Glacier NP Must See Recommendations

[bignslow]

Edit 8/9/15 - Adding some mid-trip answers to my own question

Hi Everyone,

Planning a trip to Glacier in a few weeks and I have a few questions:

1) Is there anything that is a "must see" that is a little off the beaten path? We currently have the following hikes scheduled:
* Siyeh Pass
* Garden Wall
* Iceburg Lake
* Grinnell Glacier
* Ptarmigan Tunnel
* Swiftcurrent Mountain

We ended up doing the following (in my order of preference):
* Ptarmigan Tunnel and Iceberg Lake (~16 miles & 2500') - Be sure to hike beyond the tunnel to get some spectacular views
* Avalanche Lake (~10 miles, 500') - added a herd path hike into the cirque above the lake
* Highline, Garden Wall, Swiftcurrent Mountain, Grinnell overlook (~22 miles, ?? gain) - Unfortunately we did this on a day with a smoke warning so our views were cut short, but it was still fun. Note that while there is a hut, they don't provide water.
* Grinnell Glacier - Took the boats on the way in (for the tourist effect), got rained on, so it dampened views
* Kintla Lake - This was nice to get away from the crowds, stay low, and go off the beaten path (though I personally preferred the above treeline stuff)
* Apgar Lookout - I would not recommend this hike, it spends most of its time in former burn areas, and there are much better views (and bang for your buck). Additionally the lookout tower at the top is boarded up and is used for a communications tower


Our backcountry permit got denied, but if there are any areas in the backcountry which you recommend, we are conditioned for longer hikes (GRT, pressies, pemi, etc...) and would be happy to do an epic if it got us away from the crowds and to somewhere unique (all of our other hikes are fairly close to the road).

The ranger at the backcountry permit station recommended we "day hike our butts off" over trying to deal with the logistics for the first come first serve backcountry sites, so that's what we did

2) Distances and gain - Most of the hikes (above) have very little gain (< 3k feet), is this because our guidebook is only giving us the delta between the high/low points, or is there really that little change between the various points on the trail? In general, how do the trails compare with those in the Adirondacks/Whites? From what I've seen in pictures, the exposure is higher, but the trail bed is much nicer/easier/faster.

This is a tough one. The trails are certainly nicer, but they're also very different. I would say that the gains do not account for much of the PUD along the trails. Additionally, I found that our legs were built for doing (adirondack/new england) stair-stepper style trails while the glacier trails are more like a steeply inclined treadmill. This meant that we were using different muscles.

The biggest impact to our speed/pace was the amount of time needed to take pictures!


3) Campgrounds - From what I've read about these campgrounds, they're pretty much chaos when it comes to finding a first come first served site (with a bootleg "black market" of people showing up the night before to "reserve" sites for the next day). Does anyone have any success stories or recommendations?

The fire in the park helped a little as the campsites were filling considerably later than their fill times from previous years. That being said, we only used two sites (Apgar and Many Glacier) and both days we were at the campground by ~6 AM to ensure we got a spot (and we were not the first ones there by any means). The campground hosts did seem to be doing a good job of curbing "pre-reserving" of the sites.

Many Glacier was fairly primitive and had more of a backcounry feel, while Apgar was a bit more commercial (you had the village 1/4 mile away)


4) Canada - I have seen recommendations about going to Waterton, is it worth it beyond what is already in glacier (especially with the drive)?

We did not go to Canada


We have two books and the national geo map, but I am open to other recommendations.

I was unimpressed with many of the Glacier resources (spoiled by ADK/AMC?). The best map was the hike734 map (which you can also find within the park). The falcon guide wasn't great, but one of the rangers showed us the old version of the book and it was much better (you want the one with the white cover, not the yellow cover).


