Lots of planning went into this trip by Eva Marie! She did a great job of finding out all of secrets to making the most of a short visit to Glacier National Park. You can't just arrive at the park and expect to be able to enter, you have to have a timed entry pass to get in!
July 13, 2025 Jacksonville to Kalispell
We had an afternoon flight from Jacksonville through Minneapolis arriving in Kalispell, Montana around mid-night. We took the shuttle from the airport to the Red Lion Hotel and went straight to bed.
July 14, 2025 Kalispell to Glacier National Park (Apgar Village, Going to the Sun Road, St. Mary Falls, Virginia Falls and Goat Lick Overlook)
We had breakfast at the Red Lion and then caught the shuttle to the airport to get our rental car. The desk clerk at the hotel loaned us 2 canisters of bear spray and Jim, our shuttle driver, gave us lots of tips.
We stopped at the Super 1 Foods for some essential supplies (think snacks & wine) before making our way to Apgar Visitors Center.
We got some advice about hikes from the ranger at the Visitors Center.
We walked the bike path to Apgar Village. We checked out the little museum and noted the difference between the pelts of black bears which are really brown and grizzlies.
There were lots of examples of other flora and fauna that could be found in the park. We learned about huckleberries which grow wild in the area.
We explored the village, checking out the shops and stopping for a photo at the base of Lake McDonald.
We had lunch at Eddie's Cafe. We tried one of the huckleberry drinks and had a taste of huckleberry ice cream.
We had a 1PM reservation to enter the park, but because traffic has been backed up we headed to the entrance around noon. There was no line so we were at the gate an hour early and expected to be turned away. Thankfully the guards took pity on us and waved us through.
We drove the Going to the Sun Road, a narrow winding road with a huge drop off and only a short rock wall to keep us from plunging down the mountain. The view of the mountains was breathtaking!
We passed Lake McDonald and drove on to Logan Pass. We tried to park at Logan Pass without success so we went on to the St. Mary Falls Trailhead. Parking was tough there too, but we managed to secure a spot and hiked to St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls.
We saw lots of wildlife (thankfully no bears). We saw snakes on the side of the trail, a moose in the lake, a deer at the waterfall, and some chipmunks and ground squirrels.
BJ and Rebecca bravely tried some wild berries that they thought were huckleberries but turned out to be sour and not sweet like the ones we had tasted in Apgar. Later we found some actual huckleberries growing along the trail that were sweet and tasted like blueberries.
It was a long windy drive to our hotel, the LOGE (Live Outside Go Explore). We stopped on the way to see Mountain Goats at Goat Lick Overlook.
Our quaint hotel was built in 1939 as lodging for railway workers. When we checked in, they asked us if we'd like a reservation for dinner. We thought that was funny because there didn't appear to be a crowd at the restaurant but we made a reservation anyway. Sure enough when we went downstairs for dinner, there was only one other family in the restaurant and it happened to be the cute little military family we had met on our hike.
We ordered the steak because we could smell it on the grill, but it was a bit of a disappointment. The wine selection was very limited so we brought our boxed wine down from the room to have with our dinner.
July 15, 2025 Glacier National Park (Bird Woman Falls, Logan Pass, Highline Trail, Hidden Lake, Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake)
We got up at 5 and were away from the hotel by 5:30 to get an early start to the day.
The weather report predicted 100% chance of rain and a wind chill of 26 degrees. We drove straight to Logan's Pass to make sure we got a parking spot. Given the weather, we needn't have worried. It was a VERY foggy cold morning.
We passed Bird Woman Falls on the way.
There was plenty of parking at Logan Pass. Hardly anyone was brave enough to come out on such a cold wet day.
Our first hike was the Highline Trail, a narrow trail on the side of a mountain with a rope to hold onto.
We saw some big horn sheep in the distance.
We had just rounded a corner when a big horn sheep came around behind us and almost butted Nancy off the trail! It seems we surprised the sheep by being on their trail. Another one was standing in the middle of the trail ahead of us, staring us down, so we decided to turn around.
