Glacier National Park Itinerary: 1, 3, 5 & 7-Day Plans

Enter at West Glacier early and let the road set the pace. Apgar Village is the last easy stop for coffee, rentals, and a restroom, then Lake McDonald opens up on your left, enormous for a mountain lake, with wide rocky beaches and huge sightlines. Keep going. The morning belongs to the water, and the best water is at Avalanche Creek.

Park at Avalanche and walk the Trail of the Cedars, a Pacific-Northwest-feeling cedar grove tucked into a Rocky Mountain valley, unlike anywhere else in the park. It feeds straight into the Avalanche Lake trail, nearly flat and a genuine first-timer hike. The lake sits under 2,000-foot cliffs with waterfalls threading down them. The first beach is crowded; keep walking, because the beaches farther along are far quieter. On a hot day the water is bracingly cold and feels incredible.

From Avalanche the road climbs. Full Going-to-the-Sun takes about eight hours with stops once you add hikes, and nearly every pullout is worth stopping at; only the ones stacked close together are skippable. Driving west to east puts the car about a foot from the edge with only a low wooden rail before the drop, so nervous drivers should let passengers do the sightseeing. Add Hidden Lake Overlook at Logan Pass only if you can reach the pass by 11 or noon. Otherwise continue over the top to Sun Point and Wild Goose Island, then turn around.

End where you started. Rent a boat on Lake McDonald rather than taking the tour: you can dock at Lake McDonald Lodge, top up on gas, and wander the rustic lodge interior. Sunset beats sunrise here, because evening water sits calmer while morning wind chops the reflections apart. After dark, the night sky from the dock or the beach is spectacular. Go out and look up.

Yesterday you drove past Logan Pass. Today you start there. The lot is a nightmare at midday, and circling for about 15 minutes usually shakes a spot loose, but the honest fix is to be parked before 8. From July 1 through September 7 private-vehicle parking is limited to three hours, enforced around the clock, and you take a free timestamped permit from the kiosk for the dashboard. Logan Pass runs 15 to 20 degrees cooler than the valley, but the high-altitude sun still warms skin fast.

Hidden Lake Overlook is boardwalk most of the way in August, and its easy rating fools first-timers: the altitude humbles even fit hikers who have no trouble lower down. A quick group does it in 45 minutes to an hour round trip, well under the posted time. Mountain goats hang out near the end of the boardwalk, around the rocks and low shrubs. With time left on the permit, walk the first stretch of the Highline Trail along the Garden Wall and turn back whenever you like.

Drop east. St. Mary Falls pairs naturally with Virginia Falls as one hike off the road, and the east side is a different park: the mountain backdrop over St. Mary Lake and Wild Goose Island is far more dramatic than anything on the west side. The big rock overlooking the lake near the Rising Sun picnic area is a stop worth making. One caution: the St. Mary side still carries standing fire-killed trees, and in high wind they drop across trails without warning.

Drive north from St. Mary to Babb, then west into the valley. Swiftcurrent Lake is the most picturesque shoreline in the park, the one that pulls you back, and the flat loop around it and Lake Josephine is the morning-water walk here. Moose work the willows along Swiftcurrent Creek early.

Then pick one big hike. Grinnell Glacier is the park's signature trail, long and steep with the glacier at the end; the boat across Swiftcurrent and Josephine trims the approach. Iceberg Lake holds floating ice into August in its north-facing cirque. Cracker Lake is the owner's pick: vivid Gatorade-blue water that becomes the story you tell first, and the coldest, most exhilarating swim in the park. Whichever you choose, carry bear spray and make noise at blind corners; a black bear can turn up right on the trail here.

When the hotel and Swiftcurrent lots fill, the overflow parking adds real mileage to your hike. Circling for a departing car usually beats the extra walk.

Two Medicine is Glacier's least-visited major valley, and that is the point of Day 4. Start with Running Eagle Falls, a short, flat walk to one of the park's strangest waterfalls: in spring the water comes over the top and out of a cave halfway down at the same time. The Blackfeet name is Pitamakan, and the whole valley sits inside the Blackfeet Nation's ancestral territory.

Then go up-lake. The trail to Upper Two Medicine Lake runs along the valley floor with Rising Wolf Mountain over your shoulder and almost no crowds; the boat from the Two Medicine dock cuts the hike roughly in half if legs are tired from Many Glacier. Scenic Point is the strong-hiker alternative, a climb to open views over the lake. Finish in East Glacier Park, the small town at the southeast entrance with the only Amtrak station that walks you straight into the park.

Cross back to the west side and turn north. The North Fork road is unpaved for long stretches and rough when wet, and it delivers you to Polebridge, a one-street settlement whose bakery is a destination in its own right. Stock up there; there is nothing past it.

Bowman Lake is the reward: seven miles long, glacier-fed, framed by Numa Ridge, and quiet because the drive filters out everyone in a hurry. Walk the shore, swim if you are brave, and stay for the light. Kintla Lake, farther north on a worse road, is the version for people who want even fewer neighbors. Check road conditions at the Apgar Visitor Center before you commit; the inside road wants high clearance.

Five days of trails earns a day on the water. The Middle Fork of the Flathead forms the park's southern boundary, and the rafting outfitters in West Glacier run everything from a gentle scenic float to full-day whitewater with a riverside lunch. Book the morning trip; afternoons are windier.

Then drive to Whitefish and stop moving. Central Avenue is built for wandering, the resort up the hill runs summer lifts and trails, and Craggy Range Bar & Grill serves the best meal of a Glacier trip. Get the bison burger. Grab coffee wherever is closest; driving out of your way for better coffee is never worth the miles here.

On Day 1 you drove west to east and saw one wall of the valley. Drive it east to west today and the other wall appears: The Loop, the Weeping Wall, and Big Bend all read differently from the downhill lane, and the pullouts on the mountain side are the ones you could not safely cross to before. Stop at the ones you skipped.

Spend the legs you have left on one climb. Apgar Lookout is the west side's big-view walk above Lake McDonald; Siyeh Pass is the strong-hiker day off the road's east side, with the park's best alpine traverse short of the Highline. If smoke or weather has wrecked a day earlier in the week, this is the day you spend on whatever you missed. Finish with a last evening at the lodge on Lake McDonald, where the trip started.