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A Family Guide to Glacier National Park
19 Plays20 days ago
Join us as we talk Glacier National Park with park expert and mom Meggie. Meggie shares her family-friendly tips and itinerary ideas for exploring Glacier National Park. Listen in to find the best family hikes, how to manage crowds, and can't miss attractions at one of America's most popular parks.
Follow Meggie on her National Park adventures:
https://parksfamilytravel.com/glacier - All my Glacier posts in one spot
https://instagram.com/parksfamilytravel - Instagram
https://parksfamilytravel.com/facebook - National Parks for Families facebook group)
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:48
CHANTELLE KINCY
Hi, good morning. Welcome to Go Far Girl. Today on the show, we're going to talk everything national parks, specifically one of my favorite parks, which is Glacier National Park. I'm going to do my best to keep quiet and let our guests tell us about Glacier because I tend to get a little excited about Glacier. So we'll let her tell us all about it.
00:01:06
CHANTELLE KINCY
I'm here with Maggie today. She's a former middle school teacher and a mother of three.
00:01:10
CHANTELLE KINCY
She's also a little bit obsessed with national parks, which makes me know I love her already.
00:01:15
Meggie Busath
Yeah.
00:01:16
CHANTELLE KINCY
Her goal is to help others plan their travel with less stress and more confidence. She runs a website called parksfamilytravel.com where she offers travel tips, guides, educational planning courses, personalized consulting, and digital activity books to make family adventures accessible and memorable.
Maggie's Passion for National Parks
00:01:35
CHANTELLE KINCY
So I'm going to have all of her links down in the description. So make sure you follow her. got to go check out these digital activity books because I'm not a child, but I kind of am. So that sounds pretty cool.
00:01:46
CHANTELLE KINCY
So Maggie, hi, welcome. Thanks for joining us today.
00:01:50
Meggie Busath
I am so excited to be here and talk about Glacier and all things national parks. Thank you.
00:01:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
I know it's kind of like this subculture of like crazy people, like obsessed. Right. But like in a good way, like not scary obsessed, but like once you're in, you're in like.
00:02:06
Meggie Busath
Yes, we really connect quickly and deeply when we start talking.
00:02:10
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, for sure. For sure.
00:02:11
Meggie Busath
Yes!
00:02:12
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like a, oh my gosh. Like a Disney adult, but like.
00:02:16
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:02:18
Meggie Busath
That's a great way of comparing them. I, yeah, I love that.
00:02:24
CHANTELLE KINCY
So when did you first start knowing that you loved these places? What kind of got you, what was your gateway drug park?
00:02:30
Meggie Busath
Well, my parents had taken to me to a couple, I grew up in Southern California, but we had family in Utah. So we would kind of do like the drive by style of national parks. But when we first got married, when I first married my husband, we were really focused on saving a lot of money.
00:02:46
Meggie Busath
But we, I had always loved to travel and I wanted, and he had liked, like travel sort of like he liked the idea of travel, but we knew we couldn't really afford expensive travel. And because we are focused in the West, it national parks became like an immediate default. When we planned a trip, it was what new park are we going to go Because There were so many within a drive of us, some of them longer than others, but we could drive to so many parks and camp, or we could find inexpensive hotels and then visiting most of, not all, the parks can be relatively inexpensive.
00:03:11
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes.
00:03:25
Meggie Busath
So that's what got us. And so we just started going bam, bam, bam. And then we had our first kid just a year before our first anniversary, and then We were taking him everywhere and it just became kind of part of our family culture.
00:03:39
Meggie Busath
And so now not every trip we take is national parks focused, but I try really hard to go to a national park on almost every trip we take.
Family Travel Adventures
00:03:48
Meggie Busath
And that's usually what is pulling us somewhere.
00:03:52
Meggie Busath
So it's been so fun.
00:03:54
CHANTELLE KINCY
You're so funny because I got, random, but I got offered a trip to South Carolina to Hilton Head. And so I told my husband, hey, if we go to Hilton Head, we should try to go to Congaree.
00:04:07
CHANTELLE KINCY
And then I was like, oh, you know what we should actually do since we're there? Let's just start in Maine and go to Acadia And drive all the way down and go to like Shenandoah and New River Gorge.
00:04:19
CHANTELLE KINCY
And then down into... So now what started as, do you want to come visit our hotel in Hilton Head for a weekend? Is now like this three-week psychopathic road trip down the entire East Coast.
00:04:32
CHANTELLE KINCY
Because we're already there and there's parks.
00:04:34
Meggie Busath
Yes!
00:04:34
CHANTELLE KINCY
So I totally get your style of travel. I'm super stoked. Yeah.
00:04:40
Meggie Busath
Yeah, we actually just did spring break in Washington, D.C.
