For me, Grinnell Lake gets 4.5 stars. The ONLY REASON why I didn't give it 5 stars is because when…read moreI visited in the afternoon, the magnificent backdrop was set against the sun....and admiring this setting against the sun prevented me from capturing the perfect photos. This was quite frustrating! I had read and heard wonderful reviews about this place...the lake and the hike to get here in general. Unfortunately, when I arrived about 3pm, you could pretty much say the sun was a huge obstacle and quite a hindrance on my memories from here. Ultimately, I had to wait for clouds and or move myself to different spots to avoid the sun's beams. Regardless.....everything about this hike was pretty good. Grinnell Lake is located in the more secluded section of the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. When I visited last month, I had to wait in a line of cars just to gain access to Many Glacier. Because this popular part of Glacier NP is quite small in circumference....park rangers were only permitting a limited amount of visitors. Wow, that was quite annoying. Fortunately for me, since I planned my itinerary ahead of time, I was spending the evening here in Many Glacier and told the park ranger that I was sleeping the night at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, (which was the actual truth)...so he allowed me to pass. The trail for Grinnell Lake starts right next door on the grounds of Many Glacier Hotel. You can park wherever...on the side of the streets or in the parking lot. If you have a free moment, absolutely venture inside Many Glacier Hotel and along the grounds as the hotel exudes a rustic/European style - Swiss chalet - certainly lending itself to the heart of this outdoorsy - natural - setting along Josephine Lake. For Grinnell Lake, look for signs for the Swiftcurrent Lake Loop Trail. Here is where you want to go. It's situated towards the rear of Many Glacier Hotel. Ask someone inside the lodge if you need assistance finding the trailhead. From the Swiftcurrent Foot Trail, Grinnell Lake is 3.4 miles EACH WAY! Yes...that's almost 7 miles round trip! And, you could venture further towards Grinnell Glacier....another fantastically recommended trail, but....to Grinnell Glacier, it's 5.9 miles EACH WAY, - and for me....this was too far and took too much time out of the day. Also, it's mentioned in your park's map guide that Grinnell Glacier is a STRENUOUS TRAIL....where - as just hiking to Grinnell Lake is a moderately navigated passageway. Upon trekking beside Josephine Lake making my way towards Grinnell Lake, there were plenty of photo opportunities as the lake was quite picturesque, especially when the sun was at my back. Past Josephine Lake, the surroundings were just alright. Please understand though, this trail is great for those looking to get away and immerse themselves in the back country woods. You can find an easier way to arrive at Grinnell Lake by taking a boat towards the other end of Josephine Lake, getting out and then trekking the remaining distance on. For me, I was okay simply hiking as I didn't want to pay a fee and then wait for a boat to launch. Finally coming upon Grinnell Lake, yes...the hike was worth it. The calm waters here were immaculate. Absolutely perfect....colorful blue/green and turquoise. Along with the majestic and scenic background....you're confronted with a lush green mountain carved away with a running waterfall centered in the heart of it all. This spot and panoramic view was worth it all! All the time spent hiking and traversing my way, coming here made for witnessing this grand view. I was totally impressed! Yeah...leisurely, unobtrusively sitting down and appreciating this landscape is the reason why you come here. I spent a good 45 minutes just relaxing, taking photos and reflecting on how beautiful this place was. And like I mentioned earlier, had it not been for the sun in my way, Grinnell Lake absolutely would have been 5 stars. Lol....so when all is said and done....I HAVE TO RECOMMEND TO ANYONE WHO READS THIS....HIKE TO GRINNELL LAKE IN THE MORNING!!! And although from here, it's only a couple more miles along towards Grinnell Glacier (which was highly recommended), I was satisfied that I had explored enough and ventured back towards the Many Glacier Lodge. In all, I spent about 4 - 5 hours hiking over to Grinnell Lake. If you're spending time in this Many Glacier section of Glacier National Park, Grinnell Lake is quite the highlight and should not be missed.

