Day 1-Flew straight into Kalispell and arrived about 8:15pm. The rental car company(Dollar) had the local representative on hand at the airport to pick us up. I didn't expect this but it was nice to see him holding up a sign with our name on it. He took us to the office and we got our car, Jeep Grand Cherokee. Spent the first night in Kalispell due to the timing of our flight. When I first booked everything(fall of 2008) our flight was scheduled to arrive about midnight but the flight got moved up, which we were happy with.
Day 2-Done some shopping for a few supplies we didn't bring. We stopped by the Sportsmen & Ski Haus just to look around and bought bear spray here(only $30.00 w/o the holster). I had read about and debated on buying trekking poles. My wife and I saw them in the store and said why not. We each got a mid-priced pair of Leki poles. After stopping for groceries at Wal-Mart in Columbia Falls, we headed for West Glacier just to get our park pass and check out the park office there.
My wife got her National Parks passport book stamped and after a couple minutes of looking around, we took Hwy 2 south of the park to East Glacier. The drive isn't "scenic" but it was a drive I wanted to do anyway. Arriving at East Glacier, we found our home away from home for the next two nights...Mountain Pine Motel. It was an adequate room for our needs of sleep and a shower. The facility was a typical motel and wasn't fancy but again, it was fine for our needs. We didn't have a tv or phone but that was fine. We unloaded the bulk of our "stuff" and headed for Two Medicine. We stopped at Running Eagle Falls and done this short hike.
Nothing grand but it was a nice intro to hiking, waterfalls and a general feel for the area. From here we drove on in and drove through the Two Medicine campground just for a look-see. Nice little campground. From there we drove down to the camp store and a view of the lake. Coming back out, we stopped and hiked to Appistoki Falls on the Mt. Henry trail. Just a short hike to a nice little waterfall. Mosquitos out in full force but a nice hike otherwise with out first sight of bear grass. Next was the drive back toward the motel. One the road out of Two Medicine we got our first site of a black bear. He bounced across the road pretty quick and I made a quick u-turn in hopes of getting a picture or two but he wasn't hanging around for a photo op. Of course we were all excited and loving our first day in the park. It was time to head back to East Glacier and find a bite to eat. We stopped in at Serrano's Mexican restaurant and had a very good meal. I recommend it to anyone in the area. Service was good and so was the food. I had the Chili Rellanos and they were different from what I have tried before but very good. The Blackfeet Heritage Days were going on this weekend so no beer sales in the restaurant(I don't drink but the wife wanted one). On the way back to Mountain Pine we stopped at Glacier Park Lodge for a quick look around and then made our way back to the room for the night.Day 3-Awoke from a restfull sleep and got moving. Lots to do. Had breakfast at the Whistlestop Cafe.
Yep, it was as good as advertised. Really good food and the service was good too. It was a busy place each time we passed the place for the couple of days we were in the area. Stepped into Brownie's for a look around and to pick up a couple of sandwiches for lunch. Time for Browning. We headed to Browning for the Blackfeet Indiand Heritage Days/Pow Wow. The drive was pretty short to Browning from East Glacier. As we came into town, we could see some teepee's set up so we didn't have any trouble finding the spot. Pulled into the field with teepee's, campers and tents. Not knowing what to expect, we got out and starting walking around. Someone told us the parade was that morning to head back to the main road in town. Done that and waited an hour or so for the parade. It wasn't big but it was a nice size parade for the small town. It was almost 1:00pm so we didn't stay any longer for any festivities back in the field. We had reservations for the boat ride on Two Medicine Lake. We drove back to Two Medicine and took a later boat ride. 
Hiked to Twin Falls and then back around to Upper Two Medicine Lake/Campground. Hiked back, waited for the second boat to take us back across the lake. It was dinner time so we headed back to the motel. We walked to the Whistlestop Cafe and had dinner....and huckleberry pie :). Good food indeed.Day 4-Had breakfast at Whiststop Cafe and loaded up the car and headed for Canada. Had a rather rude guy at the crossing. He was in a sour mood talking about "his" country and "his" people and how I better behave. That sort of ruined our entire Canadian experience. Anyway, we were only a couple miles into Canada when a small brown(grizzly?) was spotted on the side of the road but he ran off once he saw us. Drove on up to the visitor center and then across the road and up to the Prince of Wales Hotel. Looked around, had lunch and took some photos and off we went again. We drove the Akimina Parkway and browsed around at Cameron Lake.