00:04:44
Meggie Busath
My sister-in-law lives there and we found really great flights. So we're like, great, we'll do D.C. And like, well, while we're in D.C. And we ended up backtracking. I'm like, let's get New River Gorge. Then we have friends down in Raleigh. So we'll spend the night with them and then we'll go to Congaree and back up to D.C.
00:04:58
Meggie Busath
We did end up only staying in D.C. But though we did visit Gettysburg and Harpers Ferry and some of those, you know, they're still part of the national park system, but they
00:05:05
CHANTELLE KINCY
Oh, so cool. Yeah.
00:05:09
Meggie Busath
like, when are we going to get back to South Carolina? And yeah, the original plan was to go hard. And decided to take it a little slower this time.
00:05:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
Well, I'd love that you have that willpower. That's pretty amazing.
00:05:21
Meggie Busath
Yeah, it's hard. Yeah.
00:05:24
CHANTELLE KINCY
So I probably already know the answer. Other people might not.
Exploring Glacier National Park
00:05:27
CHANTELLE KINCY
Why does Glacier National Park stand out as one of your favorites, like the most meaningful parks? Tell someone who hasn't been there, if there's words in the English language to describe it.
00:05:41
Meggie Busath
just so beautiful and breathtaking. And again, I live in Utah, which has some gorgeous scenery, gorgeous mountains, gorgeous desert, you know, all of the good stuff. And so I guess I feel a little spoiled, but when you go to Glacier, like you just can't explain it.
00:05:57
Meggie Busath
And you see, I love that there are so many types of activities that you can do in Glacier for a range of, I guess, abilities or interests as well.
00:06:08
Meggie Busath
So for me, Glacier is just, it's a park for everyone because even if you can't hike, you drive that going to the Sun Road, boom, like worth it, right?
00:06:20
CHANTELLE KINCY
amazing
00:06:20
Meggie Busath
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Except I can't drive it. I was slightly terrified the whole time. My husband was very confident. He felt good, but I was like kind of holding on for dear life.
00:06:35
Meggie Busath
I know if that was your experience or not, but but I get a little nervous.
00:06:36
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, it's a lot. lot. but I wouldn't drive it because I wanted to look out the window. Like I wouldn't pay attention to driving it.
00:06:40
Meggie Busath
Yes, exactly.
00:06:41
CHANTELLE KINCY
I felt bad because, dang, yeah, he was just having to white knuckle and drag it while i was like, look at that.
00:06:42
Meggie Busath
Yeah, you can take like the red bus. Yeah.
00:06:46
CHANTELLE KINCY
Look at that. He's like, I can't look.
00:06:48
Meggie Busath
Yeah.
00:06:48
CHANTELLE KINCY
You're going to die.
00:06:50
Meggie Busath
I'm like, it's really pretty. I'll take some pictures.
00:06:53
CHANTELLE KINCY
Exactly.
00:06:53
Meggie Busath
Yeah, I I had it really good. But then you also, like, for the, like, ultimate adventure, like, there are some, like, through hiking, like, some really intense hiking experiences that,
00:07:05
Meggie Busath
I mean, I haven't done them, but I still like I'm obsessed with the idea of them and like the hut to like there's huts that you can hike to. And it just really appeals, I think, to a lot of people.
00:07:11
CHANTELLE KINCY
boom
00:07:14
Meggie Busath
and i would say that people, the people who don't enjoy Glacier, like if I get feedback and they're like, it wasn't my favorite. I think that they felt overwhelmed with crowds.
00:07:26
Meggie Busath
But I also think that
00:07:26
CHANTELLE KINCY
I would just block that and move on.
00:07:30
Meggie Busath
you're like I don't have the space for you here. Because we went in the middle of July and we had a glorious experience. Were there people there? Absolutely.
00:07:41
CHANTELLE KINCY
Sure.
00:07:41
Meggie Busath
But you were almost having kind of a community connection with a lot of these people too, that you were experiencing this together. So, and I have some tips for that as well, if avoiding crowds.
00:07:49
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah. Well, it's hard too because going to the Sun Road isn't always open very often. And there's not a set date because it depends on the weather.
00:07:54
Meggie Busath
Yes. Yes.
00:07:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
We've been in July when it has not been opened yet. And then we were in September right before it closed. I've also been in like March when it's just completely no one in the park, but us and the snow.
00:08:09
CHANTELLE KINCY
And that's also incredible. Of course you can't get very far, but it's just so beautiful.
00:08:11
Meggie Busath
I believe it. No.
00:08:14
CHANTELLE KINCY
So I definitely think like you're saying there's ways around crowds, but there's also, you have to know that there's going to be crowds too. It's not the best park for like, it's not a secret that it's the best park.
00:08:25
CHANTELLE KINCY
Everyone wants to go and it is what it is.
00:08:30
CHANTELLE KINCY
So if you were to design an itinerary for the very first time person and just say average person. So we're not talking about no hiking at all, but we're not talking about the like back country hiking either.
