Glacier National Park, Montana
After a few weeks of back and forth on where to spend the PTO we both had already put into our work calendars, my fiancé and I finally decided on visiting Glacier National Park in the northwest region of Montana. Adam had never been to the American Northwest, and we agreed this would be an amazing place to spend some time outdoors.
We rented a cabin via Airbnb in Columbia Falls because we felt it would be a great midway location to the national park, as well as the neighboring towns of Kalispell and Whitefish.
Pros of going this time of year (early June) are less people and milder weather. A con is the weather can be more unpredictable. Apparently, this past winter wasn’t terrible, but a few weeks before our trip there was a lot of snow and bad weather that led them to close the Going to the Sun Road (more about this below). I also suggest not waiting until a few weeks out to plan your trip, because certain activities and lodging book well in advance.
Note: Usually I travel everywhere with my Canon 5D Mark IV camera and my various lenses, but my goal for this trip was to travel lighter and challenge myself to take photos with a point and shoot. A day before our trip, I received the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZS100 digital camera in the mail - 90% of the photos in this blog post were taken with this camera, the others with an iPhone. Admittedly, I also took my film camera, but when I switched out the batteries, the camera caused the film to be sucked back into the canister (such a bummer, but such is life).
First Day: Wednesday, June 5
There are no direct flights from Miami (MIA) to Glacier Park International Airport (FCA). We had one layover each way and chose the earliest flight possible with American Airlines, so we could enjoy as much of our time as possible in Montana. We each had enough points on our credit cards to book these one-way tickets. And the return flights were purchased separately through United.
We almost missed our connecting flight in Dallas due to a delay, but thankfully we didn’t. And once we landed in FCA, around 12:00 PM MST, we walked over to the car rental trailers, and picked up our rental vehicle from National. Over the last 5 years, I’ve become a National girly. My favorite perk is the Bypass the Counter option they offer, where you literally don’t need to talk to anyone - you simply choose a car from the designated lot and leave (you do have to show your license, credit card, and reservation when you’re driving out of the car rental facility). Unfortunately, this perk is not available at FCA, but the process didn’t take too long. We ended up with a white 2023 Honda HR-V LX (suitable for the conditions at the time).
Our first stop in Montana was Bias Brewing in the town of Kalispell. It popped up as a popular spot on Google - although, honestly, we weren’t all that impressed. We did go in the middle of the day and I’m sure it’s more fun at night, but the food wasn’t great and the beers we got in our flights weren’t that great either. We would definitely skip this if we ever go again.
After lunch, we visited The Toggery, a cute clothing shop geared towards the outdoors. I bought a new pair of Smartwool Hiking crew socks, that I ended up wearing all weekend instead of the pairs I packed. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having a good pair of socks when you’re hiking.
After a little shopping, we grabbed some delicious, yet strong, coffees at Ceres Bakery. Adam had a Huckleberry Bun (more on the huckleberry craze later) and I enjoyed a delicious chocolate croissant.
Since we had some time to kill before we could check into our cabin - we drove around and stopped by the Conrad Mansion. You can pay $15/adult to do a self-guided tour or pay $20/adult to do a guided tour - we decided to just peruse around the parameter of the building. It’s well-maintained and a beautiful place to enjoy - I’m sure touring the inside is worth it, if you have the time!
After the mansion, we randomly stopped by Herron Park (apparently this park is Montana’s only public horse park - we had no idea!). We did an easy in-and-out hike on the Family Trail (~2.9 miles).
At this point, we were ready to go check into the Airbnb. Thankfully, I downloaded an offline map of the entire region of Montana we were going to be in because service can be spotty - my phone was in SOS mode a lot. The drive through Columbia Falls was scenic, as our cabin is on the way towards Glacier National Park. And the cabin itself was quaint and more than enough space for 2 adults - there were two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It had a porch that wrapped around the back of the house overlooking a small lake. The owners kept a hummingbird feeder hanging near the back door - and let me tell you, that thing kept me entertained every night! Every time we stepped outside, hummingbirds would zoom into the vicinity - they’re tiny, but boy is their humming loud. We saw 2-3 different species, to include the Rufous Hummingbird (seen in Video) and Calliope Hummingbird.
After we settled our things in the cabin, we headed to dinner at Jalisco Cantina. We cannot say enough good things about this place - it has such an eclectic, cozy, southwestern vibe and delicious food. Adam enjoyed a carne asada burrito and I had the camarones (shrimp) tacos on corn tortillas. We didn’t end up getting cocktails because we knew we’d need to be up bright and early the next day. However, the options looked delicious.