I convinced my wife to hike up to Summit Lake. This was a nice walk and really stretched our legs on this hike. Honestly, the lake wasn't really much but the hike was still nice. On the way back to Cameron Lake, we had a deer right beside the trail give us a good scare. We were sure a bear was about to attack us. It was time to get a bite to eat so we drove back into Wateron and ate at Zum's. Good food and the best pie a la mode of our entire trip. Neat place to eat and nice atmosphere(and the sign said internet access too). Definitely try the mixed berry pie. It was warm with the cold ice cream. Highly recommended. From here we headed east of the park to Mountain View where we had lodging at the Rocky Ridge Country Lodge. This is a bed and breakfast that has new owners and they are wonderful! I can not recommend this place enough. Cooked to order breakfast each morning. Quiet setting and very peaceful. We were upstairs but we had a small kitchenette area for the 3 upstairs rooms for heating up a quick meal. They have a hot tub, commons room with tv, vcr and dvd, and a game room with pool table. The small town of Mountain View is about 15 miles from Waterton so not a bad drive at all. If you want a quiet place to sleep with great hosts, this is your spot. They have wifi too so it was nice to check a few emails(and kill time when we got rained out for over a day).Day 5-Rain and more rain. It was threatening rain but we got out and headed toward Red Rock Canyon. After just a few minutes the rain came and we left. We rode around and headed further east to the town of Cardston but ended up spending the day indoors at Rocky Ridge Country Lodge.
Day 6-Back to Red Rock Canyon. On the way inside the park, we had a grizzly sighting. It was small but still fun to watch for a few minutes. The traffic always gives away the bears. At Red Rock we hiked to Blakeston Falls
and back and then around the little section of Red Rock Canyon right next to the parking lot. Next up was our return to the states. Unfortunately the boat ride to Goat Haunt and hiking the day before was rained out and with rain still in the area we just decided it was time to head on back down into Glacier. We turned in at Babb and headed into Many Glacier. What a site for our first time coming in this area. You can't help but be in awe of the mountains that are all around you. It lends new meaning to the term of "being in the mountains". I have seen mountains in other areas across the country but this is the first time I really felt like I was "in" the mountains. We stopped at the Many Glacier Hotel for a look around and had lunch there in the Swiss Lounge. It was a meal but nothing special about the food or service. I'd have to say average. Next was our home for 5 nights at the Swiftcurrent Inn. We were in Motel 4 and I thought the accommodations were just fine. We had two beds and a nice fairly roomy bathroom. (My only complaint was the noise level from other guests. They got in late and could be heard walking down the hallway and rumbling around in their rooms. Then in the morning they were up at 6:00am making noise again. We were on vacation so we were not concerned about getting out and hiking every hour of light so we tried to sleep in until 7:00-7:30. Having to walk back to the main lobby for ice was only a minor inconvenience.) It was early afternoon by now but the power was out so without a specific agenda, we decided to just ride back out toward Babb and check on the Cattle Baron to look at the menu and just roam around a bit. We ended up driving over to St. Mary for gas but they had no power either. We shopped in the dark at the main gas station/gift shop in St. Mary and then had dinner out on the patio of a local spot(don't recall the name). They were doing grilled hamburgers and hotdogs outside because of the power outage and they done a ton of business since everyone was just hanging out waiting for the power to get restored. We still had "daylight" left(mostly cloudy and threatening rain) so we drove in the park at the St. Mary entrance and stopped in at the visitor center there too. I recognized the two web cam views from this area. Not wanting to go back to the Swiftcurrent Inn just yet we got on GTTSR and headed for Logan Pass. It was so cloudy and foggy that by the time I got to Logan Pass I could hardly see the road. The fog and clouds had surrounded us and the visitor center. 
