Things to do nearGlacier National Park

Glacier National Park spans more than one million acres along the Continental Divide in northwestern Montana, sharing a border with Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park to form the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park takes its name from the ancient glaciers that carved its signature U-shaped valleys, horn peaks, and cirque lakes over thousands of years, though the roughly two dozen active glaciers that remain today are dramatically smaller than those that shaped the landscape.

Going-to-the-Sun Road, a 50-mile engineering marvel completed in 1933, remains the most iconic way to cross the park, climbing from cedar and hemlock forests at lower elevations through exposed alpine terrain at Logan Pass, where the views extend across the Garden Wall and into the valley below. Hikers can choose from routes ranging from gentle lakeshore walks to strenuous summit scrambles, with the Highline Trail offering one of the most celebrated ridge-top experiences in the American West. Lake McDonald, the park's largest lake, invites kayaking and shoreline exploration, while Two Medicine and Many Glacier valleys offer quieter corners favored by those seeking solitude.

Wildlife is abundant and visible, with grizzly bears, moose, wolverines, and bighorn sheep all present throughout the park's diverse ecosystems. The park's few lodges, including the historic Many Glacier Hotel and Lake McDonald Lodge, reflect a rustic National Park Service aesthetic that feels entirely in keeping with the surroundings. For anyone drawn to raw, undisturbed mountain wilderness, Glacier National Park offers a landscape of rare scale and beauty that justifies the journey to Montana's far northwest corner.