June is already upon us and I am just realizing we’re already at the mid year mark of 2021. Winter is long gone, spring stayed just long enough for me to wear my Kooples trench coat just once, and lately the NY weather is reminding me that I need to clean my AC filter.

Just as the city is springing back to life, I am slowly coming out of Covid hibernation, carefully planning some adventures within the States. Me and my girlfriends looked at options for some outdoor fun, and decided to fly to Montana and pay a visit to Glacier National Park. I am long overdue for a vacation and while I want to maximize my time off from my day job, I also reminded myself that I should allow myself more breaks - when on vacation. It’s easy to want to produce a jam-packed schedule when on holidays - you take that red eye flight, plan your day trips, optimize the routes for sightseeing and restaurants, and return to work the moment you return home… This time, I got some recommendations from friends on hiking trails, got the necessary park passes, and let the weather determine our schedules (turns out, you can’t really plan much anyway because the weather is highly unpredictable anyway).

Kalispell and Flathead Lake

Arriving at the Glacier Park International Airport mid day after a rain shower, I am reminded that I am in no longer in a populous state. The small airport has no escalators and just under 10 gates, probably just enough to serve the visitors coming to visit Glacier National Park every year. We picked up our rental car keys, grabbed a dozen or so pamphlets for maps, sights and information, and walked out to the small parking lot to find our ride. We pretty much did the planning for the day as we pulled out of the parking lot and drove to our lunch spot in Kalispell. After a quick meal at a local restaurant (also a casino), we drove south towards Flathead Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake in the western United States, for a short lakeside walk in West Shore State Park.

We arrived at the state park, currently opened for short hikes and overnight camping. Along the shoreline you get a view of the We walked along the little islands on the lake. Some 15,000 years ago, the area was covered by ice dams. Flathead Lake formed when the ice dams broke and the floods created the region’s geography. We originally intended on staying near the shoreline but must have made a wrong turn and turned our walk into a short hike. This is all good because by the time we’re done at the park it was time to head back into town and head to our airbnb in Columbia Falls.

On our way to Columbia Falls, we stopped by Sweet Peaks Ice Cream, a local scoop shop, for an afternoon snack. When in Montana, you have to go for the local flavors like the Huckleberry Lemon Pie and Griz Tracks. It was in the gift shop in Sweet Peaks that I learned the entire state of Montana shares one single area code - 406. Created in 1947, it has been the only area code for all of Montana.

We made it to our airbnb in Columbia Falls around 5PM, and because of the time difference compared to NY, we did some quick planning by pulling out the pamphlets and maps and marked off the first hike within Glacier National Park for the next day, made our own black out curtains as the sun doesn’t set till 9:30PM, and went off to bed at 8PM.

West Glacier and Avalanche Lake

The next morning we all were up by 6AM as we’re still in NY time, decided to stop by Montana Coffee Roasters for breakfast right when it opens at 7AM, and started our morning drive into Glacier National Park. Entering from West Glacier, we drove up the Going to the Sun Road to Avalanche Creek, the furthest we could go due to plowing (the full road connecting the East and West side of the park doesn’t open till July when it’s peak travel season). We parked our car and started our hike to Avalanche Lake via the Trail of the Cedars. The first part of the hike was a wooded pathway surrounded by huge trees, and as you make a left onto The Avalanche Lake Trail you’re greeted by waterfalls, mountain ranges and a gorgeous lake at the end. When we got to the lake we saw a few deer coming real close within 10 feet.

Avalanche Lake

We made our way towards other end of the lake treading through little streams and rocky paths, and my waterproof hiking boots definitely came in handy.

On the way back the sun came out and we saw a rainbow over the waterfall!

After the hike we drove back down Going to the Sun Road towards Lake McDonald and stopped at Lake McDonald lodge, the historical Swiss chalet building first built in 1913. We grabbed a quick lunch and hopped on for a one hour boat tour of Lake McDonald. On the tour, we learned that the lodge was first built facing the lake, where early visitors travel by train and boat to the hotel. The other side of the lake is currently bare because of a natural wildfire in 2018, and a bald eagle’s nest on top of a bare tree became very visible from the distance. We also learned that pine trees actually need wildfires to regenerate as their pine cones require a high temperature to pop for better seed dispersal.

After our boat tour, we made it back to Apgar Visitor Center near the West entrance to ask a few questions about hiking that’s currently open, and the options for stargazing or viewing the northern lights. The ranger gave us a great resource - Alaska Fairbanks University does an aurora forecast and anything above a 7 on the index means you have a high probability of viewing the northern lights in good weather. The indexes were pretty low for the days we’re staying, and besides we have been going to sleep before sunset… We stopped by Apgar Village for a view of Lake McDonald from the other end before leaving the park for the day.

On our way back to the airbnb, we stopped by the store to get some famous huckleberry pies and made a grocery store run and stayed in for the night.

