GLACIER NATIONAL PARK TRIP PLANNER

Essential Tips To Plan Your Vacation

A Park Map Glacier National Park is a year-round, natural beauty of mesmerizing peaks and glistening waters surrounded by charming small towns and unrivaled adventure. When the time is right, come see for yourself.

ORDER YOUR FREE TRAVEL GUIDE GlacierMT.com | #GlacierMT GETTING THERE

Who doesn’t love a good road trip? Head north out of Yellowstone and take this epic route to Glacier National Park.

here’s a magical evening light that sweeps across the broad Glacier Blacktail 15 shoulders of ’s sky. Its radiating pink and purple National Shelby Park 89 colors echo off windows of log-hewn cabins, patios of 2 East Kalispell Glacier Valier Tbreweries and the sides of aging pickup trucks rattling down lonely Hungry Park Horse roads. Montana artist C.M. Russell captured this magnificent light in FLATHEAD 89 15 MONTANA his paintings, and it fills the landscape with a peace that seeps into its LAKE people like water spilling over a river bank. 93 83 Great 287 Falls Discover Montana’s spectacular culture via West Yellowstone, Mont., as St. Ignatius 90 Ravalli 15 you point your wheels north to Glacier National Park. In Big Sky, you’ll 87 find adrenaline-filled activities. Farther north, you’ll find boom-and- Lewistown bust stories in Virginia City, Nevada City and Butte. Missoula 89 Beyond take a dip at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort and sample Helena sweets and sift for sapphires in Philipsburg. Explore Missoula and Philipsburg other lively towns en route to Glacier National Park. 15 287 At the park, take time to get out of your car and explore the incredible Butte 89 beauty of Glacier on foot or boat. We’ve compiled our favorite things to Anaconda 86 90 Bozeman do in this trip planner, along with a Glacier-specific wildlife guide, to 55 help you make the most of your time. 41 Livingston 287

After you’ve traveled the park’s legendary Going-to-the-Sun Road to 89 Yellowstone Dillon National reach the East Entrance, head southeast to Great Falls, home of the IDAHO Park Virginia Big C.M. Russell Museum where Montana comes to light in a very City/Nevada Sky 191 different way. Beyond explore the happening college towns of Helena City Gardiner and Bozeman before you reach the quaint, strikingly beautiful town of 15 West Yellowstone

ON THE COVER: Glacier National Park (Len Speiser) • THIS PAGE: Mountain goat in (Brandi Lyon/National P arks Photo Contest), Map by Peter Sucheski Livingston, the original Yellowstone gateway.

MyYellowstonePark.com PARK ENTRANCE PRIMER

There are four main entrances to Glacier National Park, one on its west side and three on the east. The West Entrance and St. Mary Entrance put you on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, the only road connecting the park’s west side with its east.

