(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Hey everybody, I'm Alice Ford.

Welcome to Glacier National Park in Montana.

I'm here with my sister.

We're gonna be exploring over the next four and five days, hiking and backpacking at the park and bringing you some of the best places to explore.

As a national park enthusiast, it's almost criminal it's taken me so long to visit Glacier National Park, many Americans favorite park.

It touches the Canadian borderer in northern Montana and is full of glacial lakes, stunning landscapes and big wildlife.

I was driving to the park from Spokane, Washington, which is about a five hour drive that took me through the wild woods of Idaho and straight into this stunning national park.

We started our trip in East Glacier, arriving late in the evening on a rainy filled night to the Many Glaciers Hotel where we would be staying the night.

This national park has a ton of hotels within the National Park, which is unlike a lot of them, and this one has spectacular views.

It was modeled after a Swiss chalet and not only are the rooms cute, but the views are spectacular.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) My sister and I were supposed to hike out to Red Eagle Lake and spend the night tonight.

It is pouring out and it's supposed to pour just all night, all day.

So I actually just stopped by the back country, the ranger station here at Many Glaciers, which is just up the road from the hotel and they were able to move our appointment to tomorrow to see a wonderful sunny day tomorrow.

So, excited for that.

And today I think we're just gonna lay low, get out, see some of this area around Many Glaciers, but it's gonna be a wet day.

(mellow music) We are gonna be heading out to Iceberg Lake.

There's a bunch of trails in this area.

It's gonna be pretty soggy though.

We checked in at the ranger station this morning.

There are still quite a few things closed here in the park, so we're kind of asking the locals and the park rangers here what's the best things to do.

So hopefully out to Iceberg Lake should be pretty and hopefully we won't get too wet.

(upbeat music) - All of Glacier is bear habitat, so if you're hiking here, you'll need to be prepared with bells your singing voice and some bear spray.

(upbeat music) The hike to Iceberg Lake is just under 10 miles round trip, and although the weather was not ideal, the rain and the lack of people made this wild flower and waterfall filled hike absolutely spectacular.

Now Glacier is known as the crown of the continent and this Montana park contains 200 waterfalls, 700 lakes, and more than 700 miles of trails.

You can even walk on a glacier here, but this time of year you really never know what you're going to get for weather or landscapes, but it's scenery just like this with a little bit of fog and mist that I really love the most.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) We're just about one mile from Iceberg Lake now and there's quite a bit of snow.

So the Park Service has actually posted a sign here recommending that you don't continue on the trail.

There's a bunch of snow drifts here, potential for ice and a lot of water.

I've talked with my sister and we've actually decided to keep going to the lake.

Now, I probably wouldn't have done this alone, but there's power in numbers and we're so close, so hopefully it won't be too treacherous.

Now the main danger of this section is definitely the long slanted snow fields we're crossing, so definitely recommend bringing hiking poles and going really slow.

(mellow music) All right, we made it to Iceberg Lake.

Five miles in and we've got five miles to get out.

One of the really cool things you'll notice about these alpine glaciated lakes is that it almost looks like someone took an ice cream scoop and is scooped out the mountainside.

That's because this was all a glacier once and as the glacier receded, it took a lot of the mountain with it.

(upbeat music) Hello.

Woo.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Good morning everybody.

Today we are backpacking.

So, I'll show you our room, because we are just trying to get packed up here and ready for the day.

As you can see, we're laying out all of our items here and should hopefully be out the door here in about 45 minutes.

(upbeat music) We are finally at the trail head.

We are packed, ready to go, heading out to Red Eagle Lake today.

This is on the east side of the park over near St. Mary's Visitor Center and Ranger Station, which is where we're gonna be starting our hike out to Red Eagle Lake.

It's about seven and a half miles each way and we'll be camping out at the lake when we get there and I'm really excited.

We've already had a couple disasters this morning with our water bladders leaking all over pretty much everything, so trying to get things dried out and we're about to hit the trail.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) Lots of raspberry bushes.

On the other side of the trail, blueberries are as wide as you can see.

Alright, so we just had our first potential wildlife encounter.

Definitely a little baby animal crying in the woods, so just getting loud and continuing on the trail.

(upbeat music) Glacier National Park is bear territory and I'm talking grizzlies and black bears and on this trail we saw footprints from both of them.

I was really glad to have my older sister with me for that extra sense of security.

This is definitely an area that I probably wouldn't backpack in alone, so I was really happy to have her and we really enjoyed the first couple of miles of this hike that went through these stunning meadows full of wild flowers.