00:08:42
CHANTELLE KINCY
How many days? What time of year? What would you like suggest you cannot miss while you're there for the first time?
00:08:49
Meggie Busath
Okay, well that is a little tricky. I am gonna give the itinerary close to what we did because I really do think I did a great job planning and organizing it.
00:08:55
CHANTELLE KINCY
love that.
00:08:57
CHANTELLE KINCY
I love it.
00:09:00
Meggie Busath
But that being said, we missed a ton. Like you really, I don't think you can, how I say this? You can definitely get a great feel and experiencing Glacier and only visit like one section of the park.
00:09:11
Meggie Busath
I absolutely think it's worth doing.
00:09:12
CHANTELLE KINCY
Hi.
00:09:15
Meggie Busath
But part of the thing that I love about Glacier is like we could go back and we could spend another three days and never even go back to what we visited. So let me backtrack. What I would suggest is a good at least one full day with, I would say two full days with maybe another half day on each side would be really nice depending on where you're staying. So this is what we did and I thought was fantastic.
00:09:37
Meggie Busath
Okay. We did end up staying in the park. We camped in the park and I know not everybody is campers. So For those of you who aren't campers, they have lots of lodging, too. Not lots, but some lodging. We stayed near Lake McDonald, which is going to be more on the Kalispell Whitefish side.
00:09:54
Meggie Busath
call that what? The west entrance?
00:09:57
CHANTELLE KINCY
was that far.
00:09:58
Meggie Busath
Yes.
00:09:58
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:09:59
Meggie Busath
Yeah, yeah, yeah. West of the park. So near West Glacier and all that. stayed at Fishing Creek was the name of the campground. i highly highly recommend It it was was fantastic. Didn't feel overcrowded. You could walk right up to Lake McDonald from the campground.
00:10:12
Meggie Busath
Anyways. So I would, I would stay in the park if at all possible. If not, like that's not your thing. There are lots of options in again, Kalispell and whitefish, or if you want to be on the East side, you got St. Mary's and things like that.
00:10:26
Meggie Busath
But we, so day one, we got there in the afternoon, set up camp and really just relaxed.
00:10:31
CHANTELLE KINCY
It's
00:10:32
Meggie Busath
So we camped at fish Creek campground just off of Lake McDonald and What I would suggest if you're going to be camping or in that area is taking the Rocky Point Trail. It's not too long and you can really, it's an out and back. So you can just take it as far as you want along the lake, turn around and head back to the campground.
00:10:48
Meggie Busath
We honestly didn't make it very far up that trail because my kids saw the lake immediately and just wanted to go and skip rocks and splash around the whole time. So we had a really low key day. I do think starting out in that Lake McDonald area is really special because just because it's so beautiful. And the rainbow rocks and all of that great stuff is just, it's exciting.
00:11:09
CHANTELLE KINCY
I was just going to say, for those who don't know, you do know Lake McDonald, even if you don't know, you know it. It's the one you see everywhere with those beautiful colored rocks and the mountains reflecting off the lake in the background.
00:11:21
CHANTELLE KINCY
It's kind of like that first wow point of West Glacier. So definitely, if you can stay near it, bonus points, because that's amazing.
00:11:26
Meggie Busath
Yes.
00:11:31
Meggie Busath
Yes. Awesome. And there is also a Lake McDonald campground. There's an inn, I think, right there at Lake McDonald. So, I mean, it's really just special to me because that's where we had our experience. So I'm always like, oh, we'll go there. It's beautiful.
00:11:45
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:11:45
Meggie Busath
But then the next day was like our big, big day in the park.
00:11:49
Meggie Busath
And one strategy for those of you who are maybe new to national parks or new to traveling with kids or both. is I do like to try to get some buy-in with my children. And I also like to prepare them. So for me, I really wanted to do Avalanche Lake.
00:12:06
Meggie Busath
And for our family, that was a bit of a stretch in terms of mileage. So it claims it's about 4.5 miles. My kids had maybe hiked three-ish miles prior to that.
00:12:19
Meggie Busath
Uh, so I prepped them. I made them go hiking multiple times before we on our trip so that they had kind of gotten used to hiking and it ended up being six miles for us somehow.
00:12:29
Meggie Busath
so they were dead tired after, but let me just tell you a little bit about Avalanche Lake. you'll go through the West Glacier entrance and really not too far, maybe 10 or 15 minutes.
00:12:41
Meggie Busath
you'll, there's a, some parking and overflow parking, uh, and you can do the Avalanche Lake hike. But before that you do trail of the cedars. So for those of you who do not want to do the four and a half mile hike or six to avalanche Lake, you do need to stop and park there because you are going to want to do trail of the cedars. that's one of the hikes that I'm like, if you're not a hiker, uh, do trail of the cedars.