WEST SIDE through this entrance. If you are ST. MARY ENTRANCE ENTRANCE planning on visiting the west side, WEST ENTRANCE If you are coming from the east and Located in the southeast corner of do not use this entrance. want to drive Going-to-the-Sun the park, the Two Medicine If you’re planning on entering the Built in 1914-15 and part of a Road, head to the St. Mary Entrance area is an often park from the west side, the West 15-year, $42 million renovation Entrance. You can visit the St. Mary overlooked corner of Glacier. But Entrance via West Glacier is the that ended in early 2017, the Many Visitor Center to see a park film before Going-to-the-Sun Road place to go. You can reach Lake Glacier Hotel is the largest in the Land of Many Journeys or attend opened in 1933, it was the main McDonald, the Apgar Visitor park with 205 guest rooms, plus ranger-led programs and Native destination for travelers arriving by Center, the park’s headquarters, and seven family rooms and two suites. America Speaks programs. It sits on train. You can take a boat tour on the legendary Going-to-the-Sun The five-story hotel presides over the western edge of the Blackfeet Two Medicine Lake in the historic Road, which stretches 48.7 miles in an area Indian Reservation and is home to boat Sinopah, peruse the camp across the park, connecting the west known as the “Switzerland of St. Mary Lake, a gorgeous store and gift shop and explore a side to the east side. There are plenty North America.” turquoise-colored alpine body of multitude of hiking trails. The road of historic and contemporary water that stretches 10 miles. dead ends at Two Medicine Lake, lodging and dining options in both The Ptarmigan Dining Room was so you can’t reach Going-to-the- St. Mary is just one mile east of the Apgar and Lake McDonald. renovated in 2011 to restore its Sun Road from here. To access park entrance and offers historic features and offers Going-to-the-Sun Road, you have The closest towns to West Glacier accommodations like the St. Mary breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the to drive to the St. Mary Entrance include Columbia Falls, Hungry Lodge & Resort where you can lounge located in the Ptarmigan about 30 miles north. Horse, Whitefish and Kalispell. Dining Room, you can order locally choose from 116 guest rooms From Kalispell, take Hwy. 2 north inspired drinks like the “Trail Crew among six facilities. Stay in a cabin, Thirteen miles away from the Two for 33 miles until you reach Mule” that is made with Headframe lodge room, house or motel-style Medicine Entrance is East Glacier West Glacier. Spirits High Ore Vodka (out of room. Renowned for its huckleberry Park. It’s home to 363 hardy, Butte, Mont.), citrus simple syrup, specialities like Huckleberry year-round residents. In summer, ginger beer and lime. Salmon, along with dishes like this sleepy town wakes up, offering EAST SIDE Bison Stroganoff, the resort’s motels, restaurants and shuttle There’s also the Swiftcurrent Motor Snowgoose Grill offers breakfast, services. You’ll discover the ENTRANCE Inn & Cabins a mile from the hotel. lunch and dinner. There’s also the 161-room, elegant Glacier Park Choose between rustic cabins and At the Many Glacier Entrance on Mountain Bar and Curly Bear Cafe, Lodge built in 1913 here. In the motel inn-style rooms with or the park’s east side, you can access along with Glacier Perk Espresso. lobby you’ll see bark-covered without private bathrooms. the stunning Many Glacier Valley, Douglas fir logs stretching up to the Beyond enjoy miles of spectacular This is the place to fuel up on gas home to visitor services, the Many ceiling. Along with beautiful hiking trails, including one and stock up on outdoor items. The Glacier Hotel and the Swiftcurrent gardens, there’s a nine-hole golf through built to Trail and Creek Outfitters is the Motor Inn & Cabins. The road course and a swimming pool. help hikers avoid a treacherous only outdoor specialty shop on the dead ends here, so you cannot section of trail. eastern side of Glacier. access Going-to-the-Sun Road PHOTO: lake McDonald in Glacier National Park (Gregg Ohanian)

Glacier Trip Planner 2021 2 5 BOW-CROW PROVINCIAL FOREST To Pincher Creek and Calgary To Calgary To Lethbridge Cardston 6 SWIFTCURRENT LAKE GOING-TO-THE- W ATERTON Red Rock Parkway Crandell SUN ROAD LAKES 5 Mountain Mountain NATIONAL View 5 BLOOD INDIAN PARK RESERVE FLATHEAD PROVINCIAL FOREST Akamina Parkway MIDDLE 2 WATERTON LAKE Visitor Reception Centre AKAMINA-KISHINENA Waterton Park Belly River 6 Chief Mountain PROVINCIAL PARK CAMERON Customs (Seasonal) LAKE Carway Customs Border UPPER Piegan Customs Closed WATERTON LAKE KINTLA UPPER KINTLA 89 LAKE LAKE Goat Haunt

Kintla Lake 17 BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION GLACIER BOWMAN LAKE NATIONAL Babb

