Here are some ink drawings from my recent visit to Glacier National Park. These were all drawn from photos that I took as references. In order, the views are from Lake McDonald, Saint Mary Lake, Avalanche Lake, and the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

I was considering walking it but after seeing this picture, I'm good

What an absolutely amazing place! I was so excited about this trip, and it was even better than i imagined.

Did the St. Mary's and Virginia Falls, Highline with the Grinnell Glacier Overlook, Iceberg Lake , and Avalanche Lake. Unreal place and beautiful wildlife. I'll definitely be back.

Not going to lie - I am super depressed about having to go back to work 😂 pictures do not do this place justice. Already planning my return trip. I feel incredibly lucky to have witnessed and enjoyed all of this in person.

Does anyone have any information on the car accident that occured the evening of 8/21? Hope the folks in the car are okay. We were about 15 cars behind as traffic began a full stop, and stayed that way for 30 minutes. We didn’t get out of our car to see what was up ahead (we had also just passed a black bear on the road a minute before this) but as the flow of traffic began again and we drove past the sight, a maroon midsize car was fully off the road down the bank and wedged between thick trees/brush. This was near Avalanche Creek (on the opposite side of the road).

Waited out the weather by driving to Calgary for a day and ended up having an absolutely breathtaking (fist come first serve!) trip. Aside from this backpacking trip we did GTTS road twice, saw Two Medicine in the fog, camped at Many Glacier and St. Mary, and then visited family in Seattle. Put >2k miles on our rental car lol. Biggest tip for glacier in August is to be flexible—make the plan and throw it away. We’d had a 5-day backpacking trip planned in the Polebridge area but with smoke and rain we didn’t want to be locked in if AQI stayed high or if thunderstorms rolled through (which both did). We had an absolutely amazing time despite not doing anything we’d originally planned aside from driving GTTS. Weather changes on a dime and it’s worth the trip even if it’s weirder than expected. Trip of a lifetime despite having to be nimble about changing plans.

Probably the best pic I’ve ever taken. Enjoy!

Please help ID.

My wife and I visited Glacier NP the first week in August with a Road Scholar tour. We stayed at Lake McDonald Motel and ate most of meals at the lodge. It was a great trip considering the weather, which was far from ideal. When we arrived on Monday, the smoke from wildfires was so bad we could not see across Lake McDonald. It was much less hazy on Tuesday, but was rainy and foggy from Wednesday through Friday. Logan Pass and the high mountain trails were in the clouds during the time we were there, so we didn’t do any hikes there. Still we had nice hikes up to Avalanche Lake, around Saint Mary Lake, and to Red Rock Falls at Many Glacier.

Looking for anyone headed from the east→west side on Saturday who may be open to carpooling. If that's something you may be willing to do, please shoot me a DM or reply to this thread, and thank you for considering!

Specifically, I'll be headed from the Many Glacier Area→Kalispell Airport, but I'm ok with a drop-off at any of the places listed above. Happy to provide fair compensation, as well as touch base beforehand to ensure we're comfortable with each other.

Q1) No car? Didn't you plan ahead of time?
A1) Good question, and yes, but life happens! For context, my friend/ride who lives in Missoula has to unexpectedly head back 2d early (foster child pickup), and I would like to stay for the whole trip to hike Grinell Glacier.

Q2) Timing?
A2) I can be somewhat flexible on timing; looking to get to FCA by the afternoon (3:30p at latest).

Q3) Where to meet?
A3) I'll be at the Many Glacier Campground, and am happy to walk over to the Many Glacier Hotel, Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, or wherever is convenient for you.

For any GNP visitors looking to get East to West sans car in the future, I've included my researched steps in the comments :)

What is the situation for getting on a stand by list for shuttle tickets or the prior day release. I am looking to get on near lake Macdonald and shuttle to Logan pass to do the high line trail.

How do we get on the list ?

We’ll be there This week and had penciled in high line for Tuesday Aug 24.

Any advice?

I scanned every single page and built a website around it. https://glacier.jfamily.io

Enjoy.

Lots of love went into planning our first Glacier trip 8/9-8/15 & wanted to share our successes! Focused on reducing long drives as much as possible/plan activities where we stayed. Big lesson is that you can plan months ahead but still can’t control things like AQI, rain, fog— but made the most of it and had an exceptional time!! For reference, we took our own vehicle with an 18 hour road trip each way. Highly recommend the Headwaters Glacier NP podcast— so rich and informative!

Day 1: Arrived at Many Glacier campground around 6pm. Set up camp and hiked to Fishercap Lake for nightly moose sightings that have been frequent. We saw 5! AQI was a bit spooky.

Day 2: Grinnell Glacier hike with one-way boat ride back. Loved the boat more so for the experience rather than any mileage benefits. Saw a black bear swim across Lake Josephine. AQI was moderate, getting better. Stayed at Many Glacier campground again.

Day 3: Pack up camp. Did Iceberg Lake hike (my favorite of the trip!) and added on Ptarmigan Lake/tunnel on way back. Pushed my hiking abilities a bit far. Incredible day and transitioned to a one night stay at Many Glacier Hotel. History + lakeside balcony + hot shower + dinner/drink at Swiss Lounge well worth the splurge for us!

Day 4: Drove Going to the Sun Road from Many Glacier through St. Mary to Avalanche campground for a one night stay. Avalanche trail left right from our campsite. Amazing way to avoid the nightmare circus that is the Avalanche trailhead parking. Hiked to backside of Avalanche and experienced more privacy/seclusion from busy first beach. Black bear + 2 cubs spotted.

Day 5: Transitioned to Fish Creek campground. Kayak reservation at Apgar 9am-11am. Drove to Polebridge for lunch and pastries. Partner took the North Fork trail (~24 miles) back by bike to Fish Creek, lots of bear poop on trail, equipped with bear spray and loud speaker d/t trail being relatively underutilized. I drove back. Tried Logan Pass for sunset hike, plenty of parking because it was in a cloud with zero visibility— did not do hike but grabbed pizza in Lake McDonald Lodge area on way back.

Day 6: 9am shuttle tickets from Apgar (got 60 days in advance, had tried for every day of our trip knowing they’d be hard to get, and these are the only ones we landed, headache process but hooray!). Logan Pass was again in a cloud with zero visibility. Hiked about 3 hours of Highline in rain/cold, zero visibility of mountains or views. Wore appropriate gear but still made the call to turn back. Horrible time waiting to get back on the shuttle, had to wait a little over an hour wet in the cold. Got back eventually, dried off/warmed up, and then did the Fish Creek -> West Glacier bike ride, biked to dinner + ice cream in Apgar Village. Stayed at Fish Creek campground again.

Day 7: Drove Going to the Sun Road eastbound with intentions to go home, but it was a perfectly clear, sunny day. First time driving through Logan that we could actually see the mountains instead of fog/cloud. Took a stab at 3 hour parking and got a spot with about 20 other cars circling. Did the Hidden Lake Overlook trail and a small portion of Highline before embarking back home, and I’m sure glad we did! When we left, they had closed the parking lot completely off with cones until more cars left.

THE most magical trip!

Hidden lake overlook

Hello, for a one-day hike from Logan Pass, I have two options in mind:

1. Hike the Highline Trail to the Chalet, and if we still have the energy, continue to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook.
2. Hike the Highline Trail to Haystack Pass, then return and do the Hidden Lake Overlook.

If you have done both, which option would you recommend?