Any other pointers/tips/tricks/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

Mike

 

[Raven]

Hi Mike,

I'm jealous. GNP is stunning. I had the pleasure of going once and doing some hikes, but am not an expert. Here's what I can add:

The Grinnell Trail was pretty awesome with gorgeous views of Grinnell Lake. We could only make it so far though as the trail was still under lots of snow in summer. They were blasting out the snow the day we were there with explosives up ahead of us, so we made it a number of miles up the trail but had to stop at a certain point. Grinnell Glacier was not yet accessible but Salamander glacier was cool in the distance. Avalanche Lake was a pretty easy short hike as well and there is a nice view of the continental divide across the water. The trails I took had a very forgiving treadway and were at reasonable grades.

I stayed at a cabin in the park that was reserved in advance for an event, so cannot speak to camping issues.

The lodge at the end of Lake Josephine is a great place to grab a drink after a long day's hike; it's got a huge porch. The view across the lake of Mount Grinnell is surreal.

Enjoy it - I hope to get back someday and explore more. My trip was work related, so there was only so much time to hike, but we managed to get out a few days. In some ways it may be the most beautiful place I've seen.

 

[hikerbrian]

GNP is the most beautiful place in the lower 48. Just my opinion, of course, but it's a pretty well-educated one. I'm exceedingly jealous. But still, here are some thoughts:
1. Look, find a way to get away from the day-trippers. Just f'ing find a way. Do it.
2. The Going To The Sun Road is really beautiful. But like Yosemite Valley, it will make you want to poke forks in your eyes rather than ride it again after you have done it a couple of times with the convoys of people driving it. Again, really beautiful, and amazing that a road exists there, but you'll want more that that.
3. 50% of all backcountry campsites are kept open for walk-ins. This is key, use this to your advantage! There is a very real chance you could get into the back country even though your advanced permit was denied. Show up at the ranger's office 30 min before they open the day BEFORE you want to go backpacking, and then just ask them to help you put together an itinerary based on what's available. Because you are very fit, you may have a lot of REALLY good options - most people won't be able to hike 10-15 miles a day, so there may be a lot open to you. We were a group of 2 (my wife and I); if your group is bigger it may be harder. Not sure. The longer you're in the back country, the easier it is to go wherever the heck you want for the later stages, because the only people who could have reserved the walk-in spots are people who are in the back country longer than you and are already out there.
4. The ranger we worked with was a-mazing. I had a basic itinerary picked out, but she was like, "Why don't you stay at this spot 2 miles away from your original plan, because it's WAY awesomer?" She helped us land at some real gems, gems we would have walked by otherwise.
5. Camp next to a lake every night. Just find a way to make it happen. The lakes up there are otherworldly.
6. Some spots I still dream about, 10 years later: Bowman Lake, Kintla Lake (NW corner), Lake Francis (this is the most beautiful spot I ever expect to see in my life), Stoney Indian Lake and Pass, Cosley Lake, both Glenns lakes, Red Gap Pass. Stay away from Brown's Pass. Do NOT camp there. You will NEVER experience mosquitoes of the magnitude that live there anywhere else on earth.
7. As you may be able to gather, we did a west-to-east traverse starting at Bowman lake. We wanted to start at Kintla but there was still too much snow at one of the passes. The car spot was tricky but we found a guy willing to help us out for a little bit of under-the-table cash (we just searched the 'net and made some phone calls, but that was 10 yrs ago). I believe for-profit transportation is technically illegal within park boundaries, so keep that in mind. I think the spirit of that law is important. But you can make your own choices about whether you're willing to let your 'uncle' drive you to the trailhead in exchange for 'gas money'.
8. We saw very few others on our itinerary, which is sort of amazing. Goat Haunt, which is a ferry stop to get to Waterton, was packed and sort of lousy. It was the exception. The back country is really well managed.