00:13:08
Meggie Busath
If you are a hiker, do trail the cedars.
00:13:09
CHANTELLE KINCY
And that was wheelchair-assessorable, too.
00:13:11
Meggie Busath
Yes, there is a boardwalk.
00:13:12
CHANTELLE KINCY
that was good.
00:13:13
Meggie Busath
And highly compacted dirt.
00:13:14
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:13:15
Meggie Busath
So you can do strollers. You can do wheelchairs. Highly, highly recommend. There's benches along it. So if you get winded easily or things like that, trail the cedars. And it's beautiful because you have those beautiful trees. And then you have that avalanche creek coming through with just this crazy water. Um, you get really close, you know, not all it's, it's just a beautiful Creek, but then you get to this really beautiful. It's just kind of, I don't know how to describe it blue, ah but, it just magical, uh, little Creek. So for anyone, I would say get started there. It is very busy.
00:13:48
Meggie Busath
but I do think if you just circle around, we got there at about seven or seven 30 in the morning and found parking, the middle of July.
00:13:57
Meggie Busath
then, uh, And it was packed when we got out probably 10 or 11 a.m. m m But if you just circle and believe you will get a spot. can do it. Or I have so much to say about gla or you can take the shuttle. Right. We didn't take it. So I can't give like my personal experience, but I'm pretty sure they have that working like it's a very well oiled machine with the the glacier shuttle.
00:14:20
Meggie Busath
So you have options to get there. After that, my kids wanted to go back to the campground and be done for the day. To be honest, they were wiped. But I said, oh, sweet children.
00:14:33
Meggie Busath
Avalanche Lake had been my thing. I guess I should say that. I said, you guys, this is so important to me. We're going to do this hike. I need to do it in the morning when they had fresh legs and all of that. And then I had, bribe for them, but of course you bribe them.
00:14:46
Meggie Busath
You bring activities to distract them or some yummy candy and then all that good stuff.
00:14:50
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:51
Meggie Busath
So When we got back to the car, they were so tired, but the next part of our journey was going to the Sun Road where they can literally just sit and look at the scenery.
00:15:00
Meggie Busath
So really great way to like rest our legs, but still really experience the park.
00:15:07
Meggie Busath
So what we did after that is we actually drove past. So you go up, going to the Sun Road again, it's beautiful every turn and you can't think it can get better. And then it does.
00:15:18
Meggie Busath
I'll So you're going around and enjoying the beauty of going to the Sun Road. You're going to see the Logan Pass Visitor Center. Again, if you're going west east on your right, and it will also be packed most likely.
00:15:31
Meggie Busath
actually drove past it since we were coming back to West Glacier. If you're not, stop, to Logan Pass and do what I'll tell you later. But we went past Logan Pass to something called the Sun Point Nature Trail.
00:15:44
Meggie Busath
And was... perfect for us because it's actually a really great starting spot. You can go to a bunch of different, like three different waterfalls and whatever, and have a long experience there.
00:15:55
Meggie Busath
My kids were, my kids were not ready for a long hike
Travel Tips for Visiting Glacier
00:15:58
Meggie Busath
any at this point. So we got out and it's literally like a 10th of a mile to this huge overlook of St. Mary Lake.
00:16:06
Meggie Busath
And it's gorgeous. It's not accessible in the terms of wheelchairs and strollers. You do kind of like do a little climbing around, not climbing, it's just actual like hiking with some slopes and stuff.
00:16:19
Meggie Busath
So it's not wheelchair accessible, but very accessible for families, for people who maybe don't have a lot of stamina.
00:16:20
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:16:29
Meggie Busath
So highly recommend Sun Point Nature Trail. Just sit there. Maybe it would be good time for a lunch or just looking out over the lake. You can see the boats zoom in by when they do like the boat ferry rides and things like that. And We encountered maybe a handful of people we were there, not even that, like, yeah, two or three groups. it was, it was just nice. It was quiet and easy and it recharged us.
00:16:55
Meggie Busath
So some point made you through.
00:16:55
CHANTELLE KINCY
That sounds amazing. I missed that one somehow. So now I have to go back.
00:16:58
Meggie Busath
Yeah.
00:16:59
CHANTELLE KINCY
Darn it.
00:17:00
Meggie Busath
Yeah. Yeah. I know you just go through and go the sun road and then there's a little turn and it has like a pretty big parking lot. There's a shuttle stop. Again, if you don't, there's going to be better, I guess, hikes with like more wow factor maybe, but this gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
00:17:15
Meggie Busath
And especially when I'm focused on like family travel to national parks and I would say a majority of families just can't do it
00:17:15
CHANTELLE KINCY
Sure.
00:17:24
Meggie Busath
I think it's a winner. So I hope you like it.
00:17:25
CHANTELLE KINCY
I love that.
00:17:26
Meggie Busath
I hope you see it.
00:17:27
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, I will.