***Fun fact: I had NO IDEA that the sun sets well after 9:30PM MST in this part of the country. And true midnight is not until around 1:30AM MST.***
Second Day: Thursday, June 6
We woke up at 5:00 AM MST to a crisp 37°F - thankfully, we were prepared for this level of cold. We headed to the west entrance of Glacier Park between 5:30-5:40 AM and got to the park entrance right at 6:00 AM, so we never needed to use our vehicle registration ticket this day (which Adam hawked for during our dinner, since registration always opens up at 7:00 PM the evening before).
We found prime parking right in front of the Avalanche Picnic Area and started our trek to the Avalanche Lake Trailhead by way of the Trail of Cedars Loop around 6:30 AM.
I’ll be completely honest, leading up to this trip, I had a lot of bear anxiety. I had trouble sleeping the night before because all I could think about was what I would do if we encountered a bear. After all these years hiking, I’ve never had this worry and let me tell you, seeing ‘WARNING: Bear Frequenting Area - Grizzly in area. Carry Bear Spray’ on the trailhead sign did not make me feel any better. Thankfully, there were two smaller groups starting the trail around the same time as us, and I asked Adam if we could stay relatively in close distance to them. Also, we each always had bear spray on us. I do not recommend hiking anywhere without bear spray.
The forest was serene at this time of morning - you could see the morning sun kissing the tips of the mountain peaks and causing the snow to reflect back so brightly it was difficult for our eyes to readjust as we proceeded forward in our hike.
About a mile out from the lake, we noticed a few hikers heading back down with their bear spray in hand - apparently they had seen a bear across the lake. Woof… the group near us decided to wait back, however, we proceeded forward. We ended up on the the northwestern end of the lake and the view was breathtaking. We didn’t end up walking the additional half-mile to the south end of the lake because we felt where we were had the best view. We took some photos, admired the stillness of the morning air, and really took in the roaring sound of the waterfalls that were ahead on the mountain peaks.
Descending from this trail was pretty incredible - the way the sun was slowly starting to peek through the tall trees created such an ethereal effect that was impossible to catch on camera - the forest ahead of us was starting to become lit with the morning sun and the half behind us was still that blue hint of dawn. The only wildlife we saw on this trail were some mule deer - it seemed that they were fairly used to seeing humans, one deer in particular walked parallel to us for a quarter of a mile.
Once we got back to the Avalanche Lake trailhead, I felt like I could breathe easier, knowing we hadn’t seen any bears. At this point, we decided to finish off the Trail of Cedars Loop and head back to the picnic area. We enjoyed our sandwiches at 9:20 AM on a bench and then made our way down to the Johns Lake Trail. Unfortunately, we could not proceed further north on Going to the Sun Road. Avalanche Lake was the furthest point you could go from the West entrance due to weather closures. Generally, you are able to take Going to the Sun Road from one entrance of the park all the way to the other entrance.
Screenshot of Going to the Sun Road closure in June 2024 due to weather
When we started to ascend the Johns Lake Trail, we noticed that the full loop was closed, so we walked to the lake and then returned to the car - I don’t think this trail is worth doing stand-alone. Truthfully, the lake wasn’t all that exciting.
As we started our descent out of the park, we stopped at a couple of lookout points over Lake McDonald - the views were pretty epic.
Before heading completely out of the park, we spent some time perusing the gifts shops in West Glacier Village. We both bought souvenirs from both the West Glacier Camp Store and the West Glacier Gifts Store. There were a lot of children there enjoying pizza and ice cream. They even have a mini golf place there called “Golfing to the Sun” (adorable).
For lunch, we headed to Moose’s Saloon in Kalispell - we LOVED this place. It exceeded our expectations of a saloon - although I’m not sure we actually had any expectations. Firstly, we entered from the exit (don’t do that - the entrance is next to the parking lot, and doesn’t run along the main street). Second, it’s so dark in there, it took our eyes minutes to adjust from how bright it was outside. Third thing, God only knows what was all over the floor - I wasn’t sure if I was in a bar or a barn, ultimately it just contributed to the ambiance of the place. We decided to sit at the bar - the bartender was super friendly and informed us if we wanted food, we needed to order directly from the kitchen window. We both ordered our own 10” pizzas (every pizza is a personal pizza, if you just believe) and some ice cold beers. The pizza was excellent! Or we were just starving after a morning of activity. Either way, we gave this place 5 stars and said a few times we would go back.
