Glacier National Park- West Glacier

Before heading to glacier national Park I was very unsure about how the park was laid out. Our first minutes after setting up camp we ran over to the visitor center to get our traditional national park sticker as well as a map and newspaper with recommended hikes. The park is set up with one main road going straight through the park from West Glacier to St. Mary’s. This is the famous “going to the sun road”. To access this road, you need a pass and there are some vehicle size restrictions. Our pass was good for three consecutive days on the “Going to the Sun Road.” Off of this road there are plenty of opportunities for hiking and camping.

There is a section on the southern in called “two medicine” and another section on the eastern side above St. Mary’s called “many glacier”.

We had decided to park our camper on the Eastside in Saint Marys just minutes from the Saint Marys entrance. Not wanting to move our camper mid week we are pretty happy with our decision to be on the eastern side as it also gives us better access to the Canadian portion of the park, Waterton lakes national park.

With six full days available to explore, we decided to drive through and see the west side of glacier on our first day. There are some pretty relaxed fishing rules in glacier and so Jonathan decided to try his hand on a few of the fishing friendly rivers.

At the Lake McDonald Lodge you can sign up for the boat tour of the lake or rent kayaks and paddle boards. We opted to rent a small motorized boat and did our own tour. Along the west shore of the lake we saw 2 bald eagles and golden eagle as well as scores of large lake trout and a few deer along the edge of the water. At $30 an hour we felt it was a bargain for the amazing views of the mountains and a water adventure.

As we headed back over Logan's Pass, we stopped in and were rewarded with Big Horn Sheep wandering around. And as we made our way back towards the park exit we were able to catch the bears on the hills above St. Mary Lake.