat bright and early for a ride across the lake, at which point we picked up the trail and hiked the remaining few miles to Dawson Pass.
Day 3
We covered a lot of ground on day 3, so choosing just one favorite photo was a challenge. But in the end, this photo of the moon at sunset over Swiftcurrent Lake from the iconic Many Glacier Hotel came out on top. It’s by far the most scenic hotel I’ve ever stayed at; this photo was taken from the back porch.
Day 4
Of all the days, choosing a single favorite photo from this one was the most challenging. Our destination was Iceberg Lake, which is a hike I’d done before in the aftermath of a particularly snowy winter. Though it was mid-summer at the time, the upper portion of the trail was still snowy and the lake was mostly frozen. Nonetheless, I went into this hike feeling as though I knew what to expect. So when I finally laid eyes on Iceberg Lake – which was not frozen this time, but instead bright turquoise and shimmering in the sunlight – I was absolutely blown away. This is now one of my favorite hikes in Glacier!
Day 5
Day five was actually not spent in Glacier; we popped over the border for the day to visit some family members. The initial plan was to go to their house, but it was supposed to be nearly 100°F (38°C) and windy there, so we decided to escape to the mountains in search of slightly cooler weather. We arrived a couple hours early and took advantage of the opportunity to hike up the Bear’s Hump. We then spent the remainder of the day hanging out in Waterton with the four of them.
Day 6
We were back in Glacier this morning, and actually back to the same trail as day 4. But this time, at about the halfway point, we veered off to the right and headed up to Ptarmigan Tunnel. This rock tunnel was blasted through the mountainside back in the 1930s, connecting Many Glacier Valley to the south with Belly River Valley to the north. Walking through the tunnel and emerging at the head of the Belly River Valley for the first time was truly one of the best reveals of the trip.
Day 7
Grinnell Glacier is a bucket list hike for a reason. My mom and I hiked this trail nearly 15 years ago, and it’s been on my all-time favorite hikes list ever since. The trail cuts through flower-filled alpine meadows and across sheer rock walls, with incredible views in all directions, before depositing you at the lovely Upper Grinnell Lake and the rapidly-shrinking-but-still-hanging-on Grinnell Glacier. I truly can’t talk about this hike and only share one photo, so we’re going to turn this post into a baker’s dozen so I can share two.
Day 8
This was the easiest day of our trip, which worked out well since it was the day my husband felt the worst. We took the free shuttles across the park on the famous Going-to-the-Sun road and hiked through a lovely cedar and hemlock forest to Avalanche Lake. Going-to-the-Sun is a world-famous drive for a reason, and my favorite photo of the day was taken from the road.
Day 9
My family joined us on day 9 for a hike we’d all been wanting to do for years: the Highline Trail! Frequently placed at the top of “best hikes in Glacier” lists, this 12 mile (19 km) point-to-point trail precariously hugs the west side of the Continental Divide for miles before reaching what is arguably the best view at Granite Park Chalet. From here, the trail drops 2600 feet (790 m) in just 4 miles (6.4 km) back to the road, at which point you catch a shuttle back to the top. It was difficult to choose just one photo from this hike as well, but I ultimately decided on this one because you can look back at where you’ve been and see the trail extending across the landscape for miles.
Day 10
With an operating season of roughly 10 weeks per year, and only 17 guest rooms, obtaining a reservation at Sperry Chalet is not an easy feat. We tried last summer and were unsuccessful, so we were elated when we were able to book two nights this year. In fact, we built the entire rest of our trip around this reservation. Sperry Chalet was built in 1913 by the Great Northern Railroad, high on the western slopes of Gunsight Mountain. The only way to get there is on foot, and it’s a hard hike, but it was absolutely worth the effort. The staff at Sperry are incredible, the location is hard to beat, and it was an amazing way to end our trip!
Day 11
With the chalet as our base camp, we spent the day hiking the trails above, combining a climb up to Comeau Pass and Sperry Glacier with a short but steep jaunt to the summit of Lincoln Peak. It ended up being a 10 mile (16 km) day with 2800 feet (850 m) of elevation gain – the hardest day of the trip. But it was also the most rewarding. The hike to Comeau Pass is more colorful than I could have imagined and the view from the foot of Sperry Glacier is something I truly can’t put into words. But as amazing as both of those were, the highlight for me was the summit of Lincoln Peak. If I had to pick a single favorite view in Glacier National Park, it would probably be this one!
Day 13
I only took 5 photos on our final day in Glacier because all we did was hike back to the car and then drive partway home. None of them quite live up to the standards of this post, so instead I’m going to share one final photo from the following day… the day we drove back to Colorado. I was still recovering from my cold and ended up napping for quite a bit of it – and shoutout to my husband for driving the entire way with only a sick, sleepy me for company – but in between coughing fits, I was able to check an item off my bucket list. I’ve always wanted to capture a photo of a lightning bolt, and as we drove through thunderstorm after thunderstorm in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado, I finally managed to do so!
I’m so excited to share many more photos and details of our Glacier trip with you all over the coming weeks. I’m going to start with an informational post on the park and the logistics of planning a trip, and then I’ll be devoting individual posts to most of these hikes. I hope you all enjoy reading these posts as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them!
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