To answer your questions: 1) The hikes you have outlined are probably amazing, but I didn't do any of them (Ptarmigan tunnel was on our itinerary, but they closed it the day we were to pass due to bear activity, necessitating a 22-mile final day to get us back to Many Glacier via Red Gap Pass...which was also freakin' amazing). 2) I would estimate that any given mile in GNP requires approximately half the effort of any given mile in the Whites. You will think you're walking on pillows. And there are no PUDs, so the elevation profiles you're seeing are probably accurate. A 50% increase in mileage over what you'd plan in the Whites is not unreasonable at all. 3) I don't remember. 4) I wouldn't bother with the drive to Waterton. We didn't go and only glanced in that direction from Goat Haunt, so I can't really say, but I really don't think the scenery is much different. If you have extra time, spend it on an extended back country itinerary in Glacier. You can't go wrong, honestly.

I am so freakin' jealous right now. Seriously, 11 year later, the pictures in my head are so vivid it's like I was there last week. The place is spectacular.

 

[Stan]

1) Quite touristy but worth the visit to Rogers Pass and a short hike to see the mountain goats.
2) We got our hiking destinations off the park website and park flier. We did a series of short hikes but it sounds like you're more ambitious than we were at the time. My bet is that you won't have trouble with any of it. Some need time to acclimate to the elevation. I wouldn't go on any hike there without bear spray.
3) Been there on two trips and reserved various facilities, Swiftcurrent, St. Mary Lake and Glacier Park Hotel (where we got last minute reservations after a sudden change of events back in Browning), booking in advance and using that for basecamp for shorter dayhikes. There is a mountain chalet and a shelter, that are probably already booked, but could offer a nice dayhike. The shuttle is pretty good and an end to end may work out.
4) Waterton has a few interesting dayhike opportunities; we did Bear Hump and part of the Waterton Lake Trail, and enjoyed high tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel. It was one of our daytrips out of St. Mary.

I join the others in the envy. We've visited about three dozen national parks/monuments and Glacier is one of a handful we can't get too much of.

 

[bignslow]

Thank you all for the advice and recommendations, this is all very helpful.

Brian: I didn't know about the "walk up" availability for backcountry travel, we'll have to keep that in mind.

 

[griffin]

Holy cow, I'm jealous - had an amazing trip to Glacier a few years back.

Definitely look into the walk-ups as Brian suggested. Our permit app was rejected too, but we were still able to get Sperryx2 - Gunsight Lake as a walk-up. I found this link very helpful: http://home.nps.gov/applications/glac/bcpermits/bcbull/bcrescgstatus.cfm
It gives you the availability of the bc sites for the next 7 days. That way were able to walk into the permit office with at least a good idea of what we might be able to do (and the rangers were incredibly helpful). It also helped that we arrived at the ranger station almost an hour before it opened (and they still got us set up and out the door in time for us to hike the Garden Wall)

Garden Wall and Iceberg lake are fantastic hikes, if a bit popular. Lots of great wildlife viewing on both, though. I'd also second the notion that the miles are generally easier than here in New England - NH in particular. The 50% increase figure squares with my own experience.

This message board is also worth a visit: http://www.glacier.nationalparkschat.com/phpBB3/index.php

Not super active, but lots of great advice if you poke around, including beta on great off-trail hikes and how to find people to do them with. And the poster currently known as "macchia" was very generous with his advice.

Have a great trip.

 

[KRobi]

When we did Siyeh Pass and Iceberg Lake they were both ranger led hikes (just happened to be going out where we were starting so joined them). They really imparted a lot of information during the trip. Iceberg Lake hike was on wild flowers, and Siyeh Pass was geology. Even our teenage sons enjoyed them. Something to look into if you are so inclined.
Hidden Lake (Out of Logan Pass) was also nice. Just a side note. On the day we did Hidden Lake it was high 70's, low 80's. We had our day packs etc. Went down to the lake and it was hot enough one son jumped in ..... came out REALLY quickly!. On our return up to Logan Pass a storm came in. Temps dropped about 40-50 degrees and it was snowing, hard. People up on the boardwalks in flip flops, pushing strollers, grandmothers/fathers etc. were caught out in it. Rangers were scrambling to help people get back in the near white out. We had winter hats, gloves, shells and proper footwear so we were ok. Like the Pressies the weather can change quickly. Awesome place.
Enjoy.