00:17:27
Meggie Busath
I hope it doesn't disappoint.
00:17:28
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, I love that. Please.
00:17:34
Meggie Busath
So after the Sun Point Nature Trail, we headed back west and did stop at the Logan Pass Visitor Center. And that one is going to almost certainly be very crowded.
00:17:45
Meggie Busath
We did get there more at the later part of the day, which I think does help with crowds. We did have to circle the parking lot for about 10 or 15 minutes, but we were able to find a spot and didn't have a ah hard time. The reason that one can get so busy There's one hike called the High Line Trail, which is a much longer kind of a day hike that people take, but is pretty famous and pretty amazing.
00:18:07
Meggie Busath
And then there's also, though, something called the Hidden Lake Overlook Trail is pretty popular as well. We opted to do the Hidden Lake Trail. And I actually, i was was playing this one by ear, which I'm not much, I'm very type A.
00:18:21
Meggie Busath
So I don't play things by ear, but I was like, if my kids are not up for this, we're not doing it. It's fine. We'll just see where it leads. Behind the the the visitor center there is kind of boardwalk, but with lots of steps.
00:18:34
Meggie Busath
And were there again, July, mid-July, and there was snow. You had to cross snow in part of it. And so again, we're from Utah. Snow's not that exciting to us, but a lot of people...
00:18:47
Meggie Busath
get very excited about snow. And so it's a really fun experience for people there. And my two oldest actually wanted to keep going. My six year old was like, well, she was five at the time.
00:18:58
Meggie Busath
She's like, I'm done. I'm good.
00:18:59
Meggie Busath
five year old and dad stayed back and my eight and 10 year old came with me to go to the actual hidden Lake overlook. And it actually got a little sketchy for us because of the snow and some of the crossing, we kind of got to an impasse where we just weren't sure if we were gonna keep going or not.
00:19:16
Meggie Busath
Lots of other people around though. So we had kind of people to help and support us as we kind of got through a little tricky section. It won't be there most of the time because once the snow melts, it wasn't gonna be tricky at all.
00:19:28
Meggie Busath
But we made it through. That's a whole other story, but it was so worth it afterwards because that's where we saw, area is known for mountain goats and everything.
00:19:32
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:19:39
Meggie Busath
And we saw so many mountain goats. We saw a mom and the baby scampering along.
00:19:44
Meggie Busath
Fortunately, they were far enough away that we didn't feel like we were disturbing them and they didn't get in our way. I'm always very mindful of the wildlife in the parks.
00:20:01
CHANTELLE KINCY
I was just going to stop and say the same thing. Don't pet the animals.
00:20:04
Meggie Busath
yeah
00:20:06
CHANTELLE KINCY
Don't bother the animals.
00:20:06
Meggie Busath
No.
00:20:08
CHANTELLE KINCY
Look at them and go away.
00:20:10
Meggie Busath
Yes. I'm also very like pro stay on the trail. But if there's like, this won't be in Glacier, but when we were in Yellowstone, there was a bison on the trail. And I said, okay, guys, like, if he's not moving, we are and we circumvented
00:20:24
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes, he gets the trail.
00:20:24
Meggie Busath
said bison and I think that rangers would have agreed. feel like I made the right choice.
00:20:28
CHANTELLE KINCY
We saw... We saw right by Logan past Visitor Center, a grizzly with her three babies. And we were like, okay, she can have whatever she wants.
00:20:39
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like, but you get to spots where you're like, okay, we do have to get off trail because, and they were just, you know, walking, but that's their place.
00:20:49
CHANTELLE KINCY
And so.
00:20:49
Meggie Busath
Yeah, you don't mess with them.
00:20:51
CHANTELLE KINCY
That's 100% the only time I feel okay getting off a trail too.
00:20:54
Meggie Busath
Yeah.
00:20:54
CHANTELLE KINCY
But anyway, so you did the lake and it was gorgeous because I haven't done that one either.
00:20:55
Meggie Busath
Yeah.
00:20:59
CHANTELLE KINCY
So it was pretty amazing.
00:21:00
Meggie Busath
Yeah. It was really pretty. i mean, I, for me, the highlight of the, of the, what heck is this hidden Lake overlook was yeah, the goats. And then we actually did see our only bear from there, but he was like, or she, it, they were all the way across the hidden Lake. So we had to use like binoculars and saw it. And for me, I'm like,
00:21:22
Meggie Busath
perfect. I got my bear sighting.
00:21:25
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes.
00:21:25
Meggie Busath
I'm not in their way.
00:21:27
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes.
00:21:27
Meggie Busath
I'm not running from them or spraying them.
00:21:27
CHANTELLE KINCY
Of
00:21:31
CHANTELLE KINCY
course, yes.
00:21:32
Meggie Busath
great.
