Glacier Ntl, Yellowstone & Tetons

[brewco]

Planning a 2 week road trip for next year, flying form Detroit to Glacier and driving home.

Any suggestions on places to stay or must do/see in Glacier, Yellowstone, Tetons/Jackson Hole?

Thank you for any suggestions!

[mrsjrd23]

Hike the Highline Trail in Glacier!
Here's my (long) trip review from Glacier a few years ago. We went over July 4th.

We stayed the first 4 nights in Fish Creek Cammpground. It was nice to be able to have a spot reserved for us (though we reserved about 6 months ago). The only problem we really had was that some of the sites (including ours) was right on top of other sites. It seemed like it was more suitable for a group camp setting than single sites.

While on the West side of the Park, we explored the Lake McDonald area and lodge and had a great anniversary dinner at Russell's Fireside Restaurant. I highly recommend the huckleberry daiquiris.

Hikes we did on the west side:

Avalanche Lake: beautiful, 4 miles roundtrip. Not much elevation gain. I suggest going early or later in the afternoon to avoid the heaviest crowds. We started about 4:30 in the afternoon and when we got to the lake it was pretty empty. We hiked past the main entrance to the lake to find our own secluded little spot. Beautiful teal green-blue water. Saw a few deer on the hike.

Highline Trail to Granite Park Chalet and down to the Loop. 11.6 miles, the last 4 miles are a steep decline back to the loop. This was my favorite hike. It parallels the Going to the Sun road for a while so you get to see all the sights without having to pay attention to the driving. We saw mountain goat right on the trail...very cool! I highly recommend layers and RAINGEAR. A weather front rolled in quickly on us at about mile 5 and we had forgotten our rain gear in the car. (I thought husband had it, he thought I did) The temperature dropped quickly, high winds, sleet, thunder/lightening the last 2.5 miles to the chalet. NOT FUN. But the views are incredible. The trip down was pretty uneventful but I think the park needs better signage. For a while, we seriously thought we had hiked an hour in the wrong direction.

We also did a 1/2 day whitewater rafting trip on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River out of West Glacier with the Glacier Raft Company. We had a blast, with some incredible rapids. Our guide was Siri and her family actually owns the rafting outfit as well as a ski resort in Utah (Alta) for you ski enthusiasts.

I also recommend driving up the Camas Road in the evening to scout for wildlife. Not too many people on the road and we saw our first black bear right next to the road here.

We then headed over to Many Glacier CG for 3 nights. Get there early. The day we got there (a wednesday) they were completely filled by 1 PM. We got a great spot about 1030 when a couple was leaving.

Hikes on the East side:

Red Rock Lake/Falls: about 4 miles round trip with little elevation gain. Red Rock Falls was fun to climb around on as it was easily accessible.

Grinnell Lake: we actually did this on a 1/2 day horseback trip and I highly recommend it. It was a great break to all the hiking. It's $105/pp for the 1/2 day trip. A few weeks ago, the horse line was challenged by a charging grizzly who eventually backed off....scary I'm sure, We didn't see any wildlife on our trip. But rest assured, you are safe on horseback. No one has ever been injured by a bear while on horseback in the park.

Iceberg Lake: My favorite hike on the east side. 10 miles roundtrip from MG campground with gain of 1200 ft. Lots of great views/vistas. Ptarmigan Falls is the 1/2 way point and a good resting spot. Iceberg Lake was just gorgeous. Lots of icebergs still there, peaceful. Amazingly blue waters.

We also saw 2 grizzly bears along the road near the Many Glacier Hotel. One only about 75 feet from the road. very cool.

On our way out, we stopped at Two Medicine for some pics and did the short east handicap accessible trail to Red Eagle (AKA Trick Falls). Worth the short hike for a pretty nice waterfall in an often overlooked portion of the park.

[jennybee1018]

My DH is from Montana, so we will usually go with his family to either Yellowstone or Glacier in the summer time, when we're visiting.

We always stay in West Glacier, at Apgar Village. It's right next to a restaurant and is a good location. I agree with the trails mentioned by PP - I think I have done some of those! (My IL's are pros, so I never really know the trailhead names).  Going to the Sun Road is amazing, although slightly scary, and we always do the Logan Pass trail, which isn't too difficult, and has nice views once you get to the top. We also liked Trail of the Cedars (which I think is before Avalanche Gorge?), it's a really nice, easy hike.

In Yellowstone, we stayed at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, and it was really nice. They had private hot tubs, which was pretty awesome :-) We were there in the winter, so we did a snow coach through the park, which was a lot of fun. My IL's went skiing, and we hiked around the springs in the snow, and saw Old Faithful.

I can't remember for sure, but I think we stayed here on our second visit - we were right outside of West Yellowstone, and it was relatively inexpensive - City Center Yellowstone Hotel.

Have an awesome time - I love both Glacier and Yellowstone!

[ginkgoleaf]

Restaurants in Jackson Hole:
Rendezvous Bistro
Local

In the Tetons:
lunch at Signal Mountain - sit on the deck
boat tour or rent a boat at Signal Mountain
hike and picnic at String Lake, great place to wade a litle
Cottonwood Creek for wading, plus beautiful river rocks.

[G22]

If your looking to do day hikes, the PP posted some awesome options for Glacier. We live a couples hours from there and do day hikes as often as we can! Avalanche Lake, Hidden Lake, Highline Trail are all great options. We did Virginia Falls around St Mary lake a couple weeks ago and it was definitely worth it. I'm my opinion, no matter what you do in Glacier, you won't be disappointed!

Logan Pass is a PITA to find parking, so if your wanting to stop there I recommend going early in the day.

Yellowstone we stayed in West Yellowstone just outside the park entrance. It was cheaper and worked just fine for us at the time. We mostly just drove around and did mini stops and hikes.

We camped at Tetons this summer. Their campsites are first come first serve, and I really wanted to stay at Jenny Lake but it fills up early. We ended up at Coulter Bay on Jackson Lake and that worked out just fine.

All those parks are awesome and no matter what you do you'll have a good time!