After lunch, we headed back to the cabin - I enjoyed some more hummingbird activities, we then freshened up and headed to dinner in Whitefish. We chose an Italian restaurant called Abruzzo Italian Kitchen - Adam got the Chicken & Mushroom Rigatoni and I ordered the Wild Boar Ragu. We both enjoyed our meal with a glass of wine and then shared a delicious chocolate mousse dessert. We really enjoyed the ambiance of the place, although one should note they have an early closing time (between 9-9:30PM). We left right at their closing time to head back to the cabin, as we had another early morning ahead.
Third Day: Friday, June 7
Friday was the last day we would spend in Glacier National Park - and eventful it was.
We woke up relatively early, around 7:00 AM, and started the 2 hour drive to the East Glacier entrance, specifically to get to Saint Mary Lake for a boat tour through Glacier Park Boats. Because we arrived earlier than needed (they recommend arriving 30 minutes early), we were able to take our time getting to the lake and stopping to enjoy the views of East Glacier along the way.
The boat tour itself was wonderful! Although it was on the colder side, especially being on the water, the views were worth the chill. We learned a lot about the Saint Mary region part of the park - we were shown one of the last six active glaciers in the national park (there used to be well over 150!), we were told the legend of Sour Spirit and the Blackfeet Indians and how “Going to the Sun Road” got its name, and we learned about some of the major fires that occurred in the last 10 years that impacted the park.
The boat makes one stop during the tour. We were dropped off at a dock and told we had 15 minutes to go explore Baring Falls, which is along the Baring Falls Trail (it can be accessed via the Piegan Pass) . As we were making our way back to the boat, we saw a group of people gawking and pointed up the trail (away from the waterfall). There was a momma Grizzly Bear with three of her cubs. Holy cow! What a sight it was. Thankfully, we were a safe distance away from the bears, but it was still surreal to know we were looking at wild bears. We learned a couple things from one of the guides on the boat tour: 1) cubs are one of the leading reasons humans get attacked, 2) the hump on a Grizzly Bears back is actually an over-used muscle because from a young age, they dig into the ground, scavenging for food (like squirrel nests), and this causes the muscle to overgrow, and 3) always be sure to make noise when on a trail because most other attacks occur when a bear gets surprised by a human.
When the boat returned back to the dock at the parking lot, we sat in the car and ate our leftover pizza from Moose’s Saloon, had some snacks and then headed to the furthest end of Going to the Sun Road we could go on the East side of the park.
On the way up to Jackson Glacier Lookout, we saw a few cars stopped and people taking photos from the side of the road. Across a pond, we saw a large adolescent Grizzly Bear. A park ranger was there and told us that the bear had killed a moose calf the night before and that’s what he was standing over. We continued to the lookout and spent some time enjoying the mountain air and taking in the view. We almost started on a trail, but quickly realized we left our bear spray in the car. We unfortunately could not proceed further up Going to the Sun Road from this point, again, due to weather conditions.
On our descent out of the park, we decided to stop and hike the St. Mary Lake Trail via the Piegan Pass - at this point, my bear anxiety was through the roof. We had just seen FIVE grizzly bears in a matter of TWO hours. I was super uneasy the whole hike, especially since this trail connects to the Baring Falls trail, where we had seen the momma bear and her cubs. My goal was to get to Virginia Falls and to get back to the car ASAP (sorry Adam!).
After we got back to the car, we decided it was time to leave the park to head to Many Glacier. About halfway down the road to the park entrance, we saw another group of people and cars stopped on the side of the road, and briefly saw an additional momma Grizzly and her two cubs.
Prior to our trip, I saw a Reddit comment that suggested checking out the Many Glacier Hotel. We made the 45 minute drive north to check it out. And we are so glad we did - although a part of the road is unfinished (lots of dust and rocks), it was so worth it. The property the hotel sits on boasts the most beautiful view of Swiftcurrent Lake and the Lewis mountain range. We grabbed some beers and sat out on the back deck overlooking the lake and watching the Swifts fly around the property before heading back west around 4:30 PM.
Apparently, this hotel books out A YEAR in advance - so, if you want to lodge here and enjoy these gorgeous views, make sure to start looking as early as possible.
We decided to have dinner closer to the cabin this night, since we hadn’t spent much time in Columbia Falls - Adam chose Gunsight Saloon. Similar to Moose’s Saloon, you had to go order food and seat yourself. The indoor bar was closed, so we had to go to the backyard bar for drinks. They had live music playing and ample benches to sit and eat dinner - we opted to grab a comfy booth inside.
Fourth Day: Saturday, June 8
This day was our last full, yet, “chill day” - I’d argue that even if we didn’t wake up AS early as the other days, we actually still did quite a bit of exploring.
