Hey friend!
This is part one of three posts about our September 2021 trip to Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks. In these posts I’ll share our adventures, some specific places we ate, and my experience and opinions as we encountered different things!
I’ll preface this by saying Glacier was top tier for pictures on this trip. The foggy weather partnered with snow covered mountains was dreamy, the crowds were super low, and the mountains were great models.
We were in Montana September 18th through September 20, 2021.
Saturday, September 18th, 2021
Kalispell. Apgar. Lake McDonald. AirBnb. Canada.
We flew into Kalispell airport on September 18th. When I made our rental car reservations it only let me choose cars – no SUVs. I was bummed. Luckily, we were upgraded to a Toyota Highlander, which made backroads and potholes a lot more manageable!
First stop was the Kalispell Target to get snacks and such for the trip since we only flew with carry-on luggage. We then stopped at Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que because we were getting hangry after pretty close back-to-back flights. I’m not a food critic, but the food wasn’t the best thing in the world. We then made our way to Glacier for the first time!
We entered the park through the West Entrance and purchased the America the Beautiful yearly pass. You can purchase this online and have the card sent to you, or just at the gate. There is no extra cost either way! Make sure you sign the back of the card after you get it. We had a park ranger a little riled up because we hadn’t signed yet when we reentered the park the next day. The Ranger Stations also offer maps – just ask if they don’t offer!
After getting the pass, we made our way to the edge of Lake McDonald in Apgar Village. This was such a rewarding view for zero effort. It was sprinkling rain and a little chilly, but humidity was low so it was an enjoyable rain (East Coasters know what I mean).
After getting the pass, we made our way to the edge of Lake McDonald in Apgar Village. This was such a rewarding view for zero effort (see above). It was sprinkling rain and a little chilly, but humidity was low so it was an enjoyable rain (East Coasters know what I mean).
As a note, everywhere listed that masks were mandatory in all federal buildings (including gift shops), however in Montana this did not seem to be enforced. Some wore them, but most did not. This wasn’t our same experience for the entire trip, but everywhere in Montana seemed to have a similar feel in this department.
After some pictures and sightseeing, we decided to head to our AirBnb. We had no cell service as we left the park going north (which our host warned us about). As we started driving, there were signs for the Canadian border being about 15 miles from our stay. We thought, “Why the heck not?” because my husband, David (the one in the cowboy hat), had never been to Canada. We kept on driving North.
The border is technically closed, but there was a gate and a Border Patrol building on the U.S. side. There was also river access nearby with only a set of cameras watching the border. I’ll just leave the story at that…
Leaving Canada behind, we made it to our Airbnb right after dark. This stay was in a sturdy tent that was set up on a platform with a bed set up and fire pit outside. Glamping for sure. The hosts were out when we arrived, but left a wagon to take our items to the ten, a building for our food, and plenty of other amenities ready for us.
One fun fact we learned was north of Apgar pretty much everyone runs on solar power! It was neat to see such huge (HUGE) cabins completely powered from the sun. Our hosts were testers for Starlink (SpaceX Satellite Internet), which worked super well! We were attempting to be as off-grid as possible, while still checking in with the fam to let them know we hadn’t been eaten by a grizzly.
This night we had a cold rain falling asleep, which made us feel like we were in a movie. Big fan.
Sunday, September 19th, 2021
Horseback riding. Going-to-the-Sun Road. Pizza. Polebridge. Lake Bowman.
Sunday morning we drove down back south to go horseback riding at 8am. The half day trip through Swan Mountain Outfitters (Glacier Division) was a great amount of time! We were set up with our horses (I had Boots, David had Butters) and took off with 2 other couples and our guide. After riding a bit, we learned the couple in front of us lived just a couple hours from us in Virginia – crazy small world!
We’ve ridden horses a few times, but are definitely amateurs in the grand scheme of things. Our guide, Max, helped us on and off the horses and took care of them in between stops and such. All we really had to do was ride and watch. We hopped off at a lookout and took a quick snack break before heading back. Almost immediately it started to rain. Not pour, but I wouldn’t say “just a sprinkle.” We had planned for the worst, so our raincoats held up pretty well and I started thinking maybe David’s cowboy hat wasn’t such a bad idea.
When we got back around noon we decided to grab lunch and dry off in Apgar Village. Trying a bison burger was on David’s list and that was fulfilled! Leaving Apgar, we hopped on Going-to-the-Sun Road for the first time.
This is listed as a “must do” on all the posts I read before our trip. If you stay in West Glacier, you definitely can’t not take the road – it’s the only road that goes through the whole Park! All other roads either go around or only partially into the park to certain spots. Though it is only two lanes, it has a ton of pull-off opportunities for slower cars, which we found most people were kind enough to use.
