We arrived at our campsite with enough time to set up, cook dinner and have an outdoor movie! 🍿Glacier Campground is only 5-7 minutes from the East entrance to the “Going to the Sun Road”, which makes it super convenient. However, Glacier National Park (which I’ll refer to as GNP from this point forward!) is now limiting the number of vehicles allowed to enter the park between 6am and 5pm. This is important to know before you plan your visit. We did not have good wi-fi on the day the ticket window opened, so we missed out. However, our trusty tour guide (Doug) came up with a Plan B! More to come on that…
We highly recommend Glacier Campground!!
Another important bit of information about GNP you should be aware of is their vehicle restrictions. You are not allowed to enter the park if your vehicle is longer than 21 feet. Harvey the RV is 31.5, so we needed to rent a Jeep, which broke Doug’s heart 😉 and now my wallet because he wants a Jeep again… but that is a story for another day!
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/neighboring-parks/glacier-rv-tips/
Okay, back to the amazing Plan B…
From our campground, we drive a little over an hour to get to Many Glacier. When we arrived there, we spoke to a Park Ranger and he gave us some good tips on where to go. His suggestion, which ended up being fantastic, was to go on a family-friendly hike on Swiftcreek Pass. He told us to watch out for moose, which got Doug and I super excited!!
About a 1/4 mile into the hike, we veered off slightly and walked down by the lake to find a good spot for a picnic. The scenery could not have been more perfect. The lake was so serene and looked like glass. There were birds chirping and so many butterflies fluttering about. If our hike had ended there, it would have been a great day. However, as our pastor often says, “but wait – there’s more!”…
The trail was relatively easy with a few inclines to get your heart pumping but nothing too crazy & technical. The girls found a funny tree and we were in awe of the amazing colored rocks in every creek bed we passed.
Our first moose sighting was on the banks of Josephine Lake, along the Swiftcurrent Pass hiking trail, about one mile from where we started. It was a Mama and her baby!! We were hoping they would stand, but they were content to relax in the cool grass with the breeze coming off the lake – and I didn’t blame them one bit! The temperature was definitely reaching it’s peak of the day, so this bit of excitement really helped give us the boost we needed to keep pushing alon the trail. Well, that and the promise of swimming in a waterfall at the top of the trail!
We were told by other hikers to continue up the hill past the actual waterfall and there we would find a “pool” to swim in. They were 100% correct and it was amazing! Because Doug is our tour director, of course we packed swim suits. Well, all but Peyton, because she forgot hers in Virginia 🙄 The water was brisk, to say the least, compounded by the fact that we were hot and sweaty from the climb up! Once we got numb, it felt fabulous. My brave explorers swam across and explored over the rocks and jumped into the water. Someone obviously “had” to stay closer to shore for picture taking, so I volunteered as tribute. The high mountains in the distance, the sunshine and light breeze and the calming sound of the waterfall made it a perfect moment. I truly could have stayed there all day! But alas, as the cliche saying reminds us – “what goes up must come down”.
We were hopeful the frigid water would have a lasting impact on our core body temperatures for the hike down, but we quickly realized that would not be the case. Additionally, the flies were coming out in full force so we had no choice but to keep pressing on in order to avoid their annoyance. God clearly knew we were all in need of a bit of extra motivation after the first mile down, though. Some upward bound hikers mentioned to us that there was a giant bull moose in the very same lake we stopped at for our picnic lunch. Our pace definitely picked up with anticipation as we continued down the trail.
The reports were true. And it was incredible. He was even more magnificent than I had imagined. He was hanging out in the water, going underwater for what seemed to be ridiculously long periods of time, presumably eating the moss and weeds underwater. Despite half of his body being submerged, the enormity of his upper body could still be seen, even from the distance where we stood on the shore.
The final section of the hike was super uneventful, however the adrenaline from seeing that moose was all I needed… that and the promise of huckleberry soft serve at the gift shop!🍦
By the time we were hydrated, fed and all loaded back into the Jeep it felt like nap time but we still had the other half of our Glacier adventure left.
Remember when I mentioned there was a ticketed entry system to access the infamous “Going to the Sun Road”? Well, after 5pm anyone can enter and that is exactly what we did. We realized by the time we would be traversing the twisty-turny roads, the sun would be starting to set and crowds would be less. Our Plan B suddenly sounded like it should have been our initial plan all along – a revelation we were grateful to have stumbled upon.
Conveniently, the Going to the Sun Road brought us back to the entrance/exit of Glacier National Park which was a mere five minutes from our campsite! There are no words to adequately describe the foliage, terrain, animals and views we encountered on the drive. I am going to post some of our favorite photos, but truly none of them capture the beauty our eyes were blessed enough to experience first hand. The drive took about 1 1/2 hours and around every hairpin turn we were continuously more and more impressed with what we were seeing. The girls were even able to touch a glacier – in August!!
We approached Lake MacDonald as the glorious orange sun was setting. There was a haze because of the nearby wildfires but it was the perfect conclusion to our memorable day!
#4SweetsAdventure 
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