Where to start?! This has been a bucket list item for some time and not sure why I ever waited…read more If this is on your list GO NOW it does not disappoint!! Solo visit so easy to get up early and beat the crowds through Going to the Sun Road and Logan Pass parking drama. Perks: wildlife still out and about, easy parking to be had along the road and all lots, not a lot of crowds for optimum photo catching. Cooler on those hot days! Cons: no services open or available so have to have everything you need planned out until things open (normally 8 or 9 o'clock). I will have to venture back to grab a stamp for my NPS passport. I could spend a year here and still be excited to go and see more or hike another trail. It is a beautiful and pristine park to respectfully enjoy. I used the general store at Rising Sun mid morning to grab a few gift and snack items as well as refill water (bottle filler inside or purchase drinks of choice). Has just about anything you need there for purchase along with bathroom and showers. I can't speak for the park service visitor centers at Apgar nor Logan Pass as I didn't use as they were not open when I entered (save restroom at Logan). Logan Pass has free parking for 3 hours if you can get a spot. You do have to use the kiosk to out in plate data which provides time stamp and place on dash. Of note, there is a lot of places where you are driving by sheer cliffs with falling rock hazards with tight areas. Be mindful of the speed limits when reducing to 25 as they are normally around these tight areas or people congested areas. Also be courteous, there are plenty of pull off areas if you prefer to go slow, pull off and let others proceed smartly. Whether you are a hiker for the trails or a boater to grab one of the rentals to take out on the lake there is plenty to do here. Items book well in advance so book early and come enjoy one amazing National Park!!

Glacier National Park is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. The scenery is unreal,…read moreespecially along Going-to-the-Sun Road. For the best experience, definitely get there early and allow plenty of extra time for activities if you're staying outside the park, as traffic can become heavy, especially along Going-to-the-Sun Road. If you're new to the park, I also recommend booking one of the Red Bus Tours. It was a great way to experience the park without the stress of driving or parking, and the guide was very knowledgeable. The Apgar Visitor Center staff were also very helpful and gave great recommendations and information for navigating the park. Overall, it was an unforgettable experience and somewhere I would absolutely visit again.

We were able to hike the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead through Many Glacier on the last day it was…read moreopen for the season (9/19/21) but unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side. It was a constant mist/rain the entire hike and then getting into Grinnell Glacier it was snowing! We arrived at the parking lot by 7AM and there were already 10 cars parked and we started the hike around 7:30. By the time we got back, around 1PM, the lot was full but the rain started coming down more so people were leaving. It's about a 10-11 mile hike RT. During the summer, you can opt to pay to take a boat across Lake Josephine to shorten the hike, but that was the easiest part. The part of the hike where you walk above Lake Josephine is probably the most picturesque - so gorgeous but a little foggy. When you finally get to the Glacier you're greeted with the bluest water bend and snow covered mountains. For this hike, the way back is easier and we were happy about that because we were cold and starting to feel miserable. Would love to do this hike again with better weather but it was still a beautiful one to do! We drove Going-to-the-Sun road and round the Rising Sun Boat Deck parking lot (which was empty during this time) and it was the perfect spot for a nap.

My friends and I hiked to Grinnell Overlook via the Granite park trail. The whole trail was out and…read moreback and a total of about 11.4 miles with around 3500 ft of elevation. Not gonna lie, the last stretch (the Garden Wall) was pretty rough as the trail was very narrow and incredibly rocky, and the wind was constantly screaming and whipping your face (definitely bring a windbreaker and protect your hats!!!). But despite the difficulty for us average hikers and the sad state of our feet afterwards, my friends and I absolutely loved the experience. It wasn't just about the view at the top for us. The entire trail was stunning and since we hiked late September, the red and golden foliage all around us made us feel like we were in another world. We saw various wildlife as well - mostly deer and chipmunks!