Bowman Lake 464 QUARTZ P ARK Many Glacier LAKE Entrance Station Many Glacier LOWER LAKE SHERBURNE Polebridge SWIFTCURRENT LAKE St. Mary Polebridge LOGGING Visitor Center LAKE The Loop St. Mary St. Mary Entrance Station Quartz Visitor Center St. Mary Creek Going-to-the-Sun Road Rising Sun Logging Creek Siyeh Bend

Outside North Inside North Avalanche SAINT MARY Lake LAKE 89 Fork Road Fork Road McDonald Creek (section closed)

FLATHEAD NATIONAL FOREST LAKE Lake McDonald MCDONALD Lodge Cut Bank Camas Fish Road Creek Sprague Creek

Apgar Visitor Center 89

West Entrance Station Two Medicine 49 Apgar Village Park Headquarters Entrance Station LOWER TWO MEDICINE LAKE To Roosville Customs TWO MEDICINE LAKE West Glacier 93 Two Medicine

Whitefish Whitefish Lake Lake State Park East 2 Glacier Coram Whitefish 2

Columbia Falls 2 Hungry Horse 40 FLATHEAD NATIONAL FOREST

93 To 2 206 Kalispell TWO MEDICINE Legend Marias Pass LAKE Continental Divide Paved road Warden / Ranger station Campground Essex Walton Unpaved road Warden / Ranger station Primitive campground (infrequently sta ed) North Hospital Goat Lick 0 5 10 Kilometers Overlook LEWIS AND CLARK 0 5 10 Miles NATIONAL FOREST

Map Courtesy of

PHOTO: lake McDonald in Glacier National Park (Gregg Ohanian) PHOTOS: Going-To-The-Sun Road, Swiftcurrent Lake (Depositphotos), Two Medicine (Mark Wolsky)

MyYellowstonePark.com GLACIER’S TOP SIX

Here are some of our favorite things to do from hiking to exploring some of Glacier’s most iconic treasures.

3 2 HIKE ON 1 STOP AT THE CEDAR LOGAN PASS EAT AT LAKE TREE GIFT SHOP At 6,646 feet, Logan Pass is the inspiring high point of Going-to-the-Sun Road. MCDONALD LODGE Shop at the park’s largest gift store in Apgar Both Hidden Lake Overlook Trail for souvenirs or ice cream. Old-growth Start the day with a delicious breakfast and the Highline Trail leave from here, cedar trees grow through the floor and in Russell’s Fireside Dining Room at this offering breathtaking opportunities ceiling. The trees existed long before the historic lodge on the west side. to spot wildlife. store, so the builders let some stay.

Glacier Trip Planner 2021 6 5 RIDE ON A 4 TAKE A RED HISTORIC BOAT BUS TOUR DINE AT MANY Take the oldest wooden boat in GLACIER HOTEL Ride in the world’s oldest touring fleet of Glacier Park Boat Co.’s fleet across Two vehicles. Depart from the east or west Medicine Lake and learn about the area’s Head to the historic first-come, sides of the park in these 1930s-era Blackfeet Indian history. When the boat first-served Ptarmigan vintage buses with roll-back tops. They docks on the upper west shore, Dining Room. Chefs use locally accommodate 17 people. Tours last disembark and hike with a naturalist or sourced ingredients between 2.5 to 8 hours. on your own to Twin Falls. Catch a whenever possible. different return boat or hike back.

PHOTOS: Lake McDonald Lodge, Logan Pass view of Avalanche Lake, (Jacob W. Frank), Ice cream (Flickr/flare), Red Bus Tour (NPS/Tim Rains), The Sinopah on Upper Two Medicine Lake (NPS/Bill Hayden)

MyYellowstonePark.com WILDLIFE FIELD GUIDE

Keep an eye out for these fascinating animals in Glacier.