Our day started in Whitefish, with breakfast at Loula’s Cafe, around 8:00AM. This place is the definition of an iconic, breakfast joint. The food is classic, the coffee refills never end, and they move people in and out of there so fast, you don’t have time to say “more huckleberry pie, please”. All jokes aside, everything was great, it’s just a busy place, and we recommend going as early as possible to ensure a reduced wait time.
After breakfast, we walked into almost every shop that was open along Central Avenue. We learned about Montana Sapphires, the fact it can get down to -50°F in the winter, and saw $14,000 paintings done by prolific painters. Real talk, as a lover of birds (especially those that are predatorial), I fell deeply in love with this Raptor Roost painting in the For Fine Art store.
After contemplating how we can make that much money on art, we decided it was time for a little coffee. We stopped into the animated Fleur Bake Shop and enjoyed some strong Iced Espressos called ‘The Levi’. Fleur had some tasty-looking pastry options, but we opted out of trying any. We people watched for a bit before making our way over to Blackstar to grab some cold beers with a mountain view.
A little after 1:00PM, we made our way to Kalispell where we did some additional shopping. Adam had his eyes on a Montana shaped trucker hat from our first visit to The Toggery - and you know what they say - “if you can’t stop thinking about it, buy it” (source: me).
Proudly sporting his new merch, we walked to the Montana Club for some lunch. Adam enjoyed a locally sourced bison burger and I got a robust, crunchy salad.
We spent the later part of the evening in Coram, where we each got a whiskey flight at Glacier Distilling Company and then stopped into Huckleberry Patch for some treats and gifts. Earlier, I said I would share more about the huckleberry craze this state has - apparently, it can only grow in certain areas of the Pacific Northwest. Huckleberry can only grow at higher elevations, where the soil is acidic (frequently in areas burned by wildfire), and their season of growth is very short (lasting all of two months, August-September).
To top the night off, we went back home and enjoyed some red wine while watching the hummingbirds and headed into town to have a final dinner, again, at Gunsight Saloon - we continued the huckleberry theme here and ordered the huckleberry bourbon barbecue chicken wings and sweet potato fries for dinner - finger lickin’ good!
Fifth Day: Sunday, June 9
Since our flight out of Montana was at 6:30 AM, we had an early wake up call. We headed to the airport, where we returned the rental car and hung-out in the airport before our flight. FCA is such a tiny, yet, beautiful airport - there are only 7 gates. I always thought nothing could beat the Jackson Hole airport, but once they’re done with renovations at FCA, it will be hard to top. They have a beautiful seating area with a dual-sided fireplace, and floor to ceiling glass windows that give you a mountain view.
We absolutely loved this trip and would love to visit again.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS/TLDR
How was the weather in early June?
The weather in town was on the warmer side. Glacier National Park was always about 20 degrees cooler. Otherwise, It was perfect weather when properly dressed.
Where did you stay?
In a cabin in Columbia Falls via Airbnb
Did you rent a car?
Absolutely, this trip would not have been possible without a car - my go to car rental company is National Car Rental
What did you do?
Conrad Mansion
Herron Park
Family Trail
Glacier National Park
West Glacier:
Avalanche Lake Trail
Trail of Cedars Loop
Johns Lake Trail
Overlooks of Lake McDonald
Shopping in West Glacier Village
East Glacier:
Baring Falls by way of Boat Tour
Virginia Falls by way of St. Mary Lake Trail
Many Glacier Hotel
Where did you eat/drink?
Abruzzo Italian Kitchen
Bias Brewing
Blackstar Brewpub
Ceres Bakery
Fleur Bake Shop
Glacier Distilling Company
Gunsight Saloon
Jalisco Cantina
Loula’s Cafe
Many Glacier Hotel
Montana Club
Moose’s Saloon
What did you pack?
Columbia Women's Newton Ridge Plus Waterproof Amped Hiking Boots
2 pairs of Hiking Socks (+ the third pair I bought at The Toggery)
2 pairs of Darn Tough Hiker Micro Crew Socks - Women's
Leggings
Lululemon
Nike Gloves
Sports Bras
A few pairs of low-support bras from Fabletics & Lululemon (some old, some new)
2 Sweatshirts - mostly wore in the evenings in the condo.
Patagonia Torrentshell 3L Jacket - Women's (black) - came in handy for windier days
MPG Sweatshirt for layering for earlier, colder morning hikes
Adidas Sneakers
A pair of jeans and cute top
An UnderArmour backpack, it always had the following:
A small bottle of Advil Dual-Action - as someone who suffers from migraines, I always have some on me
Blistex - HIGHLY recommend; especially if your lips chap easy
Bear Spray - we bought a bottle from the grocery store and our Airbnb provided an additional bottle