I truly felt like we were in the sound of music.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) This was such a great trail for us to kind of get back in shape and get back into our hiking and backpacking season.

The trail is really pretty flat.

There's not that many inclines.

It just kind of meanders along the river through this beautiful terrain.

There is a lot of burn sections, but the meadows and forest make up for that and one of our favorite parts was definitely going across these swinging bridges across the river.

Definitely wanna stay in the middle.

(upbeat music) Well we finally just saw our first person on the trail so far, which means we're probably gonna have a lake entirely to ourselves tonight.

We have been following moose prints for a couple of miles now also, so hopefully get to see one on our hike.

(bell pinging) (upbeat music) I was pretty excited to see a moose, but less excited when I saw these prints from a big grizzly.

His feet were way bigger than mine.

We had already seen some black bear prints, but these were our first grizzly prints right on the trail and pretty recently as well.

So we were definitely on our guard after that.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Oh my gosh, how beautiful this lake is.

We just arrived.

(upbeat music) The first thing we have to do here before we set up our tent is actually store our food.

Now one of the things that Glacier has done really well is actually set up food storage areas at, as you can see behind me here, there's big poles here and a campfire.

They have actually done a great job at setting up these back country spots with areas like this, separate areas for camping.

There's even a pit toilet here for all the hikers and campers coming through this area.

These are usually set up at the beginning of the season and it makes coming to places like this so much easier.

So before we go set up our tent and pick a campsite, we're gonna get our food hung up there, make sure everything that's scented in our bags is in that bear bag that we're hanging.

Then we'll go set up our tent and then enjoy this lake a little bit.

Glacier actually requires that you have a bear bag rather than a bear box and you don't have to buy something fancy.

If you've got a dry bag, you can actually use this.

It works perfectly.

We just tied ours on the side and hoisted it up on the bear storage area.

Now after we got our tent set up, we filtered some water, we watched the clouds roll in, we got a fire going at the fire pit.

Then we enjoyed some dinner and watching the stars.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) We just got back from our hike.

That was a long one.

We didn't see any bears but we did see some bear prints.

- Hello?

- Oh wait, there's a bear now.

(both laughing) Thanks Sophie.

Now we are driving the, Going to the Sun Road.

So one of the cool things about this side of the park, the east side, is that you actually don't need a reservation to go onto the Going to the Sun Road.

So we actually just stopped for some food after our hike and now we're driving it.

It's super spectacular.

Right now the road is closed at about mile 17 on this side, so we can't drive across which a lot of people that we've met and come across right now have also been planning on doing this part of the year.

But this road will probably open the first week of July.

That's pretty typical.

So it is still the end of June.

There's still quite a bit of snow up in the mountains here, so not always open.

So make sure you can plan accordingly when you're coming here.

It takes about two and a half hours to get across this road and about two and a half hours to go around if you can't get across Going to the Sun.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Good morning everybody.

This morning we are in the Two Medicines area.

This is also in East Glacier and it's definitely one of the less visited parts of the National Park.

We're gonna be hiking a pretty cool mountain today and it's beautiful again.

I'm really excited to get the trail today.

There's supposed to be goats and sheep up there, so we're excited to bring you guys along.

Here in the Two Medicines area, you'll find the Amtrak station, a few hostels and restaurants, as well as this lies on the Continental Divide Trail and one of the national park lodges called the Glacier Park Lodge.

Now one of the activities that I highly recommend if you're coming here to Glacier is doing one of the boat tours.

Now these are on several of the Parks Lakes and it's a really great way for people of all ages to take in the stunning scenery, especially if hiking isn't something you can do.

We just parked at the trailhead and one of the reasons we actually chose this trail, because it said it had a lot of sheep and goats and we haven't even started the trail, so it looks like we can just get back in the car.

(Alice laughing) Our work here is done.

(mellow music) This trail, according to the park service sign, is 3.1 miles each way.

However, on all trails it said it's about seven and a half miles round trip.

So I will be tracking this hike, letting you guys know how long it actually is.

There's also a waterfall you can hike to on this route if you wanna do something a little shorter.

(mellow music) (mellow music continues) Well, we just got ambushed by our first herd of sheep.

So cute, little babies.

You know, if you're doing this trail, please keep your distance from the wildlife and don't feed them.

Also, don't try to get closer to 'em to take photos, 'cause it can lead to some dangerous conditions for not only them on the trails, but people too.

(mellow music) (wind whipping) This hike has been incredibly windy so far, just really strong wind gusts 30, 40 miles an hour and it's feeling a little bit unsafe.