There were only a few other people roaming around like us. It was chilly so we didn't spend much time looking around. We got back in the car and drove slowly back to St. Mary and back around to Swiftcurrent. Had dinner at Swiftcurrent. It was average food but service was good.Day 7-My wife wasn't feeling well but said for me to go ahead and hike if I wanted. In the morning, after a late start, I hiked to Red Rock Falls for a few photos and headed back. I stopped at Fishercap Lake
for a look and a couple photos and then made it back to Swiftcurrent. My wife still didn't feel like hiking so after a snack for lunch and an hour or so of roaming around Swiftcurrent and looking at goats on the mountainside, I decided to head back out on my own. I thought I would just walk around Swiftcurrent Lake and stop at Many Glacier Hotel again and come on back. Instead of looping around the lake I decided to venture out a little more. So, I passed Swiftcurrent Lake, went past Josephine Lake and headed on out toward Grinnell Lake. Not planning on a hike of this length, I didn't bring my pack with water. I had camera bag and bear spray and nothing else. Anyway, I hiked out to Grinnel Lake and up to the chain warning people of the potential danger of going on up to the glacier. On the way some other hikers spotted a small grizzly beside the trail so we all watched and got photos for 15 minutes or so until the bear crossed the path and most of us left. After a brief cool down and photos of Grinnell Lake,
I turned back. A gentleman on the path recognized me from when we all stopped with the grizzly and asked if I would take his family's boat tickets to them at Josephine. I said sure so I headed on back and walk around Josephine to the dock but no family. They evidently caught a ride back just before I got there. Anyway, I left the tickets with another family in case the original family did show up. I hiked on the south(?) side of Josephine and then came across the bridge between Josephine and Swiftcurrent. Made it back to the room and I was tired. Hungry, thirsty and tired. My wife was feeling better so we had a bite to eat at Swiftcurrent and the food was just average again. Breakfast here was good and reasonably priced(for a national park). I can't honestly recommend dinner if you are wanting a "good" meal. Anyway, back in the car and to Logan Pass again. This time we could see and got a better view of the visitor center as well. I got a couple pictures of a deer beside the road and we took our time and came on back to St. Mary. It was Park Cafe time. It was very busy and we had to wait 10-15 minutes to get in. It was probably 7:30-8:00 by now. My wife had soup and then we each got pies a la mode. I have to say the service and food was just average. The pie was room temperature only. We had to ask for more water to drink. The pie itself was tasty but had it been warmed up would have been so much better with the ice cream. Not sure I would go out of my way to eat there again on a return trip.Day 8-Had breakfast at Swiftcurrent and back yet again to St. Mary and toward Logan Pass. We stopped at Sun Point. We walked out to the nice view of St. Mary Lake. We took the trail around to Baring Falls and then on to St. Mary Falls.
In looking back, I think we didn't go far enough up the trial to see Virginia Falls. We saw a waterfall a little ways past St. Mary Falls but I think we missed Virginia Falls. Something for the next trip! We hiked back out to GTTSR. I walked along the road back to Sun Pointe to get the car. I picked up my wife and we had some sandwiches for lunch we had prepared. Next up was Logan Pass. It was mid day so we could really get all the views. We stopped at the visitor center and then got the "mandatory" photo at the continental divide sign. From here we hiked along the Garden Wall portion of the Highline Trail. The views here were nothing short of breathtaking. Not for the trail but for the views. The trail was fine and didn't scare us in the least. The views though were probably the best of any we saw the entire trip. 
We went out a mile or two and returned. We didn't have time to go too far so we forced ourselves to turn around. We were a bit tired from the earlier hiking and this latest trail today so we headed back toward St. Mary. We stopped Rising Sun and had a bite at Two Dog Flats. I have heard mixed reviews of the place but I thought the service was adequate and the food to be very good. Price was about what I expected for the meal I chose. Before we got back to St. Mary, along the roadside was a black bear. He was taking his time turning over every rock looking for grubs I suppose. We chatted with another couple that had been watching him for a half hour. Eventually we got tired of watching him and drove back to Swiftcurrent and called it a day.Day 9-After a fairly long day the day before, we slept in and got a late start. After a late breakfast we headed back to Logan Pass to hike the Hidden Lake Trail. We made it through the snow packed portions and out to the overlook. We encountered a few goats along the way. We went the other half of the way down to the lake itself. After several more goat encounters we made it down to the lake.