The road lived up to the hype for sure! From West Glacier you climb up the side of the mountains/glaciers and have the most incredible views before coming down alongside St. Mary’s Lake.
This lake was actually the background for one of the Forrest Gump running scenes! We absolutely took a video of David running across the bridge.
St. Mary’s is also where our first planned hike was supposed to be, however as soon as we got out of the car we realized it was about 15ºF colder than we expected and windy. Not properly dressed for the occasion, we kept on driving and sightseeing. Depending on traffic it takes probably a minimum of an hour and a half to drive across the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road one way. Definitely more during heavier months.
We got back to Apgar fairly early in the evening and decided to grab supper at a Glacier Grill & Pizza because we found a lot of places were already closed or had weird hours for the season. We got a Kintla Pizza (canadian bacon, sausage, and pepperoni), which David mentioned at least twice a day for the rest of the trip because it was so good.
On the way back north, we made a stop at the Polebridge Mercantile. This was the cutest store and the last place to get any kind of food or supplies before Canada! They’re known for their huckleberry bear claws, so we grabbed a couple for the road. They were super good – David ended up losing part of his to the AirBnb owner’s dog who was a huge fan of the “catch me if you can” game.
Notice how filthy the poor car was at this point. The whole time we were incredibly thankful for rentals and knowing we wouldn’t have to be the ones to give that thing a bath.
Instead of heading back to the tent, we took a ridiculously pot-hole filled, sketchy, unkempt backroad to Bowman Lake, which is in Glacier National Park.
Bowman Lake is a pretty large lake with a picturesque view. Cars are able to drive up to the parking area with only a short walk to the actual lake. The horrors of the road were absolutely worth the view! There was a storm moving in, so we hung around as long as possible and ended up running back to the car as it began to downpour. A reminder that Montana weather is ridiculous!
From here it was a short drive back to the AirBnb where we grabbed showers (outside) and went to bed for an early Monday morning start.
Monday, September 20th, 2021
The day of sadness (kidding, mostly). Confrontation. Bison. Driving.
Monday morning we got up super duper early and drove to the other side of the park via Going-to-the-Sun Road. Our goal was to exit the park on the west side, go north, and reenter at the Many Glacier entrance. From here we would do the two big hikes that we would love/hate ourselves for later: Grinnell Lake and Cracker Lake. Both pretty strenuous hikes with ridiculously beautiful glacier-fed lake views.
Back to the drive there. We met the craziest fog we’ve ever encountered while going over Logan’s Pass. I also missed taking a video of a fox we saw eating something in the middle of the road, which caused a rift in our marriage for sure.
Finally, we made it to the St. Mary’s Entrance again and went to head north. Here we saw something unusual. A “Many Glacier Closed” sign. We were both in disbelief (because I checked road closing when we booked and knew that was a mistake). So we kept heading north and turned onto the road where we found “Road Closed” signs uncomfortably close to the road.
Check your road closures often, friends.
The date we planned to enter was September 20th. Guess what day was the last day Many Glacier was open due to a change in road work deadlines? September 19th. Literally that morning the Many Glacier entrance was officially closed for the season.
Did we try to find a legal way to park and walk, then get in a confrontation with a Park Ranger who assumed we were trying to sneak in? Yes.
We did get #blessed with the most INCREDIBLE view on this adventure, though. God said one rainbow wasn’t enough, so he tossed out a faint second one for us.
The best.
On the drive back we decided we’d make the best of the day and head down to our next adventure in Yellowstone a day early. We stopped by our AirBnb, had a fun convo with the owner, played with their dog, took a shower, and started the trek south!
We made a stop at the National Bison Range in Charlo, MT (near Missoula). This reserve was previously operated under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but earlier in 2021 the reserve began transitioning to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes ownership.
During our $10, 2-ish hour drive through the reserve, we saw a good amount of Bison (super weird, right?), plenty of deer (2 elk deer bucks locking horns!), an antelope, and a grizzly from super far away.
We kept heading south and found exits were sparse and the highway was pitch black for miles and miles. Our night ended in Butte, MT where we snagged a late night hotel and found that the fiance of the girl at the front desk was from Virginia, too (even closer to us than the couple from horseback riding)!
After we left, David did some research about Butte and thought the history of the mining town was pretty interesting! It was also a reminder of how “new” Montana is compared to Virginia (it became a state 100 years after VA!).
All in all, Montana was incredible. 10/10 would live there. I know locals aren’t always fans of tourists (according to Instagram and TikTok), but we had a great experience with everyone we met outside of Many Glacier… looking at you, Park Ranger. We’re hoping to go back one day to actually do a couple hikes and better explore even more of the park!