National Park Travel log 1 - Montana

Did you know that to-date there are 423 National Parks, National Historic Sites, National Battlefields, Seashores, and National Monuments in the United States?

Out of that number 63 are considered “National Parks”.

84 are National Monuments, 31 are National Memorials, and 11 are National Battlefields. The rest are military parks, historical parks, parkways, preserves, rivers, and recreation areas.

Years ago, I made it a life goal to visit all of the national parks. You can see from this list that that is a lofty goal. I also needed to define what I considered a national park-not always easy.

Before every trip we take I check the National Park website (nps.gov) to determine if there are any parks close to where we will be visiting so I can plan a visit. So far, I have over 120 crossed off my list. I have a book where I keep track of where we have been and have yet to visit.

I thought I would share my love for the National Parks with you by breaking down our trips.

Perhaps you can use my tips to plan your own trip or just enjoy the stories I have to tell.

Montana

My husband’s standing joke was that he was going to run off to a mountaintop in Montana whenever the kids drove him crazy. I thought it would be a great gift for his 50th birthday to finally visit Montana so I planned the trip for him.

Now if you’ve never been to Montana, it is humongous! Especially coming from the East Coast where everything is relatively close. Planning the trip required lots of research and we ended up with lots of driving time – we travelled over 1200 miles during our week-long trip.

There are 8 national parks listed for Montana. By my definition there were 7 to visit (I don’t count National trails) and I’d already been to Yellowstone, so that brought the list down to 6.

As I mentioned Montana is humongous and the parks are very far flung. The plan was to visit 3 but we were only able to visit 2 because of the forest fires closing the 3rd while we were there.

Glacier National Park

How to describe Glacier National Park? Magnificent? Awe-inspiring? Breath-taking? It’s all of the above and more.

I’d seen lots of pictures during the planning stage, but true to form, pictures do not do it justice. The sheer size of the mountains and the space is impossible to process.

We stayed at a cabin outside the park -all lodging inside the park was booked or closing for the season. We were in Glacier the second week in September. Glacier has a short season because of the weather. Unfortunately, this means it packs all of its millions of visitors in a short time span. I’d read a lot of stories about how crowded it was going to be and how long the lines were, but this seemed like an OK time to go if you were fine with not staying in the park and weren’t looking for warm weather.

Glacier is also a very large park with only a few entrances and no connections between some of them. We entered at West Glacier on the Going-to-the-Sun Road and knew we were not going to be able to visit the upper portion of the park as it was hours away. Disappointing of course, but hopefully we’ll get there another time.

* Lake McDonald

* Highline trail hike

We had been told that the line to get into Glacier in the morning could stretch for miles and that it was important to get into the park before dawn. This meant we found ourselves driving into the park before 6 am and thankfully no traffic.

The Going-to-the-Sun Road runs across the park and through the Logan Pass. It is an amazing feat of engineering and made me a little nervous driving. Since we entered the park so early, it was still dark as we started the climb up. As the sun rose, we could see the fog high ahead and on one side of us. As it continued to rise, we realized the one side with the fog was a drop off into a valley and we were on a windy road on the side of a mountain. It was glorious. And quite nerve-wracking as the driver.

We arrived at the Logan Pass parking lot at 7 am. I read everywhere to get there early as it has very limited space and fills up quickly. At 7 am it was already partially filled. That’s the thing about building a parking lot on a mountain-very limited space.

Our planned hike was a 16 mile out and back along the Highline trail which included the Garden Wall to Grinnell Glacier overlook. Everything I read described it as worth the hike, but that at peak times the trail could be heavily trafficked. We did see many other hikers, but usually there was some space between us so often we felt alone on the trail.

Many people do not get past the first mile of the trail as it becomes super narrow and is basically on a cliff overlooking the road below. They have very thoughtfully attached a chain covered in a garden hose to the wall so for those of us (me!) who are afraid of heights and drop offs we can hold on for dear life as we traverse the cliff part of the trail. I freely admit both of us were very nervous here and I questioned my sanity (as did my husband) several times.

Once we made it past the scary, narrow cliff part of the trail it opens up and becomes this lovely, windy alpine trail that never has a bad view. Everywhere you look are pine trees and mountains. The air smells so clean and fresh and piney - I wish we could bottle it and bring it home with us. This goes on for miles and miles. Along the way we saw mountain goats, a marmot and were warned of a bear ahead that we never saw despite looking all around.