So we're actually gonna turn around.

We're gonna head back to the parking lot.

We're gonna eat lunch and then we're gonna head to West Glacier.

From East Glacier to West Glacier is about a 90 minute drive, so that's where we're heading right now.

As I've mentioned in this video, going to the Sun Road is actually not open all the way across right now.

So if you're wanting to get from one side of the park to the other, you have to take highway two, which is a little bit longer in mileage than the going to the Sun Road, but it actually takes about the same amount of time to get from one side to the other.

So that's where we're heading now.

we're gonna head over to West Glacier.

And tonight we're actually staying at the Lake McDonald's Lodge.

So luckily for us, this is also kind of our ticket to get into the park.

If you're not planning really for in advance right now for a lot of these parks, reservations aren't guaranteed, which is exactly how it is for Glacier.

So if you're wanting to do the Going to the Sun Road, one of the kind of hacks that you can use to get onto the Going to the Sun Road if you can't get a ticketed reservation is to book one of the hotels on the Going to the Sun Road.

So I booked pretty far in advance.

I got hotel reservations for whatever we could find in the park and luckily tonight we're staying there.

So I'm excited because this is a fantastic place to stay and hopefully we're gonna see some wildlife.

But when we get over there, we're gonna go hiking first.

(upbeat music) Right around Lake McDonald Lodge are tons of trails that we're doing just a short one this afternoon called the Johns Lake Loop, and it's just a nice little forest walk, not much elevation, perfect for families or an evening walk before you eat dinner at the lodge.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (water rushing) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) Welcome to Lake McDonald Lodge.

I think this is where our vacation gets a little bit more leisurely.

We're actually staying in this cabin behind me.

Just about 5:00 PM and I'm already loving the vibe here.

Everyone is just kind of sitting outside drinking a beer, enjoying the great views over the lake.

We're gonna take a couple afternoon strolls here, but I think we're gonna save our more strenuous stuff for tomorrow and just kind of enjoy the beautiful scenery here.

It's extremely pricey to stay at this hotel at over $500 a night, but the views and the access to the park are pretty priceless.

Another great activity for non hikers are the Glacier Red Bus Tours, which were in 1930s era vintage buses with rollback tops.

They provide a relaxing way to take in the stunning mountains and scenery and you're sure to learn a lot about the park too.

It's our last hike in Glacier.

I can't believe our trip is almost over, but this morning we are heading out on a hike up to the Brown Lookout Tower.

This is just over 10 miles and the trail begins just across the street from the Lake McDonald Lodge along this Berry Trail.

This trail pretty much goes up an incline from the first few steps, and if you don't wanna do the hike all the way up to the lookout, you can actually do two other trails that connect to this one.

One is up to the Sperry Chalet and the other one is out to Snyder Lake.

When we went to bed last night, I was telling my sister, we have to see a bear before we leave Glacier and we just saw our first bear.

It was a black bear that was actually kind of a redhead, pretty brown, but he or she just kind of slunk off into the forest.

We gave it a lot of space, but it was really cool to see our first Glacier bear.

On this trip I keep finding myself sharing the trail with grouse and ptarmigan.

Now the dusky grouse looks a bit like a gray chicken and I found out they can be quite territorial this time of year.

On our hike out to Red Eagle Lake one actually jumped out of a bush at me and almost scared me to death.

I'm just glad it wasn't a bear.

We have gone quite up in elevation here with some pretty great views over the lake, minus all the burn trees up here.

But wanted to show you guys this fur you can see right here.

Now, the trail reports from the last few days said a couple people had seen mountain goats up near the top and it looks like we might be following in the footsteps of some.

Fun fact, you'll often see the goats licking rocks in the spring, which actually helps them get much needed salt.

So if you've got sweaty legs be fore warned, they might try to come and lick you too.

We actually passed several people on this trail that turned around because they thought the goats were being aggressive, but in reality they were probably trying to just get close to them to try to get some of the salt off them.

No matter what happens on the trail, always give wildlife a large space, especially during spring when animals are more likely to be hungry or ravening young.

(upbeat music) We made it to the fire lookout.

Oh my gosh, the views up here are absolutely amazing, just incredible.

Now, most people didn't make it up this far because of the snow that we crossed back here and those goats, but I am certainly glad we continued on, because this is just spectacular and what an amazing way to end this trip to Glacier National Park.

I hope you guys have enjoyed following along and I will see you guys in the next adventure.

As always, I'm Alice Ford.

Never stop exploring.

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