00:21:32
Meggie Busath
Um, yeah. Uh, so I loved that, uh, at the hidden lake. And then we just turned around and came back. The, the, the sad part is, is I had the car keys with me and the wallet.
00:21:43
CHANTELLE KINCY
Oh, no.
00:21:44
Meggie Busath
And so, And it took us do we go, do we not go moment that took like 20 minutes. We had been gone for like over an hour. And my husband and five-year-olds were just stuck there.
00:21:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
Buy a drink.
00:21:56
Meggie Busath
Couldn't get to the car. Couldn't buy anything at the shop or anything.
00:22:00
CHANTELLE KINCY
Oops.
00:22:01
Meggie Busath
And so I learned my lesson on that one to make sure he has the keys before we split off. But it's a funny story now, right?
00:22:09
CHANTELLE KINCY
oop
00:22:10
Meggie Busath
Probably still not to him. yeah. I'm over it now. And then the rest, and that night we were, we were spent after that. So then we headed home, did our, you know, to our campsite, did the, we went back to the lake and skipped the rocks and just had the whole like, you know, s'mores and dinner experience.
00:22:27
Meggie Busath
So here's just what I'm going to, I'm going to have one more thing for your day three. Okay.
00:22:31
CHANTELLE KINCY
On.
00:22:32
Meggie Busath
Day three, we just did one activity. And so we, we cleaned up camp and we went back to like McDonald's and we rented kayaks. And again, I am a cheap person, a thrifty, maybe that's what we want to say. Okay.
00:22:45
Meggie Busath
But so when it, when we have to spend extra money where I'm like, well, we could just enjoy the lake. It gets a little hard for me because I'm very budget conscious and I want to make my money spread. I'm like, well, we could spend this here or we could go, you know, on another trip.
00:23:00
Meggie Busath
so we spent the money and it's not like kayaks are not expensive. This isn't like a thousand dollar purchase. It, I think it costs us $200 or less to have a morning of kayaks. where I had a tandem and my husband had a tandem and then our 10 year old used a a child's kayak.
00:23:15
Meggie Busath
And we, we walk them down and give you wheels to walk them down to lake. And then you can spend the morning on the lake. And it was phenomenal. get to see those rainbow rocks. You get to see as you go deeper in the lake, obviously you can't see as far down, but in those, those shallower areas,
00:23:32
Meggie Busath
You could see, you know, pretty far down below you and you get just those magical mountain views, but you feel a lot more solitary.
00:23:40
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:23:44
Meggie Busath
Yeah, there were other people out there, but it's a lake, right? It's a big wide open space. And so you can kind of go to your own little area and enjoy it. So that was absolutely magical for me. And something that kind of has always made Glacier special. I was asking my 10 year old this morning, I said, okay, Hey, like, what do you do love about Glacier?
00:24:03
Meggie Busath
And he was like, kayaks, the kayaking. So I, I'm glad that we, that the bullet, and you can see how cheap I am when I'm like, it's $200 for a family of five.
00:24:12
CHANTELLE KINCY
It all adds up.
00:24:12
Meggie Busath
Like that's really not extensive for really any kind of entertainment.
00:24:16
Meggie Busath
It does, it does. So that would be my last recommendation. Now, For those of you familiar with Glacier, you know, as I haven't even mentioned to Medicine or Many Glacier, we did not get a chance to visit those regions or Pole Bridge, which is probably the least frequented, I would I would think. But again, now the next time is we can go to Many Glacier and just really spend an explore time in Many Glacier or Medicine or whatever the case may be.
00:24:42
CHANTELLE KINCY
Well, and the thing is, is those areas are not close by. It's a really long drive to get out there.
00:24:48
CHANTELLE KINCY
And so you can't just really like to experience it, just add it to the same day you're doing a hike in West Glacier or going to the Sun Road.
00:24:56
Meggie Busath
No.
00:24:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like they're really far away. And so it really has to kind of be its own day, at least. If not, it's even better just to stay on that side. Now, Pole Bridge, I will say, worth the drive because you can go to the mercantile and have like Huckleberry Bear Claws.
00:25:14
CHANTELLE KINCY
you should do that because that's incredible.
00:25:18
Meggie Busath
Okay. Well, and Pole Bridge is on that west I mean, it's little bit north, but you can- Whoa, I know.
00:25:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
But the road is not great either.
00:25:23
Meggie Busath
And that, we had a rented minivan. And so we just, we kind of skipped the Pole Bridge.
00:25:26
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:25:29
Meggie Busath
But I like that. did it seem crowded when you had visited Pole Bridge? It seems like people don't go there as much, but they still require the reservation sometimes. So,
00:25:37
CHANTELLE KINCY
People go for the bear claws.
00:25:41
Meggie Busath
that's it.
00:25:44
CHANTELLE KINCY
And I think that people go there. I don't think that people necessarily experience like the area around Pole Bridge as much as they should. i think people honestly go for the mercantile and then bounce back to West Glacier, which is valid.
