I finally got to visit Glacier National Park a few weekends back! Its been my dream for several years and now living in Idaho Falls put me only 7 hours from it so I had to do it. It was everything I had hoped for and more. Plenty of wildlife, gorgeous trees and waterfalls, and the most stunning views ever. I will write about my trip in 3 parts because there is just so much info to cover. In fact, we got so taken by the views just around the drivable parts that we ended up having to cancel one of our planned hikes! GNP is about 7.5 hours drive from Idaho Falls, located at the very north of Montana going into Canada. a little fun fact, you could do a ranger led tour where they take you into the Canadian side of the park. If you're planning to do this, make sure you bring your passports! The drive from Idaho Falls is certainly long and we ended up breaking the trip and spending the night in Missoula, MT. If you are trying to fly in to see the national park, you could fly to Missoula and rent a car to drive around. You could also fly into Kalispell which is a city right outside Glacier to the west. I assume flights to Missoula would be cheaper but flying into Kalispell would cut down the 2.5 hour drive. After arriving at the West entrance of the park, we soon realized that ALL the campsites were closed. We must have arrived around noon which is too late apparently. Most campsites were taken by 7:30 AM so plan ahead for that! In any case, we managed to stick to our plan for the most part. After arriving at the West entrance, we drove down the "Going to Sun Road" and ended up staying at the KOA outside the St Mary East entrance. If you end up in our situation, the Going to Sun Road is worth driving down and the KOA takes reservations so call and book a spot right away. Also, there are several campsites outside the East entrance so you'll safely find a place to stay somewhere. Going to the Sun road is everything you'll read on the internet and more. Its ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. The views will take your breath away. The road itself starts next to Lake McDonald, winding next the the beautiful McDonald falls and then follows the McDonald creek till it literally starts heading up the mountains. I couldn't believe my eyes by the road has been carved into the Glacier mountains which gives it the appearance of "Going to the Sun". You can see several glaciers, streams, waterfalls and valleys while driving this road. We took our time and stopped everywhere we wanted to and took lots and lots of pictures. I would recommend the same to you. The road has been well planned and there are several areas to pull over your car and get lose in nature. Several short and long hiking trails also start right off the the Going to the Sun road so with a little bit of planning you cold pack a lot into the day. The park map has most of the trails with their distance on it so if you haven't planned, you'll probably still find something amazing to do. Gorgeous McDonald Falls (top and bottom) Even though the day was cloudy, the views were amazing (bottom). The mountain peaks were merging into the clouds and at high altitudes, the clouds were on the roads! After getting through the Going to the Sun road and setting up camp at the KOA, we made a delicious dinner of baked potatoes on the campfire. We planned ahead for almost everything except dairy products. Silly, I know. Buy your dairy as late as possible. Our sour cream and cheese lasted a day but we were able to use it for dinner that night thanks to our cooler. Another thing that we really enjoyed was having an air mattress. If you're car camping and have the extra room, get an air mattress. Its easy to inflate and set up and very comfortable if you're spending 3-4 days camping. The day was well spent and we were really really exciting to hike in the Glacier National Park over the next couple of days. Justin chopping wood like a bad ass that we found near the campsite for our campfire (top left). Our super comfy bed in our tent using an air mattress and down comforter (top right). Our fresh dinner of baked potatoes with tomato and veggies sauce (bottom). Our first day was a success. Stick around for more stories from the rest of our time at GNP. We were so glad we did this trip!
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MahimaNuclear Engineer, Product and Strategy expert, Vegetarian, Adventurer. Categories
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December 2019
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