I will be camping - while backpacking is not out of the question, it is more likely I would be car (tent) camping. I prefer more isolated sites but as long as there a few trees in between sites I’m OK (I don’t need to so isolated that I can’t see other sites)
I’d probably do quite a bit of hiking - maybe a boat trip or 2. I like terrain and water.
How early in the year is it practical? (I like campfires so later in the year there may be an issue with burning bans)
I recommend Many Glacier Campground. It is booked full in the summer. But if you can put up with neighbors, walk in campsites are available. No problem, most of your day will be spent hiking. Lots to see.
Some years mosquitoes are a problem. Bring repellent.
Definitely, do the highway to the sun. It is incredible.
The two time constraints you’ve really got are that the Going-to-the-Sun Road usually doesn’t open until very late June to early July, but by late July fire season could be going strong. So far, snowpack is just a tad above average, so if I had to bet I’d say first week of July. There’s other stuff to do in the low country, but you definitely want to plan to be there when the road is open. (If you do go there near the beginning of that window, sometimes they only have the road open to Logan Pass from the west side, which gives you the best of the scenery, but sucks if you’re planning on going to the east side and have to backtrack a bunch.)
The North Fork Road (which goes along the west side of the park) has some pretty scenery and some more rustic and less crazy-busy campsites. There’s also some pretty road-accessable National Forest land off to the west of there, so if you’ve got a higher clearance vehicle and don’t mind dry camping you can probably find a nice flat spot with a fire ring up there somewhere with no neighbors at all!
Also depending on how you get there, there’s great car camping down the Swan Valley to the southwest or in some of the roads that go up into the Rocky Mountain Front to the southeast of the park. This’d also be a great year to do the Waterton Lakes stuff, given the exchange rate! I’ve never done more than gone up and poked around the fancy hotel there, though.
Go the first week in July, later in the summer gets really buggy.
At the top of going to the Sun road there is a short hike up the glacier to see the Rocky Mountain goats. Don’t miss it.
Be aware that thunderstorms in summer are very common and can be violent…so have a plan (visitor center, etc.) just in case. Bring the rain flap for your tent.
I don’t know your route, but Missoula and Helena are both nice towns.
It can be truly said that anywhere you go in Glacier National Park, the scenery is awesome. My personal recommendation for car camping would be Two Medicine in the southeastern corner of the park. Apgar, on a lakeshore on the western side, is also spectacular. So is everywhere else. My recommendation for a hike would be Pitamakan Pass. Anywhere else is good too.
Seconded. The goats in that area are almost tame which in some ways is a drag but it does let you see them very close.
I’d recommend the hike to Iceberg Lake Pictures don’t do it justice.
Even if you plan in staying in a tent the whole time stop at Many Glacier Hotel for a snack or a meal (I loved the cheese plate). It’s a great example of “parkitecture” and they had nightly fires in the massive fire place.
The Highline Trail is a must. It goes just under the Garden Wall which is one of the most impressive parts of the Continental Divide. It’s a fairly level trail, but the side trail up to the Divide itself about six miles in to overlook the Grinnell Glacier is definitely worth the uphill. And the views looking down and out to the west are spectacular.
From personal experience, I can say the Highline gives you good chances of seeing bighorn sheep fairly close up.
The Prius shouldn’t have a big problem with the dirt road (Inside North Fork) on the western edge. Its not really too bad. Great camping up there (Logging Creek, Quartz Creek, Bowman and Kintla Lakes) and away from all the old-timers in their mobile hotels.
We stayed at Logging Creek, and most other people had normal 2wd cars. Nice pit toilets and water available, plenty of firewood for harvesting. I rode my motorcycle around the entire west side and checked out the other campgrounds and lakes. Very nice.
I am doing a slight revival of this quasi-zombie, but I wanted to inquire about the standard procedure for getting a campsite without a reservation (as I am checking Glacier off of my list at long last this summer!)
Do I need to wait until noon or should I be there at the crack of dawn?
Does everyone just circle around and wait for people to pull out of a site?
Could I talk to someone that was leaving and ask them nicely if I can take their site and then go pay and post it before they leave?
With regard to the walk-in sites, I presume that these are the hiking/biking sites. We are backpacking for most of the trip so these would also work if a regular site isn’t available. Are the walk-ins always available?
Here is the average for Two Medicine in July (first 15 days)
1 5:07pm Filled 1 time
2 5:33pm Filled 2 times
3 5:11pm Filled 2 times
4 5:02pm Filled 2 times
5 7:34pm Filled 2 times
6 5:42pm Filled 2 times
7 4:22pm Filled 2 times
8 3:09pm Filled 1 time
9 5:29pm Filled 3 times
10 4:02pm Filled 3 times
11 4:36pm Filled 4 times
12 4:25pm Filled 4 times
13 4:24pm Filled 3 times
14 3:45pm Filled 3 times
15 2:51pm Filled 3 times
I’m not sure how it works in Glacier, but when I went to Zion, the host removed the tags on all the siste that were leaving that day so any posts that were empty were open. Go to the self register and reserve. Then put your recipt on the pole and wait.
When I went to Grand Teton (JHenny Lake campground) I did end up asking folks if they were leaving and did a similar procedure. After reserving the site I parked at the visitor center and went for a short hike while waiting for the folkks to leave.
For the record, I did camp at Two Medicine. I arrived late on the 4th and stayed in a motel that night. I got to the campground early (my body was still on Central time).
Since it was 4th of July weekend, some sites were reserved for picnicking which did make it a bit harder to find one (I only looked in the generator free loop)
A park volunteer saw I was looking for a site and said campsite 10 was open.
It is near a road intersection but otherwise a nice tent campsite.
I had a nice view of Rising Wolf MT form my picnic table
Activities:
Day 1: Hiked Aster park, some of Scenic Point, and Running Eagle falls
Day 2: Biked from St Mary to Logan Pass, then hiked some of (mostly snow covered) Hidden Lake trail
Day 3: Ranger led hike to Dawson Pass (taking the boat to shorten the hike)
WX was good except light rain on day 3 (and 100ft visibility at the pass)