You'd be hard pressed to say anything about GTSR aside from "unmatched views of beautiful meadows,…read moremassive mountains, gorgeous valleys, and the occasional waterfall." The road is only open 3-4 months out of the year in summer once the snow has been cleared and it can become closed again if it snows late in the season (that happened this year in 2025), so bear that in mind when planning your trip. That said, it is absolutely worth at least one trip in everyone's life as far as I'm concerned to make the drive along this famous road. It is absolutely stunning, every lookout point is an incredible photo op, and even the visitor centers are in the most stunning, picturesque locations so even if you can't hike any tough trails, you can see some absolutely incredible parts of this park without even leaving the car (although would strongly recommend getting out for hikes if you are physically able - you miss a lot of other grandeur if you don't ). If very afraid of heights be aware the road is kinda narrow and the drop offs can look kinda steep. But there are barriers all along the road, rest assured about that. Overall - this is without a doubt one of the most beautiful drives and parks I've ever been in, period. STRONGLY rec a visit.

Definitely a highlight of any trip to Glacier National Park. The cool thing is you can do it…read moreseveral times and it will likely yield different views each time. We did it three times over 4 days and saw different things each time. Between 7am to 3pm you must have a timed entry reservation. The parking spots fill up fast so you might need to go several times just so you can head to where you want to go first thing. Then hit less popular areas after. Or don't drive and take the shuttles.

This place was really cool and I would recommend going. I went when it was raining and apparently…read morethat means that the waterfalls look better so I guess you should go when it's raining. Or at least that's what they said. If you're there on a busier day I would recommend going early cuz the parking was pretty minimal. Honestly a must visit at Glacier National Park

Sacred Dancing Cascade Falls is a magical West Glacier waterfall. You can access this waterfall…read moreeasily from a footbridge spanning McDonald Creek. Even though there were more rapids and cascades further upstream of this falls, I wanted to check out why the local Native-Americans revere this particular waterfall. Sacred Dancing Cascade Falls is accessible to the eyes from the road. Looking up from the Red Tour Bus, you can gaze up the mountain and see several streaming walls of water. After pulling off the road into a large parking lot, it is a quick walk to the footbridge over the Creek, and after a hike, you will be close enough to where a great view of the cascade can be found, For the local indigenous peoples, this Sacred Waterfall is a spiritual holy place. The mists that rise from the base of the waterfall are thought to connect heaven and earth. They are also thought to be a conduit of our earthly prayers to the Great Creator and where the First Man & First Woman were created by the Moon Transformer. A local tribe member once explained the importance of the Falls by saying the waterfall is a symbol to them of "the cycle of water which renews us for it is the cycle of life." The Sacred Falls is a glorious thing to experience. When you get closer up, seeing the smooth layers of rock scrubbed down by years of powerful water tumbling over it is thrilling. Sacred Dancing Cascade Fall makes you realize the incredible force of water and why the Indians are right to revere such a place as this.

After a day of long strenuous hikes I wanted to end it with a nice and easy hike. I came here at…read morearound 8pm on a Saturday and there were lots of parking spots in the small parking lot. This trail is closer to the St. Mary entrance of the park but if you're driving through the entirety of the Going-to-the-Sun Road you'll stop by this trailhead. The trail to the St. Mary waterfall is only about 1 mile from the parking lot and there's no elevation at all which makes for a very easy hike. From the St. Mary waterfall you can continue on to the Virginia Falls but I chose not to as the sun was going down and I didn't want to be out on a hike by myself in the near darkness, but the hike to Virginia Falls is not that much further or harder.

A fairly easy hike through the woods that's filled with burned wood (i think) and then opens up to…read morea bridge overlooking the St. Mary's Falls. We were looking for something quick as the weather was rainy and this was a nice hike to do. You can make it longer by continuing on to the next two falls but we decided to skip that. Ample parking around this hike too.

Full disclosure - I only hiked like 5 mins of this trail, but that's because it was closed for the…read morewinter still despite being Sunday June 29! The trail actually opened in full that Wednesday, so I came just slightly too early. That said, I hiked the loop trail up to the intersection of the highline trail, and walked along to near glacier junction. You can see the continuation of the trail in the distance and it is obviously a gorgeous trail - and quite challenging given the distance, although I'm told the incline is actually fairly gradual. Overall: I'm planning a trip back to glacier next summer a little bit later specifically to do this trail out to grinnell glacier overlook along the garden wall. My trip along the loop was absolutely stunning, so I want to make it out to granite peak chalet again another way. And while it likely won't come as a surprise to anyone planning to hike this trail, do bear in mind the warnings about safety including taking enough water/food, bear spray, and ideally going with someone else (particularly given doing this trail takes pretty much all day).

