Second in a series about northwest Montana. First was Whitefish, the community of 7,000 at the base of Big Mountain, just 24 miles from the national park. Next will be circling Flathead Lake, roaming the Bison Range and exploring three Native peoples museums.



I stared down a mama goat and her baby in Glacier National Park in Montana last month, but moved out of the way for the brown bear mother and her cub.

Park rangers materialize from nowhere when the bears lumber into view, knowing, I guess, that tourists think they need those wildlife photos more, perhaps, than the rest of their lives.

Glacier never stops dropping incredible sights in front of you: on the hiking trail, high in the big sky, around the next hairpin turn and way down below the edge of most of those turns.

Who looks over? This ancient land is compelling enough to look ahead without the stomach-knotting experience of looking over that edge.

I discovered lots of ways to do Glacier National Park during my 10 days in nearby Whitefish, Montana, a beautiful 24 miles to the west, easily driven, wide-open road.

• Commuting from Whitefish where you can stay in great lodges, bed-and-breakfast inns or a lakefront resort and discover fine restaurants

• Booking a room in one of the four lodges or three inns in the Park

• Planning way ahead to reserve a Great Lodges of Glacier tour for five nights in the four grand lodges

• Driving the twists and turns of the park roads yourself, or taking the Red Bus for half or whole-day tours with an expert driver and guide

• Using park shuttles to move around, with frequent pickups at lodges and inns, trailheads, visitor centers and campgrounds

Don’t miss a visit to Glacier National Park for fear of traffic, heights and grizzlies. This park has figured out how to open up experiences for all kinds of interests.

We chose the Red Bus for a nine-hour look at glaciers, big vistas, waterfalls and animals. Each of the 33 vintage red touring cars holds 17 passengers, and the canvas top folds back for constant views of glacier peaks and sweeping valleys. We needed lap blankets on our August morning because the temperature was 39 degrees and snow was falling on the peaks.

Think you see a moose? Holler out and the driver stops whenever possible. Everyone stands up in place for a good – and safe – look, and on you go.

Five hundred of these 1936 – 1939 coaches used to operate at nine national parks, our driver Milo Maseera said, but only Glacier kept them up. In fact, some yellow versions were spotted along the way, being used as shuttles from spot to spot, and Milo said they belonged to Yellowstone which did not yet have a mechanical shop to keep them running.

Milo and the other Red Bus drivers are known as jammers, a holdover from the days of standard transmission for driving the rugged mountain highway.

G.W. stared ahead a lot because he’s not fond of heights; I claimed the extra minutes in some rest stops to hike a short way from some of the trailheads for at least a glimpse of wildflowers and a look around the next bend.

Glacier has more than 700 miles of hiking trails, from the two-tenths of a mile handicapped-friendly Trail of the Cedars with boardwalks just above the forest floor, not far from Lake McDonald Lodge, to many-mile trails with significant elevations, plus lots of moderate options in-between.

Traveling with someone who doesn’t want to hike as much as you do? Take the shuttle to Logan Pass which has a big visitor center, plenty of benches, books for sale and great views without moving an inch. Here I found short trails, or some only a few miles long, just right to give my traveling partner time to read and nap.

Logan Pass is where we met the mama goat and her baby, standing for a long time behind a “Trail Closed” sign!

Trail maps are available at all the lodges, and abundant rest and relaxation is too. I pretended to be my mother, born in 1906, on her train trip, horseback riding journey west, when she was 20. These lodges are her kind of place.

Old-world elegant. Massive logs. Handsome lobbies. Ballrooms and fine dining. National Register of Historic Places designations.

And no elevators or air conditioning in the original 1912, 1914 and 1927 buildings.

We visited Lake McDonald Lodge and Many Glacier Hotel on our Red Bus Tour, and Glacier Park Lodge on our own a different day. Next trip we’ll go further north to the Canadian border to see Prince of Wales Hotel.

I’d like to book one of the late June – early September Great Lodges of Glacier tours to stay five nights in the Park, moving from one of these grand rustic places to another on the Red Bus. The fee is $1,689 per person, including many meals, and they’ll pick you up at the airport or train station.

The park might look different when I return. Great debates take place over dinner and on the trails regarding the retreating glaciers. Some say four glaciers are growing, six are stagnant and the rest are retreating.

Signing up for an outdoor “Learning Gone Wild” retreat with the Glacier Institute within the Park is probably the best way to get the facts.

Even if all 27 glaciers retreat, the name is still good because the land here is glaciated. Created in 1910, the Park teamed up with Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada in 1932 and together they were designated an International Peace Park.

The Blackfeet call this place “the backbone of the world” and scientists speak of it being the “crown of the continent” because of its ecosystem of rugged mountain terrain, headwaters of three major river systems (Columbia, Hudson Bay and Missouri) and national forests, straddling the Continental Divide.

You might wonder what you’re straddling if you choose to drive yourself on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. An official National Landmark, these 50 miles in the Park are paved, narrow, steep and winding. Thank goodness for the many pullouts to stop and see, and thank goodness some of them are on the inside lane, not that outer edge.

One of those pullouts was nearby the moment we spotted the brown bears. I wondered about that intense desire all day long, even as I too was frantic for a picture. Why not just be still and watch? How often will I look at my pictures again?

Not only does Glacier National Park have many handsome lodges and many steep, curvy miles, this splendid scenery can be approached from many angles, all good, but all different experiences. No wrong choice, just different.

Spend some time with the enormous flat map available all around the region, certainly at most hotels. It’s 22 inches across and 17 inches down but doesn’t defeat you like state road maps with all their creases and proper ways to fold up.

This one points out the Park entrances, the highlights inside and gives lots of condensed information about distances between all the things to do and see.

We used it to go in the West Glacier Entrance and find our way to Lake McDonald Lodge to catch our Red Bus. We used it a different day to discover huckleberry pie at the Park Café near St. Mary Lodge just outside the eastern boundary. The map also pinpoints the little town of Babb where word is the Cattle Baron Restaurant serves big steaks.

This gigantic map helped us figure out our way from Browning where we were hunting up the Museum of the Plains Indian back to East Glacier through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation to find Two Medicine.

We had been advised to visit Two Medicine but thought it was a town, or a part of the Blackfeet Reservation. Turns out it’s inside the Park. Glacier National Park has way too many segments to remember them all on your first visit.

Sure glad we found Two Medicine because the hike to Running Eagle Falls is just 3/10 of a mile, perfect for the driver to catch his breath after a harrowing drive along twisty, turny Highway 49, and perfect for me to breathe deeply at the edge of the falls where Running Eagle, a Cherokee woman warrior, reportedly gathered visions before heading into battle.

Two Medicine also is a good entryway to take a boat cruise on the deep glacial lake and a 1.8 mile round trip hike to Twin Falls. The nature trail here is the Park’s newest wheelchair accessible route.

When should you go to Glacier? Plan now for next year. That means May – September. A long winter rules here with most roads closed for snow. Call 406-888-7800 for winter road recorded information but don’t expect anything much open except from St. Mary on the east to the campground and from West Glacier to the Apgar Visitor Center.

But do plan to go. Glacier is splendid.