East Glacier and Three Falls Trail

Day 3 of our trip and we are still on NY time. We made ourselves breakfast at our airbnb bright and early in the morning, and got ready for day 2 of our Glacier National Park tour. We made our way around route 2 along the bottom of the park, driving towards the East end of Glacier. It is about a 2 hour drive to get to the other side, but the drive was surprisingly scenic. We made a few stops along the way, admiring the different views of snow capped mountains and winding roads.

And we made it to the Saint Mary entrance of the park! Obligatory photo with the park sign:

We drove up the Going to the Sun road towards Sun Point, our starting point of the Three Falls Trail. The hike loops around Saint Mary Lake, which is 4484 ft wide and is surrounded by snow capped mountains. We first hiked 0.6 miles to Baring Falls, a waterfall right near a narrow wooden bridge. Then it’s another 1.5 miles to St Mary Falls, and another 0.7 miles to the biggest waterfall of the hike - Virginia Falls. The scenery along the way was gorgeous, and the sun starting coming out on our hike, changing the color of the lake from grey to blue and green. The lake side paths were filled with wildflowers, lines of birch trees and small animals (we saw a small light brown animal with a fluffy tail which we later identified as a marmot).

Mini Falls

On our way towards Saint Mary Falls, passing through patches of snow and moss with the lake on our left, we notice a big waterfall in the middle of the mountain in the distance. We debated if that was our final destination, Virginia Falls, but it looks too far away to be the end of the hike.

Crossing over the Saint Mary Lake, the Saint Mary Falls is at the end of the wooden bridge.

The last stretch of the hike is a slow uphill climb towards Virginia Falls, but definitely worth it! It turns out that was the huge waterfall we saw from across the lake! We took a short break closer to the bottom of the fall by the large rocks before we made our way closer to the top.

And there it is! The photo spots where I got my shoes wet trying to get on the rock for the photo, and then more wet by standing very close to the actual waterfall.

The hike was an in and out trail so the way back was much faster and it took us about 4 hours to complete the 5.8 mile hike, with a lakeside break. The sun came out to greet us too!

We had our lunch by our car in the parking lot, snacking on the fruits and energy bars we brought with us. After lunch I took over driving and continued down the Going to the Sun road till the road closure point - Jackson Glacier Overlook. From the distance you can see the ice on the glacier surrounded by snow. The park originally had over 100 glaciers when it was established in 1910, but by 2015, only 26 met the criteria to be designated as active glaciers. Jackson Glacier is the 7th largest of the remaining, and is unfortunately facing the same fate as all glaciers around the world continue to recede.

There were no bear sightings on our hike but we did come across a few while driving! On our drive back out the park, we saw people stopping their cars on both sides of the road and looking to the right. We did the same and saw a grizzly bear sitting on a rock! Shortly after we saw another car stopping for another bear sighting - this time the bear looks more like a moose from the distance.

We also stopped at a turnout and saw some long horn sheep up on the rocks thanks to another group pointing their binoculars! They were very hard to see with imperfect eyesight and I didn’t have a zoom camera. Their long horns were visible if I zoom in on the photos though!

Do you see the brown spot towards the middle? That’s the grizzly!

And our final animal sighting of the day - I was the lucky driver who did a reverse on the Going to the Sun road to catch a sight of the grizzly bear. The reversing was not a gracious move, thankfully there were no other cars to witness this. The grizzly was moving slowly so I got a view of it from the driver’s seat too.

I drove all the way back to the west side of the park, enjoying the scenic routes with little traffic. The windy roads were fun to drive on, and the scenery was gorgeous. On our way back we also stopped at a turnout/ observation area where we learned about a little history of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation which shares Glacier National Park’s eastern borders.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Three Forks Grille back in Columbia Falls and got back to our airbnb at 8:30PM (our latest night out yet on this trip!) We even saw a beautiful rainbow over the mountains by our airbnb!

Whitefish

Sticking to our healthy sleep schedule we all got up around the same time and prepared to check out of our Columbia Falls airbnb and move to our Whitefish airbnb for the remainder of the trip. The weather for the day wasn’t looking good on either side of the park, so we decided to stay local as Whitefish was the only area that didn’t have bad weather for the day (as mentioned earlier, Montana weather seems to be highly unpredictable anyway). We headed to Lion Mountain in Whitefish for a short 2.6 miles hike. The hike is also a biking trail so it was nice to see others biking and with their dogs off leash, different from the trails we did in Glacier National Park.

After the hike we headed to downtown Whitefish, a little ski town with many cute storefronts. We stopped by Fleur Bake Shop for a delicious cafe lunch - a mushroom tartine with local oyster mushrooms and bacon, an orzo farro salad with sprouts, a basque cake with almonds and a cannelle!

Across the street we stop by Stumptown Art Studio for a glass fusion art session, a great activity for a day indoor. Glass fusing is the process of laying colored pieces of glass into a mosaic like pattern on top of a glass piece. The pieces melt together in the kiln to form a complete piece of glass. We all spent 2 hours focusing on creating our artwork that we didn’t realize how long we were there for. It takes a few weeks for the studio to prepare the pieces for us so we can’t wait to get them back in the mail.

We did a little bit of shopping around the town before checking into our airbnb in Whitefish and researching what to do for the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow, and finally landing on (and successfully booking) a bike rental to go bike the Going to the Sun road.

