<p>Can anyone give me info on visiting Glacier in August? What airport would we use? We are family of 4 (boys 15 & 18). All are in fairly good shape (boys play soccer - parents are moderately fit), but I don’t see us hiking around the park for more than a couple of days. What else is in the area? And where should we stay if we won’t spend a lot of time at the park (not really interested in staying in the park - prefer somewhere moderately priced, but clean & comfy)?</p>
<p>Trying to sell my kids on this instead of somewhere “beachy”. It will not be easy!</p>
<p>I remember this as a beautiful place although it has been 19 years (where does the time go) this month since I visited. We flew into Kalispell and stayed for about 5 days. There was hiking and white water rafting. We also visited Big Mountain (I think that’s what it’s called). The highway through the park was not yet completely open when we were there in June. There were deer everywhere when we parked the car and walked in where the road was closed.</p>
<p>We wanted to go, but the roads are only open during a brief window when the weather is temperate enough for the passes to be clear, I believe. There is an Amtrak package for the park as well.</p>
<p>We hope to get there some day. When we go to national parks, we always try to stay within the park so we don’t spend all our time driving. I too have read & heard that it’s beautiful. You can google it at nps.gov and find out more.</p>
<p>Two reasonable airports to choose from–Missoula and Kalispell. Both are served by regional jets out of SLC. Kalispell is much closer, but the drive from Missoula to Kalispell is lovely. And sometimes airfares between the two differ significantly.</p>
<p>We went a few years ago with a group of friends from college and it was amazing. We drove in from Seattle. We rented a house and cooked our own meals, and went across to Canada for a day. White water rafting was a ton of fun… your sons might enjoy that. A few of us went horseback riding. We went in July and it was still pretty chilly.</p>
<p>The friend that organized our trip put together an entire wiki for our trip, complete with guides and activities and itineraries. We went back and put our photos and journal updates in. It’s still active, so I’ll send it to you via PM. :)</p>
<p>We stayed at Many Glaciers Hotel in the park and for the location it was great. The rooms are small though. There is a great restaurant by the entrance off of 89 to Many Glaciers called Two Sisters- great burgers.</p>
<p>Hiking there is great, white water rafting is great, and seeing incredible wildlife is great. We had two bears wrestle with each other twenty feet from our car! And I agree with UT84321- the trip from Missoula is beautiful. Missoula is also a really cool town- you might want to spend some time there; maybe check out the University of Montana.</p>
<p>The lodges in the park are GREAT if you can find any availability. It is so quiet at night and you can see a million stars from the park lodges. One must-do is a drive along “Going-to-the-Sun” road. We were there a few years ago, but there is a waterpark, a maze-type attraction, and a drive through bear park all near the West Entrance of the park which are fun diversions. I recommend buying a Frommer’s Guide to the National Parks, it will give you some tips about places to stay, things to see. Our kids loved seeing the mountain goats and marmots at the very top visitor’s center on Going to the Sun road.</p>
<p>We went to Glacier about 5-6 years ago and really enjoyed our trip. Since we live in Colorado, we drove-- so I don’t have any suggestions about flying. We stayed at the Izaac Walton Inn, which is outside the park, on the west side. While we liked the Inn, I would have preferred staying in the park. You’ll do a LOT of driving–everything is a long way from everything else. We especially enjoyed driving into Canada and visiting Waterton Park, a Canadian National Park that adjoins the north edge of Glacier. I think if I went again, I would stay in Waterton.</p>
<p>Another fan of Glacier. I will never forget watching (from a respectfully safe distance) a bull moose chomping down plants.</p>
<p>We flew into Spokane and drove, stopping in Idaho and Missoula. We also stayed at Many Glacier, but had a far larger room/suite: two good-sized bedrooms connected by a bathroom with an old-fashioned clawfoot tub. There are a good number of trailheads from the Many Glacier area. I found when looking at possible hikes that there were far more that I wanted to do than we had time for. The lodge isn’t cheap, but very good value, historic, charming, with a wonderful historic tour of the interior public areas. Note: no elevators, you’ll be doing a fair bit of walking up and down stairs. The dining room looks out on the continental divide. Service is slow (seasonal workers are college students coming from around the world) but good-natured. A couple nights we drove to the aforementioned Two Sisters Cafe (I have a wonderful picture of D1 and D2 standing in front of the sign ) which I best remember for the very good pie. That was a half-hour drive each way, a lovely drive, but still, a bit tedious. I think it would be equally tedious to have to drive into the park each day. On the other hand, reservations may have filled up already. </p>
<p>The best way to see Going-to-the-Sun road is on one of the tours, which use historic long red touring cars. Driving G-t-t-S road is, uhm, an experience :eek:. The driver is not going to get to see much, since he/she will be focussing entirely on not plunging off the road.</p>
<p>If you happen to go on Going to the Sun all the way to the east entrance to Glacier, do not neglect the Park Cafe in St. Marys. The pies of my dreams. Pie for Strength.</p>
<p>Used to live in Missoula, early 80’s, so it’s been a LONG time.
Fly into Missoula airport, and drive north - which is / was a nice drive. </p>
<p>Many Glaciers Lodge was a wonderful place, but I read some years ago, it fell into disrepair, and only hope it has been maintained. </p>
<p>I think there has been serious tree bug blight, which may not look very impressive, but the entire area, is so wonderful. Have great memories of hiking some trails, and camping.</p>
<p>Sounds really fun to me, but my kids are not impressed :-). I think DH & I will have to go alone later. That drivethrough bear park sounds like an awesome photo opp. I would love to try that!!!</p>
<p>I’m saving the contents of this thread away for later…thanks!!</p>
) which I best remember for the very good pie. That was a half-hour drive each way, a lovely drive, but still, a bit tedious. I think it would be equally tedious to have to drive into the park each day. On the other hand, reservations may have filled up already. </p>