00:25:59
CHANTELLE KINCY
But I think that if you wanted some solitude, getting out along the river and stuff on that side could really give you some quiet time too. Because i don't think people get out as much over there.
00:26:11
Meggie Busath
Yeah, I love that. That's great.
00:26:12
CHANTELLE KINCY
So kayaking is a really great tip, though, for getting that solitude even during a busy time.
00:26:13
Meggie Busath
Thanks.
00:26:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
That's a really great one. What else would you say is a good way to like kind of get your own space when Glacier is kind of hectic? Early mornings, I think, right?
00:26:28
Meggie Busath
Yes, absolutely. and And this is the tricky thing with Glacier as well. So Glacier... I recommend it to everyone. First of all, I do think everyone should go to Glacier, but Glacier does take a little bit more effort when it comes to the planning, because like you said, that going to the Seine Road, which is a big draw and also is a big access way to different parts of the park, is closed almost always until sometime in June, if not July. And then they close it. It gets closed back up again, like mid to late September. So it's a very small window with a lot of people wanting to access it.
00:27:02
Meggie Busath
But, and therefore, and it changes every year and you'll need to check with the actual park, but there's going to be a reservation system that you'll need to get a car or vehicle reservation.
00:27:12
Meggie Busath
But if you don't get the reservation, they offer a shuttle system. So you, they have lots of parking down at the APGAR Visitor Center if you're on West Side. And I think it's probably St. Mary's on the East.
00:27:24
Meggie Busath
And you take the shuttle. It's not an additional cost. You still to pay to get into the park, but, you can take that free shuttle. And while there will be people on it, you don't have that stress of parking.
00:27:35
Meggie Busath
For me, finding parking spots can sometimes be a little stressful. And you're just like, it's using up all my time. It's using up all my time waiting for a parking spot.
00:27:40
CHANTELLE KINCY
Mm-hmm.
00:27:42
Meggie Busath
If you plan for a shuttle, which will also take additional time because you have wait for the shuttles. But if you kind of already have that planned for you, that might take away some of that stress of the crowds. You'll definitely have people around you because the shuttles will probably packed.
00:27:55
Meggie Busath
But yeah, You don't have to worry about the like, am I going to be able to do this hike if because I can't find parking? You take the shuttle and and good. Another one is they have the tours and there is like the red bus tour that is kind of a concessionaire. And there's actually and I think most of them run from the east side, but there might be a west side.
00:28:14
Meggie Busath
Some of the native tribes have access to tours that they are able to run through the park, which I think would be really great option as well. But both the red bus and those other private tours do have an increased cost if you want to avoid it.
00:28:29
Meggie Busath
If you really want to avoid the the the crowds, I would say, and I don't have the personal experience, but in my research to medicine could be also a really great option there's some good hikes that's on the east side. You'd be approaching it differently, but it usually doesn't require reservations.
00:28:44
Meggie Busath
And from what I've seen, and maybe you have better experience, it's not quite as crowded as the other locations.
00:28:50
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, and I will say if you go over to Two Medicine, you need to be prepared ahead of time. You are not going to have self-service like once you almost get there and while you're there.
00:28:57
Meggie Busath
Yes.
00:29:00
CHANTELLE KINCY
In West Glacier, I do here and there, but I would definitely recommend if you're going to the east side anywhere, download those maps ahead of time, get your hiking plans ahead of time.
00:29:11
CHANTELLE KINCY
have, you know, cash for whatever you need or whatever, get gas in the towns before you get there, because it is definitely out there and and rugged and wild.
00:29:22
CHANTELLE KINCY
And that's what makes it beautiful. I don't want that to change. I don't want to get an email while I'm there. But you do need to have your hikes planned and things like that. You can't just really wing it as well as you can on the west side. You need to have a plan going in.
00:29:37
Meggie Busath
I love that you mentioned that too, because really it's good practice for really any, any national park and especially glacier. And then even more so, right. The two medicine or that Eastern side, because Not that it hasn't been that long where now you can download a Google map before you leave.
00:29:53
Meggie Busath
You can, the national park app is pretty newish, right?
00:29:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
I was just going to say, i love love it.
00:29:58
Meggie Busath
And you can download them.
00:29:58
CHANTELLE KINCY
And it's a great app.
00:29:59
Meggie Busath
Yes.
00:29:59
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:30:00
Meggie Busath
Yes. So hats off to our national park service.
00:30:04
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes.
00:30:04
Meggie Busath
They are so incredible. But yeah, download that map. And then also if you do all trails, I mean, I don't, I'm not trying to sell you on all trails guys, it's free, but if you do all trails plus, You can also download your map.
00:30:16
Meggie Busath
So do you like the two weeks free trial, like right before you go on a trip and grab that because it really helps you feel confident and safe knowing that you know where you are.