MOOSE BLACK BEAR GRIZZLY BEAR

You can spot a male moose easily by its huge These omnivores can weigh up to 400 pounds and Grizzlies, also known as “brown bears,” weigh up antlers that stretch up to six feet. Females don’t stretch from two to four feet tall. They can be to 700 pounds. They have a distinctive hump have antlers. Moose have long snouts, bulbous black, blond or brown, which can lead visitors to between their shoulders that black bears do not noses and extra skin under their throats. They misidentify them as grizzlies. In spring, they eat have. They have shorter ears and a longer snout are enormous, weighing up to 1,800 pounds. On shrubs and new shoots in the forest. Throughout than black bears. Grizzlies disseminate land they can reach speeds of up to 35 miles per summer and fall, they retreat to higher elevations, huckleberry seeds via their scat and till soil for hour. Their hooves are made for snow travel, chasing berries and trout. Black bears hibernate glacier lilies. enabling them to navigate deep powder. They during winter and mate throughout summer. SEE THEM: Grizzlies live throughout the park, also are good swimmers, paddling several miles SEE THEM: Black bears live throughout the park. eating berries, parsnip thickets and glacier lilies. at a time. Look for them in forested areas where they like On the east side, some spend spring in valleys SEE THEM: Moose love watery areas and areas to dwell. Maintain at least 100 yards between you and then go up to the high country for summer. with high grasses, willows and shrubs. Fishercap and a bear and always carry bear spray. Others spend the entire summer in meadows and Lake area is a good place to spot them. aspen groves, heading higher to hibernate.

MOUNTAIN GOATS BIGHORN SHEEP LYNX

As Glacier’s official symbol, mountain goats are Traveling in groups, bighorn sheep are built for This rare cat with long-ear tufts is a threatened covered with two layers of wool that enable them spending long winters at high elevation. Born species in the Lower 48 but can be spotted in to withstand temperatures that dip to -50F. They with rough split hooves, they climb up steep, Glacier. It’s larger than a house cat, weighing have large hooves and rough pads to scale steep, rocky terrain to escape predators. Males, also around 20 pounds. Its large, wide furry feet help it rugged slopes. Both males and females have known as “rams,” have larger horns that can travel easily through snow. Its back legs are black horns and long faces with fur hanging off weigh up to 30 pounds. Females, referred to as larger than its front legs. Its fur is usually gray in their chins. Females, called “nannies,” live with “ewes,” have horns that never form more than winter and light brown in summer. Lynx dine on children and females. Males live apart in groups half a curl. Bighorn sheep eat grasses and snowshoe hares, birds and rodents. They are of 2-3. They can jump nearly 12 feet. shrubs. In fall, rams compete for ewes by butting primarily solitary animals and den in fallen trees each other for up to 24 hours at a time. and rock ledges. SEE THEM: Look for them on rocky slopes and high meadows. They lick salt near trails. See SEE THEM: See them on the Logan Pass (even in SEE THEM: Lynx prefer dense forests but hunt at them at Logan Pass, Sperry/Gunsight, Hidden the parking lot) and on the grassy slopes of higher elevations with more open spaces, so keep Lake, Iceberg Lake and Grinnell Lake areas. mountain sides and high alpine meadows. your eyes peeled for these elusive cats.

PHOTOS: Moose, Grizzly bear (Depositphotos), Black (iStock), Bison (Adobe Stock), Mountain Goat, Bighorn Sheep (NPS/Tim Ra ins), Lynx (Courtesy Henning Leweke)

Glacier Trip Planner 2021 INSIDER'S TIPS

From what to pack to entrance fees, here’s the scoop.

GLACIER ENTRANCE FEES*

Buy your pass at a park entrance station, purchase a digital annual all-parks pass at recreation.gov or order a card online at REI.com (with no shipping costs).

