The Best Hikes in Glacier National Park

I recently spent an amazing 3 days at Glacier National Park.  Hands down this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen and the mountains are truly breathtaking!  I flew into Missoula with two of my flight attendant friends and had the adventure of a lifetime.  We stayed in the local town of Whitefish about a 30 minute drive from the park.  I definitely recommend renting a car to get around the park as the drive into the park during the peak season can take up to an hour.  

Our first day at the park we went into the West entrance.  The entire East side of the park was closed due to Covid-19.  We got up bright and early at 5:30am as we were told the park already starts to get crowded at 7am!  From the West entrance we drove into the park about 30 minutes and found parking to take the Avalanche Lake Trail.  This trail was about 8 miles round trip and was pretty mild, not difficult, slightly uphill at times.  On the trail we saw beautiful scenery.  We saw a gorgeous gorge with rushing water and stopped for a photo op.  To top if off, the ending to our hike at Avalanche Lake was definitely worth it!  We stopped and enjoyed our lunch here and sat by the water.  The mountains were absolutely breathtaking.  And, just before we arrived at the lake, another hiker had seen a momma and baby grizzly bear!  This was my favorite hike as the final destination was the most beautiful spot in the park. 

After our hike we went back on the Going the Sun road and drove about an hour up a steep winding pathway and stopped at many places along the road for awesome photo opportunities.  One of the best was stopping to see the Jackson Glacier, one of the few left in the park.  This is a beautiful scenic drive but make sure during the peak season you have an ample amount of time as this drive took us a few hours!  

The second day was filled with all day hiking.  We started out early and arrived at the Logan’s Pass Visitor Center only to find that the parking lot was full.  So, we drove down a few miles further and were able to find a parking space on the side of the road.  Not wanting to have to hike to get to our hike we were actually successful at hitchhiking!  Don’t worry we were safe and it was a friendly older couple who offered us a ride, haha.  Once we arrived at the Visitor’s Center we took the Hidden Lake Nature Trail.  On this trail we saw tons of cool wildlife including marmots and we even saw a mountain goat!  This trail was almost all uphill so we had to stop and take a few breaks along the way.  The overlook view at the top made the uphill hike worth it and stayed at this spot and admitted the view for at least an hour.

We decided to stop at the overlook and turn back around as we wanted to get in another hike that day.  Afterwards we took the Going the Sun Road and stopped at the Sun Point Nature Trail to see a waterfall.  We took the short hike to Baring Falls which was the first of 3 gorgeous waterfalls you could see along this trail.  We stopped at Baring Falls and had our lunch under the waterfall which was an amazing experience.  We really wanted to make it to see the most impressive waterfall but weather and time were not our side so we called it a day and headed back to Whitefish.  

Our third day at the park we booked a white water rafting excursion with Glacier Raft Company.  This company was right inside the West Entrance of the park.  Our raft guide Gavin was very good and I would highly recommend him!  Our trip was so much fun!  Our raft guide tried to dump us in the water but due to the currents being so calm was unable to, so we jumped into the 50 degree water instead!  The raft trip was about 3 hours long and we got to see some beautiful scenery along the way.  Since we were still damp from our raft trip we decided to head over to Red Rock where you can jump off a cliff into the crystal clear water.  We sunbathed on the rocks and met some amazing people while just hanging out at this spot.  It took me several attempts to get up the courage to make the plunge but eventually I was successful!  This day was definitely an adventure filled day!  

In summation, I definitely feel like I had the experience of a lifetime!  It seemed like even though some parts of the park were closed, we still got to see a huge portion of the park and were able to fit a lot in within our 3 days.  The only place we didn’t make it to that I wish we had was stopping along Lake McDonald to see the colorful pebbles.  We met some really cool people along the way and always felt safe.  Everyone we came across was super nice and helpful.  I really felt at one with nature and know I’ll have some amazing memories to last a lifetime!  Hoping when you visit Glacier National Park that you have just as great an adventure as me!!!  Until my next adventure... 💚🏔