Glacier National Park

The drive over to Glacier was stunning. We had a couple road days and overnights in Mose Lake, Washington and then Bonners Ferry, Idaho. We took highway 2 into Montana to West Glacier and that road is definitely the most scenic ride we have had so far. I don't know why we didn't think much of Idaho before, but it sure is beautiful. Below are a few photos of our road days before hitting West Glacier. Just a quick disclaimer-*We have a LOT of photos from Glacier. 😉

We arrived to West Glacier on Wednesday afternoon. We stayed at West Glacier RV Park right outside the park gate. It was very convenient and was really nice with spacious sites, nice amenities and beautiful mountain views. We were excited to check out the park, so we headed in Wednesday evening right after we got settled. The Going to the Sun road, which is the main road in Glacier, was only open 16 miles of the 50 mile road. This was due to the amount snow, ice and avalanche risk along the remainder of the road. They were still working on clearing the roads, which we found out is pretty late in the season from previous years. This park also requires a reservation to enter the park from 8am-4pm. ( random tip- all the national park have different rules and setups with reservations now. Some require them, some don't. Some you have to reserve weeks in advance, some the day before. It's a little confusing, so, make sure to check the nps.gov site for those details if you are planning a trip. ) One of the things I was most excited to see on this trip was Lake McDonald, and fortunately that was before the road closure. It did not disappoint. 😍 We made a few stops to walk down to the lake, drove through until the road was closed and stopped at different view points along the way. Glacier was off to a great start.

After we got back from the park we took our bikes to the bar. Super convenient, and Dean was very excited about this. lol ! We had a couple local brews and chatted with the bartender and a few others at the bar. We met Adrianne who was visiting Glacier for a couple days by herself before she had a conference to attend at the University of Montana. We invited her to join us the next day for a hike so she wouldn't be by herself.

See below my attempt to record the ride back from the bar on my bike after a few drinks. You get the idea. 🤣

Thursday we could not go into the park until after 4pm since we did not have reservations, but it worked out. I worked all day, then we picked up Adrianne and headed into the park and hiked to Avalanche Lake. It was an awesome hike and the views at the lake were 🤩.

Friday afternoon we had an e-bike, guided tour scheduled for the afternoon. It had been raining all the night before and all morning, but we lucked out that the rained stopped for the few hours we were on the tour. Our guides, Jason and Tom were awesome. The e-bike ride started from where the Going to the Sun road was still closed to cars, and we were able to take it up 8 miles and back. It was SO cool and a great way to see the park and learn a lot from our guides. It was the first time Dean and I rode e-bikes. I felt a little like we were cheating when we were riding along the road with that battery assist, but as soon as we started to go up the 6 mile incline up the mountain- nope, definitely didn't feel bad about it. Totally worth it! 😆 We both agree that maybe we need them now. 🤔

Saturday it was still raining and was scheduled to rain all day in West Glacier .We decided to take a ride over to East Glacier for the day and check it out. It rained most the day, but it let up right when we were doing a couple hikes. That evening we went to a locals bar in town that our e-bike guides told us about. We watched the hockey game and chatted with some locals. We met Lee who is a full-timer and avid hiker. He has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail among many others. We really enjoyed talking with him. Hey Lee, Dean is convinced he wants to do a backpacking trip with you- so, stay in touch! 😉

Our last day we were going to explore the North Fork section of the park, but once we got to that gate we found out that you need a separate reservation for that road. Oops.

So, we turned around and took a dirt road that leads ALL the way to the Canadian border. It was only about 30 miles but on that muddy, windy road through the middle of nowhere, it seemed like it took forever. Right when we were questioning whether it was actually worth it, we stumbled across a meadow all to ourselves that had the most spectacular views. Conveniently, the sun came out right when we got there. We took advantage of that, and had our own little photoshoot. 😆 Dean's truck was officially dirtier than it ever was. Worth it! On our way back down the road we met Doug and his dog Whiskey. He has lived along that road most months out of the year since the late 80's. He told us a lot about the history of that area, and some of his stories. We really enjoyed meeting and chatting with him. He told us to come back next time and visit with him. We just might have to take him up on that. ( Dean will bring the Moosehead, Doug!)

We really enjoyed our time at Glacier and will definitely be back!