Tremors in Glacier NP - 08/2022

[Bill]

We are wrapping up our 2 weeks @ Glacier National Park and along the way we saw a lot of other Tremors.

We stayed just outside the West Entrance @ Glacier Campground. It was a great little spot with wooded sites (no Starlink this trip) and a really tasty restaurant, The Sunflower Cafe, open Wed-Sunday for Breakfast 7-1pm and then again from 5-9 for BBQ. And at $60/night it was a steal … the only caveat, no sewer hookups. But they do have a dump station and a pump truck ($25).

We hiked, biked, swam, paddle boarded and drove around … and got some great memories, pictures and videos to take along with us.

This marks almost 6 months on the road full time, and 1 year of owning our rig. Next major adventure as we head west is the Pacific Coast Highway.

Enjother some pictures and I’ll post a link to some of the videos and a write up my wife did with some tips for visiting the area.

 

[Bill]

My wife’s write up on the park and some tips:

We just wrapped up two weeks at Glacier National Park. This place is stunning and should be on everyone’s list!

For those of you planning to visit before the season is over, we wanted to sum up how the whole Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTTSR) pass works since the park’s website can seem a bit confusing. We stayed in West Glacier, so my focus will be on that.

You will need a Going-to-the-Sun Road pass if you are entering the park from West Glacier via car or motorcycle between 6am-4pm. One pass per vehicle. This is to enter the park at all - whether you plan to drive the entire GTTSR or just visit some of the spots on the west side.

The pass is $2 and this is in addition to your park entrance fee (or annual park pass). The pass gets you admittance to the park for 3 days. These are purchased online, typically 6 months in advance, but they do open up a portion the day before at 8am MT. Both ways, they sell out FAST - within minutes. Their website also usually gets bogged down with everyone online. I recommend having at least two people online ready to go when it opens for your best chance. We had one pass we purchased 6 months ago and then snagged another one the day before to extend our time there.

If you do not have a pass, don’t worry! You can still make this work and see so much! Anyone can enter the park after 4pm (with or without a pass). Usual park fees still apply. And since it doesn’t get dark until after 9:30pm, that still leaves plenty of time to explore.

You can also enter the park before 6am without a pass. This is a given at the East entrance. It is NOT a given at the West entrance although we saw plenty of people swing it. This is due to construction on the road near the West side. See next bullet.

The GTTSR is closed from 10pm to 6am every night on the West side for construction near Lake McDonald. So plan accordingly when exiting the park.

The GTTSR has restrictions on vehicle size. Our F250 Tremor did just fine. Sure, it’s narrow in plenty of parts but it was never problematic. Tight around some corners when faced with a vehicle of equal size, but we never felt at-risk. I’d recommend switching drivers on the way back out so everyone can fully appreciate the views and the fun it is to drive the GTTSR.

If you plan to do any of the popular hikes, you MUST get through the gate when it opens at 6am. The parking for these popular areas fills up quickly. This is especially true for parking at Logan Pass. We entered the park at 6am, reached Logan Pass at 7:10ish and snagged one of the last spots. After that, it seemed like people were forever circling the parking lot and it never let up.

If you’re planning to sight-see and just drive the road, don’t go first thing at 6am. There’s no need. Let everyone else whose trying to get to a hike go, and then plan to head in around 8/9am. Otherwise, you might feel like people are rushing you along.

As for hiking, our favorites were Highline, Avalanche Lake (via Trail of the Cedars), and Hidden Lake. Apgar Bike Trail is also a nice paved bike path that you can hook into some gravel roads and single track up to Fish Creek. There are nice paved bike paths along Hwy 2 that you can ride your bike right into the park if you’re camping outside it like we did.

There are free and paid shuttle options although we didn’t utilize these. I can say for the free one, you should build in plenty of time for waiting. The buses can only accommodate 15-20 people at a time.

The vehicle lines to get in the park might feel a bit like Disney World. But don’t let that deter you. Once through the gate, traffic opens up and you aren’t in bumper to bumper traffic. There are pull offs all along the road where you can stop to take it all in.

While this might all sound like a bit of a hassle, it really wasn’t. It is worth EVERY bit of effort to see this gorgeous place. Absolutely breathtaking!

 

[Bill]

Videos:

Driving Going-to-the-Sun Road

Hiking Highline Trail

 

[catastrofe]

Thank you for sharing!