The water was crystal clear and the weather was cool so we cooled down and had lunch. We heard some yelling and as I look over, a young teenager had jumped in the lake. He didn't waste one second jumping back out and yelling about how cold it was! After the bite to eat and a little rest, we hiked back out and got our car. A side note, the parking lot does fill up mid day but we didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes several different days to find a spot as someone left. I drove back to Swiftcurrent and we both took a short 30 minute nap. We were not use to hiking much less the type we were doing in Glacier. After the naps, we got cleaned up and drove out to the Cattle Baron Supper Club to get a bite to eat. Since it was our wedding anniversary we thought this would be a good way to celebrate. We got seated immediately and placed our order. The wait wasn't too long but a little longer than average seemed like....or maybe we were just really hungry! The food was pricey but nothing out of line for the steaks we got. The food was good but I just didn't like the cut of meat I had. I opted for the buffalo rib eye when I should have just gotten my normal prime rib. Aside from my choice of cut, I thought the food was very good and portions were big enough to fill you up.Day 10-Today was the big day. I wanted to hike to Ptarmagin Tunnel. I knew it was a sizeable task for us but I left the whole day open so we could rest along the way should we need to. It was 9:10am and we headed out. The hike is steadily uphill but was not too extreme for us inexperience hikers. Not sure if I mentioned it earlier but I highly recommend trekking poles. My wife and I both felt they really helped. My legs held up well and I really feel it was due to using the poles. Do learn how to properly hold them so the weight is on your wrist and hand and don't just grip them like a ball bat. We trudged along taking our time and got passed by some folks but we were not running a marathon so we didn't mind. We make it to the falls. Ahh half way there(I think thats right). Next up was the Lake. Small but nice reflections all the same.
All we could see from there was the switchbacks. I looked at my wife and said "this should be fun". Someone coming back off the switchbacks said "it is tougher than it looks". Great! We didn't need to hear that. We headed on taking our time and stopping to catch our breath a couple of times. I must say though, the reward makes up for the incline ten fold. We had a good breeze most of the hike and along the switchbacks was no exception. At the tunnel entrance the breeze was stiff and quite cool, but it felt sooooo good. I took off my pack and camera bag and cooled down for a couple of minutes as my wife caught up to me. We walked through the tunnel and there was another world! The view was so different on the other side. 
The breeze was gone but the temp felt even cooler. We got cooled down and reenergized in no time. We had lunch with a dozen or so other folks. Everyone is enjoying the cool air and fantastic views. After about 30 minutes we reluctantly turned back for the long walk "home". I really dislike going downhill so that made the return that much worse for me personally. But we made it and were proud of ourselves. Tired down but we made it none the less. We got back at 4:00pm so seven hours round trip for 11.2 miles. We were slower than most but we didn't care.Back at Swiftcurrent I discovered the softserve ice cream in the store. :) After a bit we got an early dinner at Swifcurrent of a salad and small pizza. It was probably the best dinner we had at Swiftcurrent. By now we had figured out the roads into and out of the park were good bear viewing spots at about 8:00pm and later. We drove back toward Babb and sure enough, we saw another bear. It was only a mile or a little more past Many Glacier Hotel(as you are headed out of the park). We got a few photos with plenty of other park visitors and drove on. Well hardly out of site of the black bear was a brown bear(grizzly?). We watched for a good 20 minutes probably and they were slowly working toward each other. We found out from a local that was talking to a Ranger, the two were siblings born last year. It was fun watching them and the presumed grizzly was just a brown black bear. After this we called it a night.
Day 11-Travel day. We got up, checked out and loaded up the car. We decided to go back along Hwy 2 to get back to West Glacier so my wife could get a couple more ink stamps in her passport book(I think there are nine stamps in the park total for anyone else that collects these). We ate breakfast at Two Sisters. Now this is the place we should have been eating at the whole time in this area! The food was good and service was adequate. My wife had sweet melissa(eggs benedict with tomato in place of the ham) and I had the short stack(2) pancakes. I could only eat one of them. It was at least an 8" pancake and 1" thick. Very tasty but just too much....and very cheap compared to most other places. My personal recommendation is skip Park Cafe and eat at Two Sisters. I drove us down and around to West Glacier. Belton Depot was closed so my wife didn't get her book stamped that day. We drove into the park and decided to maybe hike Avalanche. The parking lot was packed so we turned around and stopped in at Lake McDonald Lodge and had lunch. Food was okay. We just had salads and soup so we couldn't really judge them on such a meal. Instead of fighting the parking at Avalanche we decided to drive up to Polebridge. The road was dusty and rough but not unlike most of the dirt roads here in south Georgia so I didn't think it was that extreme. My wife got her passport book stamped at the ranger station and I drove up to Bowman Lake.
