Glacier National Park (162)

This is the second post about our 3,800 mile adventure to Seattle, Glacier National Park, Devils Mountain, Mount Rushmore, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Salt Lake City.

We left for Glacier National Park from the Seattle area in mid-June.

Travel to Glacier

You know you are in the wild when the only overpass was built for wildlife.

We stayed at Moses Lake in Eastern Washington the first night,

Then in Sandpoint, on the Idaho Panhandle the second night. We loved the Canola fields, which were all in bloom turning the landscape yellow.

This route also allowed us to get off the interstate on less traveled roads for the rest of our travel east. When on these roads the sky just seems to open up in front of you and makes for a nice journey. They also seemed to be in much better shape than the Interstates!

West Glacier KOA

The West Glacier KOA is about a mile off Highway 2 up a small hill.

It’s a very beautiful campground, by far the best KOA we had stayed at. The sites are large, the grounds impeccably maintained…

…but we had to put up with this view for 2 weeks! 🙂

There are paved bike paths right across from the campground that will take you to Hungry Horse to the West, or all the way into Glacier National Park to the right. The only caveat is that there are some pretty steep hills to navigate. If you don’t do steep hills, renting an electric bike could be a way to ride a bike in the area.

The campground has plenty of amenities, which we enjoyed several times after a day in the park. The restaurant has really good food, and I recommend the grilled salmon and grilled chicken.

For dessert there is locally made ice cream,

And every evening, there is live music in the beer garden! it’s a really nice way to spend the evening.

Our only issue with the park was lack of cell coverage. However, they were in the process of installing state of the art Wi-Fi throughout the park, which will help with that next season.

Lake MacDonald Area

Near West Glacier is the western entrance to Glacier National Park. Note you have to have a car pass on recreation.gov to get into the park between 6am to 2pm. We went in the park about 8am each day, and never waiting in line more than 5 cars deep at the entrance, though I’ve read horror stories about long lines and no parking. Thankfully that was not the case for us.

Also note that the Going to the Sun Road, the main reason people come to the park, is closed going up to Logan Pass until into July some years. Luckily for us, the pass was opened the week before we arrived so we had full access to the road.

Apgar has the visitor center, which is always crowded, a campground, and a little village where you can eat, get supplies, or rent a kayak.

We enjoyed walking through the area and spending a little time on the beach. You can see all the way across the lake to the mountains on the other side.

There is also a small nature center in Apgar thats really worth a visit. They have furs and skulls and antlers from many of the animals in the park that you are encouraged to touch and hold. I had no idea how heavy the horns of a Bighorn Sheep are! It gave me a new respect for them!

Towards the other end of the lake, about 9 miles away, is Lake MacDonald Lodge.

It’s an historic building built in the early 1900’s by the railroad to encourage travel to the area by rail. Of course there was no road here when it was first built and you had to travel here by boat. More on that later!

All of these historic park lodges were built with amazing lobbies that make you want to spend a little time in, either with friends around a table, or with a good book by the fireplace.

Note the great art work on the walls.

These pictures were created to inspire visitors to the park. Amazingly, it looks pretty much the same now as it did then!

Note the inscription on the painting says “See America First”. That was the slogan used by the railway to get tourists to visit here rather than Europe. I think it worked! I tried to find a shirt with that motto, but there were none to be found. A missed opportunity by the National Park Service, in my opinion.

Since you arrived by boat when the lodge was built, the “front” actually faces the lake.

It’s a short walk to the boat dock. We’ll be taking the larger boat on a tour of the lake the following day. These boats were commissioned about 100 years ago and are still in service.

The weather towards the pass was pretty overcast the day we were at the lodge…

…but what a difference a day makes! Wow, the weather was clear and sunny for our boat tour.

The lake is V-shaped, and over 600 feet deep in the middle.

We went to the other side of the lake where some private homes were grandfathered in when the lake became part of the National Park. Many are newer as there was a terrible fire several years ago that burned most of that side of the lake.

The other side of the lake gave a great view of the mountains to the east of us! The water was like glass with only the ripples made by the boat visible.

It made us excited to be driving up to Logan pass in the next few days. Ok, this is my favorite photo in Glacier!

We were also excited because we would be exploring the Going to the Sun Road in one of the original Red Cars, built in the 1930’s for touring Glacier National Park.

But we felt like exploring a little further up the road. We went on a nice hike called the Trail of the Cedars.

At Red Rock Point we watched some crazy kids jump into the ice cold water! I mean, the water was part of a glacier not too long ago!!

We also stopped at Upper MacDonald Creek to view the ice cold water cascade through the rock.

We had worked up quite an appetite, so after cleaning up back at the camp, we treated ourselves to a very nice dinner at another historic lodge, the Belton Chalet. Belton Chalet was actually the first of the lodges built by the railroad in this area.

The food and atmosphere was perfect.

We enjoyed a walk through the grounds after, and a visit to the National Park Foundation in the Amtrak building across the street.

For my next post, we will take a Red Car tour to the top of Logan Pass, and visit Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier. Built in 1913 with massive tree trunks holding up the massive lobby, I really enjoyed wandering through the hotel.

Glacier National Park – Going to the Sun Road