00:30:19
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:30:28
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, that's true. And the other thing with the NPS app, the National Park Service app, you can download kind of a whole park before you go. So you'll have the visitor center information and what hours they're open and different areas of interest within the park too.
00:30:42
CHANTELLE KINCY
And then you could, like she said, go into all trails and, you know, download your specific hikes if you want. But just if you need an overview of like, Oh, shoot. Before we drive all the way up to Logan Pass, is it even open?
00:30:53
CHANTELLE KINCY
The NPS app is a great and that one's totally free.
00:30:54
Meggie Busath
Yes.
00:30:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
And so you just want make sure you have all that done ahead of time. So, well, now I'm about to hop in my car and drive to Montana again because I can't stop thinking about this part.
00:31:04
Meggie Busath
I know.
00:31:06
CHANTELLE KINCY
So it's like 10 hour drive for us.
00:31:07
Meggie Busath
I know. I feel the same.
00:31:10
CHANTELLE KINCY
And so last time I went, started it was like Thursday night and I was on the couch and I looked at my husband. I said, I got to get out of here. I'm going to Montana.
Accessing Maggie's Travel Resources
00:31:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
And he said, ha, ha. And I said, okay, don't go then. I don't care. Like I'm going And then he goes, no, wait, if you're going for real, I'm going.
00:31:26
CHANTELLE KINCY
We packed up. We left that night. We drove halfway, spent the night, got an Airbnb for the next day. Next morning, my son is 21. Him and his girlfriend called. They said, hey, can we come?
00:31:37
CHANTELLE KINCY
We're like, when we get off work and could bring friends. I was like, of course. So they ended up by driving over that night, too, with their friends. And we just had like the best time. But it was so just like...
00:31:48
CHANTELLE KINCY
I was here. I was done with the whole world. And I was like, I need Montana air and mountains and I'm out of here. And like, we just went and it was the best trip.
00:32:01
Meggie Busath
Montana really might be the best prescription for most situations. I think it's,
00:32:05
CHANTELLE KINCY
Honestly.
00:32:07
Meggie Busath
It's an incredible place. It really is. Yeah. And in my head, I'm like, we're so close. Again, I'm in like the Salt Lake area. It's a good like 10, 12 hour drive. We split it up because of the kids.
00:32:19
Meggie Busath
But to me, I'm like, it's close. Like Glacier's close. Like we can go back. And I do love, i do suggest, I think when you're planning travel to anywhere, Don't put the pressure on yourself to be like, I'm never coming back. I have to do it all.
00:32:33
Meggie Busath
And that very well may be the case in a lot of situations. But when you put that pressure on, you don't get to enjoy it as much. So just say, oh, yeah, and I can always come back. I'll come back and explore more deeply, I guess, if that makes sense.
00:32:50
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, I love that so much.
00:32:51
Meggie Busath
which is better left than done.
00:32:52
Meggie Busath
I am like the ah maximist when it comes, I'm like, we got to see and do everything. So that's me really kind of just lying to your face, but that's what I believe in my core.
00:33:01
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, but you took the time to let your kids play in the water and not just be like, suck it up, get in the backpack.
00:33:05
Meggie Busath
Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:08
CHANTELLE KINCY
We're going.
00:33:08
Meggie Busath
Yeah.
00:33:10
CHANTELLE KINCY
I think that's amazing. So thank you for sharing Glacier with us. I can't imagine anyone not hearing this and wanting to plan a trip immediately.
00:33:20
CHANTELLE KINCY
So go ahead and tell us where people can find you if they want help with that Glacier of trip, if they want help. getting the inspiration for their trip. Where can they find you? Where can they look at your pictures?
00:33:31
Meggie Busath
Awesome. Well, I actually have at my website, parksfamilytravel.com forward slash glacier. We'll have all of my posts that I've written about glacier where I go into more detail about specific hikes and finding your reservations and all that. So it's a great place to get started if you're going to do a glacier trip.
00:33:47
Meggie Busath
And then just for regular national parks and family travel inspiration, you can just find me on Instagram at parksfamilytravel.
00:33:55
CHANTELLE KINCY
I love that. And I'll have both those links again, down in the description. I've got all of her great links, so you can find those here in the description. And then you're not going to want to miss next week because I'm bringing Maggie back because she has another story that is hilarious and it kind
Teaser for Next Episode
00:34:13
CHANTELLE KINCY
of focuses. This was our Instagram worthy trip.
00:34:16
CHANTELLE KINCY
And maybe the next one is a real life, not so Instagram worthy trip. So,
00:34:21
Meggie Busath
Yeah.
00:34:22
CHANTELLE KINCY
Come check us out again next week, part two with Meggie. And thanks for being here and we'll talk to you soon.
Yosemite Travel Mishaps
00:34:35
CHANTELLE KINCY
so