[Flower Sniffer]

Hi All, We’re considering heading to Glacier National Park in 2-3 weeks, and as I’ve never been, was hoping for some ideas for a backpack trip. A loop would be ideal, but out and back is also fine. 7-10 mile days with reasonable elevation would be optimal! The other option is to car camp and just do dayhikes, which might give a better sampling? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[MyFootHurts]

ha I'm planning on going there too the week after labor day. The shuttle still runs until 9/15 or so I think. So I'm looking at the maps trying to figure a one way hike with a shuttle pickup back to the car.

[Flower Sniffer]

Nice! Have you been before? Just an FYI, if you didn’t see it... “The park continues to anticipate a possible complete closure both day and night on the west side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road between Avalanche Creek and Logan Pass from September 16-29 to facilitate work in this area. Logan Pass will remain accessible through the St. Mary Entrance Station.”

[Ski]

If you are lucky enough to hit it during a good weather window, be prepared for crowds. Think: Paradise parking lot on a sunny August Sunday afternoon, or maybe Disneyland.

[Flower Sniffer]

Really? Everything I’ve read says it quiets down significantly after Labor Day. Am I delusional?

[Ski]

I was there mid-summer on what I was told by an NPS Ranger was the first blue-sky Sunday of the season. Traffic over "Going to the Sun Road" was bumper to bumper both ways and moving at about 10 mph. Brutal.

[Anne Elk]

Check out BigSkyWalker's recent TR, then PM him for other details re what he observed in the park. Remember that a claim like "crowds are down" after Labor Day is a relative term. They might just decrease from "brutal" to "awful". When I did a quick visit many years ago, I was out before dawn to get on the GTTS Hwy before most had peeked out of their tents. The campgrounds were packed, and that was 20 years ago.

[Ski]

my visit was in 1995 or 1996, as I recall... I had a gig in Kalispell that Saturday and drove up through the Park on Sunday. I managed to avoid the main entrance gate (and some of the crowds) by going the long way and in through the northwest side of the Park. (486 / No. Fork Road / Camas Road)

[Songs2]

Hi - I have been to GLAC 11 times. Edit: Inserting here info on the Recreation Access Display, which does not open at the moment but is awfully useful:

[Songs2]

Ski, I believe the Camas Road has been closed permanently. I don't recall exactly why, but have a faint memory of major washouts and other damage, and an administrative decision not to try to keep repairing it.

[schifferj]

One of my favorites in GNP is the Dawson Pitamakan loop from Two Medicine Lake on the east side of the park. Loop is 25 miles around Rising Wolf Mountain unless you ride the last 3 miles on the boat. I’ve done this as a one day 25 mile loop, a one day with boat ride, and an overnight with a stop at Old Man Lake. Lots to see including Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goats, and the occasional Bear. I highly recommend doing this in a counter clockwise direction. I’ve never seen a lot of folks on this trail except for the section at the end of the lake up to Dawson Pass where all the “Pilgrims” hike. You can also do a point to point over Triple Divide Pass to Saint Mary basin. Two Medicine Campground is a great jump off point for a lot of hikes and not nearly as crowded as the west side of the park. As mentioned above, hike734.com is a great source.

[rbuzby]

There are only a couple campgrounds that allow you to reserve a spot. Check those out online and reserve a spot if you can. It's nice to know you have a campsite waiting for you.

[Songs2]

For first-timers, I'll post some of the better introductory day hikes, and follow up later with distances and elevation gain. 1. Highline to Granite Park Lodge, down to the Loop. Park at Logan Pass, exit at the Loop, and take a shuttle (or hitch) back to Logan Pass. About 11 miles, 1000 ft cumulative elevation gain (ups and downs, not point to point), big descent on switchbacks. 2. Siyeh Pass hike. Park at Siyeh Bend and exit at Sunrift Gorge; shuttle/hitch back to car. I like to follow this with a boat ride on Lake McDonald, which stares hikers in the face for hours on the descent. 3. Out of Many Glacier: Grinnell Glacier hike (generally considered a must-do), Iceberg Lake Hike, Cracker Lake hike (get out ahead of horses on the trail or you will be splashing in manure). A shorter, flat hike goes along Swiftcurrent trail by 3 lakes, including Red Rock Falls, before climbing steeply to Swiftcurrent Pass. This is where resident moose can be seen (they always strike me as under stress from human presence). Last year a staffer picking berries near the trail was confronted by a grizz, so take bear spray. Bears also wander through the CG at Many Glacier and around the cabins. 4. Out of Two Medicine: Dawson Pass hike; Scenic Point hike 5. Out of Bowman Lake CG: Numa lookout hike, Akokala Lake hike, or walk along Bowman lake to the first CG and back. Good swimming in this lake but be advised: bears swim there too. 6. En route to Bowman Lake, Huckleberry Mntn lookout, with ample berries on the trail in season. Also en route: Polebridge Merc, with famous bear claws pastries and breakfast wraps. 7. Out of Apgar: Apgar lookout. 8. Belly River: Belly River trail to Ranger Station, out and back; or Lee Ridge-Belly River trail, a rewarding 17-mile circular, 3000 ft elevation gain (easily handled). 9. I would be remiss if I did not add the 6.2-mile (one-way) hike from Lake McDonald to the Sperry Chalet rebuild. The whole area, including the chalet, burned in a massive wildland fire in 2017. The kitchen/dining hall was mostly spared and the kitchen is open for lunch and snacks for visitors. In the past it closed the weekend after Labor Day. I don't know its schedule this year. Though I liked the forested canopy, the opened-up spaces should now be showing lots of flowers. The campground is open. Shorter hikes: there are numerous pleasant shorter hikes to waterfalls and such. Also check Glacier NP website for ranger-led hikes.

[Flower Sniffer]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! We’re sort of leaning now toward car camping and dayhiking because I don’t think the shuttles will be running, and it will maybe give us a better sampling of the park. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

[Eric Hansen]

Two memorable peaks out of Two Medicine, viable with fundamental off trail, scrambling skills. Edit: Please note Pahoehoe's caution on poor, crumbly rock (2 posts down) in Glacier, hazards of off trail travel, before considering these routes Grizzly Mt. From Two Medicine Pass follow the ridge top southeast leaving the trail when it switchbacks down into Park Creek drainage. Sweeping views, peak is 9,067' Mount Henry is a fabulous ridge walk, much of it almost a stroll. Follow the broad ridge top south from the Scenic Point Trail to the peak marked Medicine on the topo map (8,446). Follow the ridge west to Mount Henry (8,847). Dead easy walking up to the very end where the peak rises, and a gully on the south side of the high point offers access to the summit. Neat to continue west on the ridge top, over peak 8,850 then turn north to drop to the saddle 7,667 (south of Appistoki Peak). Drop east from that saddle to the broad bowl below Mt. Henry, then work north to rejoin the Scenic Point Trail. We saw abundant grizzly diggings ("rototilling") in the broad bowl but no bears in sight. You may want to scan the bowl from above before opting for that route. We've also ridge walked south west from 8,850, and dropped into the upper end of Aster Park. We found scree slopes southwest of Pt 8,081 that were silky smooth to descend, like a sand dune. Then walked north to the South Shore Trail.