About 7 miles in there is a split in the trail. At this point you have the option of continuing to the alpine lodge or climbing up the Garden Wall to the glacier overlook. We, of course, selected the straight up the side of a rocky mountain trail to see the glacier. The first half mile was tough, steep up-hill hiking at elevation but doable with beautiful views. As we rounded the corner and continued up the fog rolled in and the rocks started to feel slippery. It was at this point that we both started to get at first nervous, then scared, then terrified. If you have a fear of heights, you will understand how we felt on this damp, rock slab trail with one side going straight up and the other disappearing in the fog. I can honestly say I have never been so scared, but we pushed on. By the top we were both practically on our knees holding onto the rock for dear life. Likely very comical looking in retrospect. Meanwhile, these college students hiking in Vans were practically running up the trail scaring us even more – clearly, they had no fear. Tim and I had enough for everyone. There were quite a number of people in the same boat as us and some turned around.

I wish I could say the overlook was worth it, but we were so exhausted at the top from adrenaline and basically so afraid to move, that it made it difficult to enjoy. Plus, there was fog, wind and it was cold. We were able to see the Grinnell Glacier for our seat on the rocks as far from the edge as possible. Those college students meanwhile were climbing rocks, laughing, and taking selfies. They made us so nervous as the rocks kept slipping from under their feet! I did manage a few pictures by holding my camera up over my head, some even turned out decently.

Thankfully on our way down the fog rolled back out and somehow downhill was much easier than uphill. We saw mountain goats on the rocks with the backdrop of mountains and pine trees which was an added perk.

We don’t always love out and back hikes, but this one was different as we were able to see the amazing view that previously was behind us. It didn’t disappoint. After the Glacier trail fright, the scary, narrow cliff part seemed easy – there was a chain to hold onto!
This hike took us 9 hours total, including stops and lunch (and our crawl up the Garden Wall) and was well worth every second. This is a hike I will remember forever. I just wish I could figure out how to authentically duplicate the smell of the alpine forest.

* Saint Mary Lake

The next day we again got to the park early to beat the traffic, made a quick stop to see Lake McDonald at sunrise with the fog lifting. Just gorgeous. We made it to Logan Pass closer to 8 this morning. It was packed and we had to take turns driving to use the restroom because no parking spots. The trip up Going-to-the-Sun Road was foggy again, but this day you could clearly see how it was the highest peaks of Glacier that kept the clouds and fog from escaping the West side of the park. The clouds would bump up against the peaks and roll back down over and over. When we crossed over Logan Pass and began the descent down the other side it was like a different park. The sun was shining and there was no fog-simply amazing! I could have just stood there watching this phenomenon.

The East side of Going-to-the-Sun road is lovely, but doesn’t have the same grand peaks and valley. We visited Saint Mary Lake which is a long glacier lake that runs alongside the road and did a short hike to get closer to the lake. The hike had a few small waterfalls and a pebbly beach on the lake. There were more people here though as it is closer to the road, but still a nice stop.

Exiting Glacier is quite the experience. As you drive south along the border of the East side of the park you go in and out of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and watch the huge peaks of Glacier start to fade in your rear-view mirror as you enter the high desert that surrounds this amazing place.

Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site

Our second national park of the trip was Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge, Montana. This national park is a working cattle ranch where you can see how the old Montana cattle ranches ran at their peak.

The National Park service always does an amazing job with these smaller sites. Everything was well maintained and there were park employees dressed as ranchers in period clothing to give us the history of cattle ranching in Montana, something neither of us knew anything about (we had yet to watch “Yellowstone”).

The scenery here was lovely; flat with the mountains in the distance.
The highlight of the visit to the ranch was the simulation “chuck wagon”. A man dressed as the chuck wagon chef made ranch hand coffee and talked with us about how the chuck wagons came into existence and their purpose to ranchers. The coffee was super strong! We greatly enjoyed listening to him with the other couple who was there with us.
Another highlight was the lassoing practice. They had a sawhorse with a head set up and a lasso for practice. Needless to say, I was not at all successful and I wasn’t even on a horse! Tim had better luck after some practice.

We always enjoy our visits to these smaller parks and historic sites. They are much less crowded and there is always something to learn.

Our visit to Montana was a success. Such an unexpected place with high desert, grand mountains, and so much flat land it was staggering. We visited as much of the state as we could during our 1200-mile tour. I understand now why it is called “Big Sky” country.

Another bonus is that Tim no longer threatens to run off to a mountaintop in Montana, likely because he now realizes how truly high they are and that there is just so much open space.

TIPS:

-Join Friends of Glacier NP Facebook group for excellent ideas and tips. It’s also a great place to look at the lovely photos other visitors took at Glacier NP and to post your own.

-Try not to travel during peak time. There is a reservation system now and they are limiting entry. It is so much nicer to be there with less people.

-It’s worth getting up early to beat the rush and to experience the park at sunrise.

-Get out of your car and explore – immerse yourself in the experience and take those deep breaths of alpine air, there is truly nothing like it.