Meeting other cars on the road to the lake gets interesting with the road being so narrow. I didn't scratch the car but I did wipe the dust off of it with a few of the meetings. The lake was nice and peaceful but the view just doesn't compare with those around Many Glacier. My biggest "complaint" about the area was the extreme drought and it being so dusty. I get that back home some I wouldn't want to spend a vacation in all that dust too. Back out the winding narrow road. I stopped at the Polebridge Merchantile and ventured in. 
Nice little place with lots of baking going on. There were several racks of various cookies and pastries. I bought a bear claw and it was really, really good. It had huckleberries in it and that icing drizzled over the top....mmmm mmmm I'm getting hungry thinking about it. If you are in the area, do yourself a favor and stop in for some of the goodies. I wish I had bought several more items just to see if they were all as good as the bear claw, and I imagine they are. It was back to Kalispell where we spent our last couple of nights(free hotel room so it was worth the extra driving).Day 12-Not expecting a full, hard day, we slept in a little this morning. Got breakfast and was ready to head out and ....flat tire on the car. Well that killed the morning. After changing the tire, dropping off the flat for repair and waiting for the repair itself, we were looking at noon and lunch time. After the tire problems were squared away, we headed back toward the park. Another stop at the Belton Train Depot to get our passport book stamped(two stamps at this location) and then up to Avalanche. Yep, parking lot crowded again so I drove on up GTTSR. Ended up at Logan Pass. Not a lot of turn around spots once you get deep into the road and we weren't in a hurry so I just kept going. On the way back west I stopped at a few pull-outs for some photos. We made it back to the Trail of the Cedars/Avalanche parking lot and found a spot. It was about 4:00pm now but we had time for the hike. We traveled light for this hike and wandered out way out to the lake and back.
My mind was on the end of our vacation and knowing this would probably be our last hike of the trip. After the hike we stopped at Lake McDonald Lodge because I wanted to walk around to the lake side for a look. The late day sun prevented good photos but that was okay. From here we drove back to Kalispell. My wife had spotted an eatery that she wanted to try so we pulled into Jagz. I have to say that this was the best food of the trip, bar none. We both got a seafood dish and the portions were very large and the price was very reasonable. I highly recommend it for anyone in and around Kalispell. They have steaks, seafood and pasta in a fine dining atmosphere. It is nicer inside than the appearance from the outside. Each of our meals was $25 but as I said, the portions were very large. We got a to-go box for my wife and I had her left overs for dinner the next day.Day 13-Sad to say the end of our trip is near. Nothing this day but sleeping late, trying to cram everything back into the luggage and finding a box for the trekking poles and dropping them off at UPS to be shipped back home. They were too long to fit in our luggage.
Day 14-Early wake up call to get us going for our flight back home. Loaded up our luggage and headed for the airport. Dropped off the rental car....well actually we just had to leave it in the airport parking lot and the rental company would come by and pick it up. Got through security and sat at the terminal waiting for our long flight home. Two weeks had flown by and it all seemed like a blur sitting there waiting for the plane. Had a good flight home. Long, but a good flight.
Summary-We reallllllly enjoyed ourselves. This was our longest vacation together ever(celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary during the trip) and we really needed the break from work and everyday life. The place is absolutely amazing and I hope to return again some day. I don't regret spending time traveling over the entire park and up to Canada but I will agree with most people that the Many Glacier area is the most scenic and the area I would like to spend most of my time should I return. If you are a novice to hiking like us, do yourself a favor and buy some trekking poles. They are worth the money for sure. Be very cautious of the bears but don't worry yourself to the point of not enjoying all the park has to offer. As each day passed, I felt less worried about bears and was able to enjoy the park more and more. I am not saying don't be cautious but just be aware of your surroundings and use common sense and you should be fine.
I do hope we can return to the park "soon" and the next time I would like to camp and spend more time concentrating on hiking more trails. Having seen the main tourist areas, I want to spend time hiking and seeing the park in more detail. We didn't do any ranger led hikes so I feel like we missed some of the stories and little details that only the rangers or veterans of the park would know. This blog has probably bored you enough and I could keep rambling but I will stop here with a final note. If you have never been to Glacier, you have to find a way to make it at some point in your life. It will not disappoint!
Here are some additional photos from the trip.