As our pre dinner activity, we walked the city trail to the beach. The City Beach looks out into Whitefish Lake, and you can see the long cross state trains passing by through on the left. We walked back into town for a sushi dinner (and had to do take out since the restaurant is packed). While waiting for our food we went back to one of the stores we stopped by earlier in the day to get a souvenir teeshirt. After our to go dinner at the airbnb, my friend and I went back to City Beach to watch the sunset. We’re all very excited for the bike trip tomorrow and we’ve got a long day ahead!

Going to the Sun

On the last full day of our trip we got up at 5AM for our Going to the Sun bike ride. With many of the interior trails are closed in the spring season, biking the Going to the Sun road is a popular activity in the spring time. The road is open to non-motorized access for 8 miles on the west side to The Loop (with options to go a little further on weekends). Learning from the bike rental company that the weekends are very popular and a parking spot at Avalanche Creek is difficult to find, we booked our bikes, bike rack and helmets for the earliest pick up when Glacier Outfitters opens. The Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the busy season, so we had to get a Going to the Sun pass in addition to the regular national park pass in order to enter. The staff at Glacier Outfitters helped us with our bike rack and bikes, and we’re off ! On the way we spotted a black bear crossing the road!

We made it to Avalanche Creek around 8AM and was able to secure a parking spot in the campground area, and we’re off to start our 16 miles (to and back) bike ride! I haven’t done a long bike trip since Myanmar, and am definitely out of shape! The first 6 miles is pretty much flat, and the road is very scenic. Riding the mint green bikes, we don’t have to worry about traffic or sharing the road with cars. Along the way we passed by streams, snow-capped mountains, a small tunnel with water falling down, and many lovely fellow riders enjoying the great outdoors.

And after 6 miles of smooth riding we got to the uphill portion of the ride. The last stretch of the ride towards The Loop was definitely a challenge - at gear 1 I had to take stops and water breaks along the way. At every break I’ll pull out my phone to check where we are on the map to check on our progress and see how far we were from our destination. It was definitely a good idea to wear layers because towards the end of the uphill ride I was in my tank top and completely sweating.

Pushing our way uphill we finally made it to The Loop after about 2.5 hours. From The Loop, you can see Heavens Peak (8987 ft) in the distance.

On weekends it is possible to bike pass The Loop for another couple miles, but after the uphill climb we decided that was enough for us as the remaining few miles would be uphill and our legs have given in. After a short break, we started our way down which was much easier (and cold because of the wind!). I had to pull out my extra pair of shoes to use as gloves (I had stupidly left my gloves in the suitcase back at the airbnb).

We stopped and looked for mountain goats with another group of bikers, and managed to found them in the far distance with our binoculars. The biking was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, and worth the sore legs!

After we finished our bike ride and returned to our cars, a family of deer came out from the woods and crossed over right in front of us. We had our homemade peanut butter and banana sandwiches and apples in the car, and since we were all pretty exhausted from the bike ride, we decided to drive back to Apgar Village to return the bikes instead of doing another short hike in the park. We returned our bikes, shopped around in the shops in Apgar Village and got huckleberry ice cream to enjoy under the sun. We returned to our airbnb in Columbia Falls and rest up, and my legs totally gave in and started getting really sore whenever I have my knees bent. We stayed in until about 5:30 and headed back to West Glacier for dinner at Belton Grill right outside the park. We all got something inspired by local ingredients and I had a Flathead Lake trout with a local beer. After dinner we drove back into the park trying to catch the sunset at Lake McDonald, but the sun just went behind the mountains. Nonetheless, it was a great view to conclude our time in Glacier National Park.

Kalispell

Our last day in Montana! We slept in on this last day (compared to our earlier days) and packed up our belongings before walking over to Loula’s Cafe for breakfast. At 9 in the morning on a Sunday the place was packed. The dining room on the lower level features art and photography by local artists, many of them scenery we saw in Montana. I ordered a veggie omelet and hash browns and managed to finish the whole thing! We were planning to walk around the downtown Whitefish area but realized stores aren’t opened yet or are closed for the long weekend, so we decided to check out of our airbnb early, drop off my postcard at the post office, and drive over to Fleur Bake Shop to pick up some treats for the road.

We then head to Herron Park in Kalispell to do a local hike - combining Notch Trail, Overlook Trail and Plum Creek Road Loop. It starts at the ranch at the bottom of the park, goes up to an overlook where you get a view of the Foys Lake, then back down on a loop. It was a very different view of the town, and we’re glad to have done it on the last day of our trip - another 3.5 miles done! Thank goodness my legs weren’t as sore as yesterday and the hike was fine for my tired legs.

We had a quick snack break by the car and headed downtown to Kalispell to do some shopping but most of the stores were closed for the long weekend. We headed to the airport a little bit early, returned our car, and flew out of Kalispell to Salt Lake City, then back to New York on a red eye. After traveling on a few red eyes I’ve learned to give myself a rest day before returning to work, and that’s exactly what I did.

Glacier National Park, MT. May 2021