 

[Potato Wilson]

Awesome pictures, very inspirational. Thanks for sharing. On the bucket list…

 

[MTelkman]

You were in my backyard and it is a beautiful place! Thanks for sharing.

 

[AppStateDDS]

Was there way back in 2005. Loved every bit of it!

Want to take my wife and daughter there sometime soon.

Thank you for this write-up!

 

[slowninja14]

We lived in Great Falls for 6 years when I was a kid. In those 6 years, we went to Glacier 13 times, and Yellowstone once.... I always tell people who are going to Yellowstone that it is a GREAT place to visit on your way to Glacier!

 

[6seven]

We are wrapping up our 2 weeks @ Glacier National Park and along the way we saw a lot of other Tremors.

We stayed just outside the West Entrance @ Glacier Campground. It was a great little spot with wooded sites (no Starlink this trip) and a really tasty restaurant, The Sunflower Cafe, open Wed-Sunday for Breakfast 7-1pm and then again from 5-9 for BBQ. And at $60/night it was a steal … the only caveat, no sewer hookups. But they do have a dump station and a pump truck ($25).

We hiked, biked, swam, paddle boarded and drove around … and got some great memories, pictures and videos to take along with us.

This marks almost 6 months on the road full time, and 1 year of owning our rig. Next major adventure as we head west is the Pacific Coast Highway.

Enjother some pictures and I’ll post a link to some of the videos and a write up my wife did with some tips for visiting the area.

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If you were there around july 20th one of those tremors would’ve been mine. We came from great falls where we were visiting my sister in law. We entered from east glacier and took the going to the sun road..absolutely beautiful there.

Ran into this though. 25 ft from us with 3 baby Cubs. 10mm was back in the truck and my bear spray was on my paddleboard in my dry bag on the other side of momma bear. Luckily she was just in the mood to get her babies out of there and continued on

 

[Bill]

If you were there around july 20th one of those tremors would’ve been mine. We came from great falls where we were visiting my sister in law. We entered from east glacier and took the going to the sun road..absolutely beautiful there.

Ran into this though. 25 ft from us with 3 baby Cubs. 10mm was back in the truck and my bear spray was on my paddleboard in my dry bag on the other side of momma bear. Luckily she was just in the mood to get her babies out of there and continued on

We were there from July 31 to August 13, so just missed you.

We ended up with a black bear coming right up behind our camper in our campground. The picture isn’t the best, it sort of took us by surprise.

 

[6seven]

It’s crazy how common it is to see a bear there. When we went some areas of glacier were shutdown because of too much bear activity

 

[DDD]

It’s where they live! Growing up in Great Falls, and having been to Glacier more times than I can count, I can assure you any problems that arise between humans and bears, grizzly or black, aren’t caused by too much bear activity but too much human activity.

 

[6seven]

It’s where they live! Growing up in Great Falls, and having been to Glacier more times than I can count, I can assure you any problems that arise between humans and bears, grizzly or black, aren’t caused by too much bear activity but too much human activity.

sure if you’re talking to bears but this is a forum of humans communicating. Talk to the people that work there..they are the ones who put up the signs that said “bear activity”...it would be a bit weird if they put up a sign that said too much “human activity”...unless bears were reading it

 

[DDD]

Gotcha. The NPS probably doesn’t know bear language either! Before interstate highways and when the USA had a huge middle class, no one knew or seemed to care where Montana was. Now we have a huge upper class, increased mobility, and double or maybe triple the population than when I grew up there. So it figures we have to protect ourselves from the wildness of places like Glacier! Just a bit sorry to see the good places overrun by folks like us, but it’s happening everywhere, eh?

 

[6seven]

Gotcha. The NPS probably doesn’t know bear language either! Before interstate highways and when the USA had a huge middle class, no one knew or seemed to care where Montana was. Now we have a huge upper class, increased mobility, and double or maybe triple the population than when I grew up there. So it figures we have to protect ourselves from the wildness of places like Glacier! Just a bit sorry to see the good places overrun by folks like us, but it’s happening everywhere, eh?

Yeah I’m from oregon...people used to not know where it was on the map now thanks to portland it’s being overrun

 

[DDD]

Happening everywhere. People working remotely with seemingly unlimited amounts of money are having a re-migration. Spokane area, where I’m at, has boomed as well as other places. Now everyone’s whining about homelessness and crime. It’s what naturally seems to follow growth and development. I certainly love Eastern OR. My sister settled in Portland after college and never left. But I know what you mean. Nothing can be done about it, unfortunately.