GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

This is a beautiful national park filled with wild flowers, carved out mountains you can stand right next to, glacier clear + blue water and abundant wild life.  Mountain life is slow and peaceful. 

We spent 6 amazing nights camping in Glacier.  We camped at the St. Mary campground just inside the East entrance.  We hiked 35.2 miles and absorbed so much.... really words can not describe it.

Glacier is bear country and we followed the rules strictly.  We slept in our tent + kept our clothes in there and then everything else was kept in the truck at all times.  We got a routine down pretty quick and those days were simple and fun.  We went to bed early (out of exhaustion) but not before cleaning up dinner and then packing our breakfast and lunch for the next day.  We pulled out of the camping spot each morning between 6:30-7am and headed to the trailhead for the day. Our hikes ended between 1-2pm and then we relaxed each afternoon back at the campsite before making dinner. 

Day 1:  We drove to Logan Pass and got a parking spot. As we packed our bags and assembled our hiking gear the parking lot filled up. We started hiking The Highline at 7:30am.  I'm so happy we got to do this because it had been closed the week prior due to high grizzly activity.  We hiked 8 miles round trip making a large patch of snow our turn around point.  This day was HOT which was disappointing coming from a desert. Thankfully it rained that night and cooled off the rest of the week.  

Day 2:  We went back to Logan Pass, this time hiking the Hidden Lake trail. IT WAS FREEZING and extremely windy.  It was still beautiful but you couldn't really see the mountains peak.  After that hike we drove to the next planned hike trailhead and parking was impossible- either wake up early for a spot or time it perfect with a little luck.  So we decided to hike that another day and went to see Apgar village and Lake McDonald.  We set up our mini chair on the shore and ate our lunch.  You really can see straight through the water to the colorful rocks.

Day 3:  This day was our biggest hike- 10 miles round trip. ICEBERG LAKE IS INCREDIBLE!!!! This is one of our favorite days and hikes.  Even though my feet were screaming on the way back it was all worth it.  We also saw our first bear on this trail- bear spray was not used or needed, we all minded our own business. The wind was also insane at the lake making it really cold. But who cares when you're in Glacier National Park!

 

(us being super proud of ourselves)

Day 4:  Eric's parents and his brothers family joined us for the rest of the trip. We drove Going To The Sun Road, stopping for some sight seeing and pictures.  The we hiked to Avalanche Lake and had some epic rock skipping.

Day 5:  My only, very small, regret this trip... not doing the Grinnell Glacier hike on day one.  It was by far our most strenuous hike and we did it on our last full day.  BUT the views on this hike were my absolute favorite!

And for our camping tent. I LOVE THIS THING.  I had some of the best nights of sleep ever.  

Don't let me fool you that the trip went 100% smoothly.  Each day around 3-4pm I was on the phone with the passport agency.  Cell service was really hard to find so that was a whole separate issue.  At the start of the trip I did not have a passport and we were supposed to be going to Canada on day 6.  On day 4 I found out my passport was delivered to MY FRONT door in Utah at 11am.  It had been sitting there for about four hours. My sister in law picked it up and UPS overnighted it to me.  I had a small window of time to pick it up Friday because the dingy, little post office of Babb, Montana has weird office hours and they were closed over the weekend.  MY PASSPORT WAS DELIVERED.  And it was onto Canada on Day 6!

See post all about Canada here