On the way back, we spotted a warning about the big horn sheep!
Next we hiked to beautiful Hidden Lake. The wind was at our back so we didn't feel the cold wind and rain much.
On the hike back down, it was brutally cold! We were soaked to the bone by the time we got back to the visitors center. We sat in the car for awhile with the heat on high trying to get feeling back in our hands.
We headed to Trail of the Cedars Trailhead and got really lucky to get a parking spot right next to the trail. The weather had warmed significantly and the hike through the trees was pleasant.
We connected with the trail to Avalanche Lake. We ran into a Ranger who showed us where the 3 Floridians had fallen into the rapids and almost died.
Avalanche Lake was beautiful.
A Steller's Jay was hanging around enjoying part of a little boy's sandwich.
We headed to West Glacier Village for lunch. We first tried the Great Northern Railway Cafe which was in a railroad car, but when we saw their lunch special was PB&J, we decided to go elsewhere.
We ended up at Freda's. There wasn't much atmosphere but the sandwiches were good and we tried some of the local beers.
We met 2 guys that work for National Geographic. An American guy and a Chinese guy. US and China have an exchange program. They are going to Giant Panda Park next! They showed us some incredible video of grizzlies. They were impressed that we had hiked on such a raw bleak day!
The staff at the hotel again asked if we had a reservation for dinner. We did not, but they reluctantly seated us anyway in the near empty restaurant. We weren't very hungry so we just shared a few appetizers and a decadent dessert.
July 16, 2025 Glacier National Park (Many Glacier Hotel, Swiftcurrent Trail and Grinnell Lake)
We got up early and checked out of the hotel.
We had a >1 hour drive to St. Mary to meet Gilbert of Mountain Chief Cab Company. This was the only way to be able to hike the Grinnell Glacier Trail since we were unable to get hiker tickets. You can only get tickets the week before you want to hike and you have to be among the first people to apply for the tickets to get them. We had 3 of us trying and the instant they became available, they were gone!
Gilbert, from the Blackfeet Indian Tribe, told us stories of Indian lore as he drove the bumpy dirt road toward Many Glacier Lodge. He told us about Jealous Woman Lake, Percy Bullchild, Nopi, Mudman and Rib woman. Indian lore says man has more ribs on one side than the other.
When we got to Many Glacier Hotel, we admired the lake from the back of the hotel.
We checked to see if we could standby for the boat shuttle that would cut off a couple of miles of the hike but there was already a line so we decided to start the hike along Swiftcurrent Foot Trail.
Love was in the air among the birds along the trail!
Some of us were optimistic that we could make the >10 mile hike with an elevation gain of around 2000 feet but others were skeptical.
We were surprised at how uncrowded the trail was, given what we had heard about the popularity of the hike and the beautiful day.
There were beautiful views along the trail!
We took our time and stopped to rest a few times along the way. We drank plenty of water and snacked on a giant Snickers bar Rebecca had brought!
We did really well until we got to a place in the trail where we had to cross an active waterfall with a terrifying dropoff. It was at that point most of the group refused to go on!
When we turned around to head down, we discovered that the trail had become crowded and we frequently had to stand to the side to let folks pass on the narrow path.
We made it back to Many Glacier Lodge after completing a >8 mile round trip and had a wonderful lunch at the hotel restaurant.
Gilbert picked us up and took us back to our car in St. Mary.
On the way, we saw a long tail fox.
We took our last drive through the park on the Going to the Sun Road and saw more Big Horn Sheep and Goats.
We never saw any Grizzlies so we were able to return the borrowed bear spray to the Red Lion Inn.
We finished the rest of our snacks and wine and headed to bed for our early flight the next morning.
July 17, 2025 Kalispell to Jacksonville
At the Kalispell airport, we said goodbye to the only bear we saw on the trip and boarded our flight to Minneapolis and then to Jacksonville.
Another great trip with great friends!