$35 fee for a seven-day vehicle pass

$70 PACKING LIST cost of a Glacier ONLINE annual pass  Visit MyYellowstonePark.com to find Refillable water out where to stay and what to do bottles or a $80 during your vacation. Interested in hydration system price for the America the Beautiful annual exploring other national parks? Check  Binoculars us out at nationalparktrips.com. pass for all national  Clothing layers to park sites accommodate temperature $80 fluctuations of 30-40 one-time fee for the degrees in one day. Senior Pass (citizens WORKSHOPS  A sun hat, sunglasses and sunscreen 62 and up) Join us for our online Night SkiesNational  Park Photography Workshop. With Rain jacket & bug spray $0 Tamron’s professional photographers, we  Sturdy hiking boots cost of a Military Pass offer instruction on how to take night (active military) and  skies, sunset and sunrise photos. Learn Daypack Access Pass more at NationalParkTrips.com/ Learn more at MyYellowstonePark.com/ (permanently disabled workshops. park/what-to-pack. U.S. citizens)

*Fees subject to change SOCIAL

facebook.com/ MyYellowstonePark @nationalparktrips @nationalparktrips

PHOTO: Kayakers at Mc Donald Lake (Trisha Dasgupta)

MyYellowstonePark.com Accessible by foot, the Granite Park Chalet was built in 1914-15 and has no electricity, no running water, no chef and no heat. Order linens to avoid hauling up your sleeping bag. Make reservations at graniteparkchalet.com/reservations or 888-345-2649.

EAST SIDE

On Going-to-the-Sun Road WHERE TO STAY RISING SUN MOTOR INN & CABINS Built in 1940, the Rising Sun Motor Inside the park are eight different lodging options. They range from rustic Inn & Cabins are located along Going-to-the-Sun Road six miles bunkhouses only accessible by foot to a grand historic lodge. west of St. Mary Visitor Center. Choose between the Store Motel Room, Cabin Room or Motor Inn queen-sized beds. Or opt for a cabin MOTEL LAKE MCDONALD Room. All have private bathrooms. WEST SIDE with or without a kitchen. Cabins Make reservations at with fully equipped kitchens have a Sharing majestic views with Lake GlacierNationalparkLodges.com or Apgar Village living/dining area and various room McDonald Lodge is the Motel Lake 855-733-4522. and bed arrangements. Family McDonald. The motel does not VILLAGE INN AT APGAR cabins are the most expensive option have the weight of early park Many Glacier with a fully-equipped kitchen and a history infused in its architecture Two miles into the park lies the loft sleeping area. Make reservations like its historic neighbor. But it MANY GLACIER HOTEL Village Inn at Apgar. Built in 1956 at GlacierParkInc.com/lodging or offers an affordable alternative with but renovated in 2015, every room in 888-435-0270. its two 1950s-style, two-story There’s only one road to this hotel, the two-story building offers buildings. The second floor is and it is accessed from the park’s breathtaking views of Lake Lake McDonald accessible by an outdoor staircase. east side. MacDonald. Its starting room price All rooms have one or two double Built in 1914-15 and part of a 15-year, is a little more expensive than the LAKE MCDONALD LODGE beds and some are ADA accessible. $42 million renovation that ended in Apgar Village Lodge & Cabins. On Make reservations at Ten miles from the West Glacier early 2017, Many Glacier Hotel is the the first floor, you’ll find GlacierParkInc.com/lodging or largest hotel in the park with 205 one-bedroom, full-kitchen units. Entrance lies Lake McDonald 888-435-0270. Lodge, a rustic but elegant guest rooms, plus seven family rooms Upstairs, one-to-three bedroom and two suites. The five-story hotel units accommodate up to six people. Swiss-style hotel built on the eastern Backcountry or Bust shores of Lake McDonald in 1913. presides over Swiftcurrent Lake. None has kitchen units. There are Make reservations at family and ADA units. Make With spectacular views and an oversized lobby fireplace, it has 82 GlacierNationalparkLodges.com reservations at or 855-733-4522. GlacierNationalparkLodges.com or guest rooms in the three-story main Accessible only by trail, Sperry 855-733-4522. lodge, separate cabins, the Chalet was built in 1913 but dormitory-style Snyder Hall and the destroyed by wildlife in August 2017. SWIFTCURRENT MOTOR APGAR VILLAGE LODGE Cobb House, which has three suites. In January 2020, after renovations, it INN & CABINS Renovated reopened to reservations for the Choose between rustic cabins and & CABINS in 2015, the main lodge rooms have summer. At the chalet, you can leave motel inn-style rooms with or 1-2 queen beds and private baths. the cooking to chalet staff. There are Just two miles into the park is Apgar without private bathrooms. Beyond The cabins also were renovated in beds with warm blankets but no Village Lodge & Cabins. The least enjoy miles of spectacular hiking 2015. Make reservations at running water or electricity. Make inexpensive option is the motel-style trails. Make reservations at GlacierNationalparkLodges.com or reservations at sperrychalet.com/ rooms that feature a private GlacierNationalparkLodges.com 855-733-4522. reservations or 888-345-2649. bathroom and one-to-two or 855-733-4522.