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

When we visited Glacier NP in 2006 we hiked to Iceberg Lake, the Highline Trail (utilizing the shuttle and a side hike to Grinnell Glacier overlook), and Siyeh Pass (again utilizing the shuttle). We had planned more, but weather wasn't optimal (and we were carrying our daughter in a backpack, so didn't want to hike in the rain). All the hikes were great. If you are used to hiking in the Northeast, you will find hiking there a breeze.

Get an early start to get a jump on the crowds and we carried bear spray (we did come across a mother grizzly and two cubs on the Highline Trail and when my husband backpacked there they ran into a mother grizzly as well).

I would have some backpack trips in mind and go for walkup permits. If you are flexible and you have the time, I'm sure you can find something.

I can't remember the website, but there is a site that tells you roughly when campgrounds fill up. We camped at St. Mary's campground and didn't have a problem getting a campsite. I think that one is easier to get into and we initially thought we'd move to another one, but ended up just staying there. We weren't in our campsite much anyway.

Our pics/notes (also includes a link to Steve's two week backpacking trip): http://www.pbase.com/pudgy_groundhog/glacier

Have a fantastic trip!!

 

[griffin]

I can't remember the website, but there is a site that tells you roughly when campgrounds fill up.

This, I think - http://home.nps.gov/applications/glac/cgstatus/cgstatus.cfm

If you click on the names of the campgrounds in the "current info" section, it takes you to a page that will let you look at historical data for that location - i.e., the same week/weekend this time last year.

 

[Paul_Bear]

1) I've done 3 trips to Glacier and have done all the hikes on your list, they're all really nice. If you're doing Siyeh pass as an in and out from the Going to the Sun road you can add the branch to Piegan Pass if you want a longer hike to another beautiful pass. Iceberg Lake Trail was quite busy (like Franconia Ridge on a nice weekend), and while we saw people on the others they weren't what I'd call crowded.

As mentioned, Logan Pass to Hidden Lake Overlook is NOT off the beaten path but it's probably a must see for the scenery and the semi-tame mountain goats you'll see up close. Go early or late in the day to avoid a million tourists on the trail (and no parking at the pass). Whenever I've been to Glacier we usually end up on this trail 2 or 3 times.

For a longer day hike with more elevation gain check out the Dawson Path / Pitamakan Pass loop from Two Medicine. I haven't done this one but it's on my to do list. There is also the option of using the tour boat to shorten the hike.

The biggest crowds will be along the Sun road and at Many Glacier ... but for good reason, scenery is amazing. Two Medicine is also really nice and gets less visitors in my experience.

I haven't done any backpacking here so can't comment on that.

2. You're right, these are National Park trails and you'll find them not so steep and in general the footing is better than anything in the Northeast. Elevations can be a little higher than the NE but won't slow most people down very much. Yes, there is some exposure in places (I'm remembering the Garden Wall).

3) My most recent stay was 2 years ago in late August. We camped at Many Glacier which is quite popular ... at the time they had closed Rising Sun to tent campers due to bear problems so it made it that much harder to get a spot at Many Glacier. We (and others) cruised the campground starting around 6am or so ... thankfully we ran into someone leaving within 10 minutes of crawling around. The NPS web site mentioned above was useful in figuring out how early to get there. I found the situation pretty annoying ... they really needed a ranger or campground host to set up some sort of list for people to register in an orderly fashion.

4) I've only briefly been to Waterton. It's beautiful but not that different than Glacier. If you have the time I'm sure it's worth checking out, but if you haven't run out things to do in Glacier I think I'd skip it.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

Hope your trip is not soon: Wind whips wildfire in Glacier National Park (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...hips-wildfire-glacier-national-park/30501193/)

 

[bignslow]

We're ~2 weeks out before we'll arrive in the park, so not too much concern (yet...)