Camping in Glacier National Park

This weekend I had the incredible opportunity to camp in Glacier National Park, my absolute favorite place in the world. Located in northwestern Montana, this huge park is home to soaring mountains, lush forests, sparkling blue rivers and lakes, various wildlife, and of course, glaciers.

To put it simply, Glacier is my happy place. There’s something about being surrounded by mountains that reach high into the clouds that really puts things into perspective. It’s humbling. Plus, there’s no cell service, and sometimes a girl just needs to unplug and get off the grid.

So here’s a rundown of my action-packed weekend. Enjoy!

Friday

As some of you may have read already, Thursday night was a little nuts. My boyfriend Chris and I tried and failed to find a camping spot in Glacier that night.

Friday morning, we found a nice spot in Apgar, a bigger campground near the west entrance of Glacier. As we finished setting up camp, a park ranger stopped by to inform us of the large amount of grizzly bear activity near our campground.

Sidenote: For those who don’t know, there is a lot of wildlife in Glacier National Park. Gophers, voles, chipmunks, eagles, waterfowl, billy goats, big-horned sheep, mountain lions, moose, and bears.

The ranger reminded us to store all of our foodstuffs in the bear safe container near our campsite. Food odors attract bears, and if you leave anything out, there’s a good chance a grizzly or black bear will wander into your campsite and wreak havoc. Not only does this put you and your fellow campers in danger, but it’s also bad for the bears. Once a bear tastes human food, it becomes conditioned to go after it again and again. And when that happens, the offending bear is often euthanized.

After settling in, Chris and I drove Going-To-The-Sun Road, a 50-mile long paved road that connects the park’s western and eastern entrances. The 81-year-old road winds its way through the park, gaining thousands of feet in elevation until its highest point at Logan Pass (about 6,600 feet).

This road is narrow, so it’s nerve-racking to drive sometimes, especially for those driving wide vehicles. Jagged rock walls jut out into the road, making it challenging for taller trucks or campers to maneuver. And on the other side of two-lane road, the edge of the pavement bumps up against a cliff drop-off.

We stopped in the east side of the park and hiked to St. Mary’s Falls and Virginia Falls. We spent about three hours on the trail, hiking and snapping pictures.

St. Mary’s Falls, Glacier National Park, July 25, 2014.

On our way back to the car, we happened upon a deer munching on some plants along the trail. It wandered down the trail right toward me and Chris, but ignored us. We took pictures but remained still so as not to startle it.

That evening, we took pictures of the sun setting over Lake McDonald. As the sun dropped below the mountains, a gorgeous pink tint colored the clouds. We, along with the dozen other photographers camped out on the beach, were pretty excited with the scene.

The sun sets over Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park, July 25, 2014.

Later that night, the temperature dropped to about 48 degrees. It was much colder than we had anticipated, and I didn’t sleep much. Even though I was wearing a sweatshirt and two pairs of sweatpants, I shivered all night because my feet were cold. I kicked myself for not packing any warm socks.

Saturday

Having spent the previous night as human icicles, Chris and I made a trip to Whitefish, MT (about a half hour away from Glacier) to buy cold weather supplies. We both walked out of the local Army Navy surplus store with thick wool socks and a large wool blanket. We slept much better that night.

Later, we hiked 15 miles up the Highline Trail, just across Going-To-The-Sun Road from Logan Pass. This is one of my favorite trails in Glacier. It’s literally carved into the mountainside, hundreds of feet above the road, so all the people and cars below look like children’s toys. It’s extremely narrow, and everyone hikes single file.

The views from this trail are spectacular. Because we were so high up, we could see for miles and miles–mountains and rivers as far as the eye could see.

The stunning mountains of Glacier National Park, July 26, 2014.

Along this trail, we ran into all kinds of wildlife. Dozens of gophers and chipmunks ran across the trail, sometimes so close to us that we nearly stepped on the little buggers. One billy goat scared the heck out of me. It was perched on a ledge about eight feet up the mountain from the trail. I rounded the corner, looked up, and screeched.

A billy goat rests in the shade along the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park, July 26, 2014.

The goat was staring right at me, completely unbothered by my presence.

A few minutes later, an older gentleman and his wife walked around the corner. The man saw the goat and got excited. His wife rounded the corner behind him, took one look at it and said “nope” and turned around.

“Aww Phyllis, come on. Come over here and look at the goat!” he said.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she fired back.

With some more coaxing, the man convinced Phyllis to come closer and take pictures of him with the goat. He loved that thing, but she wasn’t having any of it. Their whole interaction was really cute in that “arguing like an old married couple” kind of way.

Chris and I continued down the trail for about five more miles and hiked over two different glaciers (wet, cold feet!) before we turned around and started back toward the trailhead.

We were almost there when we saw a big-horned sheep making its way down the trail toward us. We scrambled up the rocky mountainside and sat with our backs to a cliff wall, trying look inconspicuous.

Suddenly, two thick, curled horns appeared in my viewfinder, followed by a pair of “crazy” eyes. The sheep looked up at us, and for a second I was certain it would charge. I held my breath. It stood just feet away from us for several seconds before it continued down the path. I exhaled, and noticed a tour bus was parked on the road below full of people whose binoculars were trained on me, Chris, and this sheep.

We made it back to the car with tired muscles, hungry bellies, and a sense of accomplishment. We hiked 15 miles in six hours. We returned to camp, roasted hot dogs over the fire and relaxed before we turned in for the night.

Sunday

I sit inside of an old tree along the Trail of the Cedars trail in Glacier National Park, July 27. 2014.

Sunday was a slow day. We slept in, packed up our campsite, and enjoyed a short one-hour hike along the Trail of the Cedars. We walked among trees that were thousands of years old and over 200 feet tall.

After our hike, Chris and I enjoyed lunch at Eddie’s Restaurant in Apgar Village, near the park entrance. We devoured buffalo burgers as big as our faces and sipped on tall glasses of huckleberry lemonade.

We topped it all off with scoops of ice cream from the neighboring ice cream shop. Moose tracks for me and mint chocolate chip for Chris.

After I insisted on a picture of the two of us in front of the Glacier National Park sign, we left the park. Leaving is always a sad moment for me. Last year, I actually cried when we left, much like a child would when leaving Disneyland. With Glacier being six hours away from Moscow, it’s not always easy to get there. But it’s so worth it when we do.

Chris and I pose in front of the Glacier National Park sign, July 27, 2014.