PHOTO: Many Glacier Hotel (photo by Flickr/Ted Buckner)

Glacier Trip Planner 2021 THE ANTELOPE

In Great Falls, discover world-class paintings.

ou’ll find one of the “I like to say that the more you dig West’s most vibrant into Charlie Russell and his art and storytellers in Great writings, the more you are drawn into his world,” says Duane Braaten, YFalls, Mont. the museum’s director of art and But you won’t be able to hear philanthropy. “You find you'd like the city block where Russell, his wife Rebecca Engum. “My husband’s his stories. The great artist Charles to sit around a campfire with him Nancy and son Jack lived. grandfather’s favorite piece is of Marion Russell died in 1926. and hear his stories. A visit to the cowboys roping a bear. He always Instead, you’ll discover evocative museum is about the closest we’ll Befriending native tribes, he earned said, ‘Son, that’s one of the things scenes from the 1800s and early ever get to that.” the name Ah-Wah-Cous for we probably never should have 1900s depicted across his broad “antelope” because of the buckskin While artists of Russell’s era like done.’ He captured things people canvases with splashes of patch on the rear of his wool pants. Thomas Moran and Frederic actually did, which is what endears bright-colored paint at the C.M. A quiet community leader, locals Remington traveled to the West him to the community.” Russell Museum. You’ll find periodically, Russell stayed, carving continue to revere him because he herds of boisterous elk and the out a rich life in a corner of the West captured the real lives of earlier Visit the C.M. Russell Museum, haunting sunlit faces of three where the Great Plains roll up to the generations. 400 13th St. N., and learn more Native Americans witnessing a at CMRussell.org. Rocky Mountain front. The museum, “A few of his paintings are almost steamboat on the Missouri River his home and log-hewn studio sit on like photographs,” says local for the first time. Charles M. Russell in his log studio painting When the Land Belonged Charles M. Russell in his log studio painting When the Land Belonged to God, c. 1914, C.M. Russell Museum Collection, Gift of Paul Masa

Some historians work in watercolor and oil

Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926) is one of America’s greatest artists. He lived the life he captured on canvas, creating a breathtaking historical record of Western cultures, landscapes, and wildlife. Come be inspired by the masterful works of Montana’s Cowboy Artist and experience the West as it really was at his namesake museum on the road between Glacier and Yellowstone.

Charles M. Russell, The Jerk Line, 1912, oil on canvas, C.M. Russell Museum Collection, Gift of Fred Birch

400 13th Street North | Great Falls, Montana | 406-727-8787 | cmrussell.org Recognized as one of the ‘Top 25 Resorts in the US – Midwest & West’ by Condé Nast Traveler, Under Canvas Glacier offers travelers a one-of-kind glamping experience in Montana’s “Big Sky Country.” Just 7 miles from Glacier National Park, our safari-inspired accommodations are designed in close connection to the surrounding wilderness, featuring upscale canvas tents and treehouses with plush king-size beds and ensuite bathrooms.

Visit UnderCanvas.com Or call 888-496-1148