Difficult but great trail. We did the 3.5 mile each way stretch starting at Logan Pass and ending…read moreat Haystack pass, where we stopped for a picnic lunch. Lots of people made it more difficult, but the reviews were amazing. We even saw our first marmots too. I'd highly recommend this one while at Glacier.

REDROCK FALLS can be reached by a trail that starts at the parking lot by Swiftcurrent Inn. The…read moretrail is 2 miles, each way. On the way, you can see strange trees where the trunk has a U-shape, and where the U-shape occurs at about five feet above the ground. I posted two photographs of these strange trees, where each has the U-shape in the tree trunk. During the hike, and also at Redrock Falls, you can see Mount Grinnell, which is south of the trail, and Mount Wilbur, which is north of the trail. Redrock Falls is actually a series of small cascades, and it is not comparable to the iconic Yosemite Falls in California, or to the drop-dead gorgeous North Falls at Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. During my family's hike, I was treated to a "dance-of-the-clouds" where the wind-blown movements of the clouds resulted in intermittent illumination of various regions of Mount Grinnell and of Mount Wilbur. Your hike to Redrock Falls will provide motivation to learn about the Grinnell Formation. Grinnell formation is colored red, and it consists of something called, "shaly argillites. The shaly argillites lies on top of something called the "Appekunny." Mingled with the red argillites are thin white layers of quartzite, a former sandstone which has been converted by pressure into an extraordinarily hard, dense rock. The red color is due to iron oxide occurring as a cement between the sand and mud grains (info from, The Geologic Story of Glacier National Park, Special Bulletin No. 3, Glacier Natural History Association). PHOTOGRAPHS. Please click on each of my photographs so that you can see the entire image. VISITOR CENTERS. Glacier National Park has several visitor centers. This is a warning. If you fail to buy at least fifty dollars worth of souvenirs during your visit to Glacier National Park, you will regret it for many years. Your regret will build up more and more, with every passing decade. What I recommend most, is buying the model of the red bus that is used for transporting tourists up and down Going-To-The-Sun Road. What I also recommend is buying a plush moose. The word "plush" is used to refer to toy animals such as birds and dogs that are made of soft fluffy cloth.

Views views views!…read more Great change of pace after days of hiking. I rented a 1 seater kayak from glacier outfitters. It may look like a far walk but it isn't! Totally doable. The staff was very nice to explain everything to me. They showed me the lake map and where to go and not go, etc. Instructions were very clear. I rented 2 hours (they have you 15 mins for the round trip walk). The walk from the rental to the lake I thought was a bit of a walk but it was not bad to haul the kayak there, they are on wheels so it is not bad. You leave the wheels near the trees. Returning the kayak was fairly easy as well. There are lockers available that you can put your stuff if you don't want to take it with you. The minimum number of hours is 2 hours and it was 40 something. Overall it was a good experience! Everything was great. Would recommend and use service again.

We made reservations at Glacier Outfitters for kayaks for the day. (highly recommend reservations)…read more There is a small parking lot and some street parking but it was not a busy day and it was full. We had people waiting for our parking spot when we returned to the car. I'm not sure where people would park when it gets very busy. Perhaps there is another parking lot I didn't see. When you walk up to G.O. you sign waivers, pay the fee and are gathered in an area for instructions. The man who provided the instructions was very informative. Advised us of areas in Flathead Lake to avoid including a rough water area and a few bald eagle's nests as they recently laid eggs. After instructions, you are provided with the kayak, paddle, life jacket and a cart to roll the kayak down to the lake. Now, I'm pretty strong but the kayaks are heavy. I did think to myself, how would someone with less strength get this kayak down to the lake? Something to ask about if you are renting as it is several yards to walk with a heavy kayak. The carts were easy to remove and stash while we spent the day in the lake. When you finish kayaking, you simply load the kayak back on the cart and roll it back to G.O., drop off gear and you are done. We had a great experience with Glacier Outfitters and would use them again.