East Glacier accomodations
Jan 26th, 2005, 10:37 AM
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East Glacier accomodations
I'm planning a family trip to Glacier National Park this July. We would like to spend one night in East Glacier on our way back to Kalispell. Anyone have a recommendation beside the Glacier Park Lodge?
Jan 26th, 2005, 11:21 AM
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icygreg
We stayed at Glacier Park Lodge--any of the park's accomodations are not going to be, ahem, in modern condition. A little drive away from GPL, the park's newest lodging option is St. Mary Lodge on the eastern side. I haven't stayed there, but we stopped over for breakfast and I've read a lot better reviews about it than GPL. Just past the train station from GPL, however, there is a small town about 1 block long where there were a couple other options to stay. There seemed to be one or two newer facilities (no chains) there that were a lot less money, and they included a/c, TV and some even had suites. I wish I remembered the name of it, we almost made a decision to take a loss at GPL and go over to this little place and stay for $80+/night as they had one room available when we were there. If you find the exact name of the town where GPL is and do a search, you might find the name(s) of the places I saw. Good Luck!
We stayed at Glacier Park Lodge--any of the park's accomodations are not going to be, ahem, in modern condition. A little drive away from GPL, the park's newest lodging option is St. Mary Lodge on the eastern side. I haven't stayed there, but we stopped over for breakfast and I've read a lot better reviews about it than GPL. Just past the train station from GPL, however, there is a small town about 1 block long where there were a couple other options to stay. There seemed to be one or two newer facilities (no chains) there that were a lot less money, and they included a/c, TV and some even had suites. I wish I remembered the name of it, we almost made a decision to take a loss at GPL and go over to this little place and stay for $80+/night as they had one room available when we were there. If you find the exact name of the town where GPL is and do a search, you might find the name(s) of the places I saw. Good Luck!
Jan 26th, 2005, 11:46 AM
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Thanks Hugglynn, we already have reservations at St Mary's for the 2 nights before.
Maybe Essex, MT would be a better alternative. Anyone have a recommedation
for accomodations there?
Maybe Essex, MT would be a better alternative. Anyone have a recommedation
for accomodations there?
Jan 26th, 2005, 04:28 PM
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Author: Kay2
Date: 08/27/2003, 10:27 am
Message: We are back from our trip to Glacier. We booked flights and accommodations in early June only to see the fires start in mid-July. We followed the conditions closely through the chat board at www.glacier.national-park.com. We would have lost quite a bit of money if we cancelled, so we just adjusted our lodgings as much as we could to move eastward and planned to spend all our time on the east side of the park.
Arrival was not fun--so much smoke and haze couldn't even see ground flying into Kalispell, suitcase was open on arrival, Hertz rental car folks asked tedious questions even though we are Gold level, car windshield had cracks, smoke was so thick on the drive that we couldn't even see McDonald Lake from the road. We did drive the GTTS road as we didn't know if it would close again--couldn't see anything, even St Mary Lake a vague sight on east side.
We spent 3 nights at Glacier Trailhead cabins 2.5 mile north of St Mary. Nice modern one-room cabin with micro/frig, shower just off the highway with trees but not remote ($103). While there we ate at Park Cafe as recommended for the pie (disappointed to hear the only fresh fruit was the apple and peach) but food was fine. Good pizza at cafe in the St Mary Lodge complex. Bought fruit etc. at the supermarket (convenience store).
Next day was slightly clearer and the forecast for following days was for strong winds and possible rain, so we headed back to Logan Pass to play it by ear. Decided to take the Highline and decide along the way if want to turn back or go over the pass. Still couldn't see any mountains, but we did see wildlife (mt goats, bighorn sheep, really big rabbit, birds) along the route to the chalet. There we lunched with the staff who said we'd have no trouble at our speed making it over the pass and catching the shuttle, so we did it. Along the way we saw more sheep, deer, and moose. It cleared enough we could see a hazy Many Glacier valley as we came out of the pass--still a great sight along with the waterfall and a hazy glacier. After 15 miles at fast pace we were exhausted. Very few on the trails because of the smoke.
Next day was windy (gusts up to 35 mph). We headed up to pass to see if wind pushed out smoke and ended up in the clouds. We went to Hidden Lake and watched at it appeared, then disappeared in the fast moving clouds. After warming up we stopped at Sun Point and tried to stand up in the wind--at least we could see the lake this time. I would have liked to walk to St Mary and Virginia Falls, but hubby had a bad blister from day before and was tired of battling the wind. Instead we ate lunch (not bad) at Rising Sun, then drove around to Many Glacier, relaxed in the hotel lobby, then took the 4pm hotel tour (very interesting).
Third day was beautiful. We drove the winding road among the free range cattle to Two Medicine. We took the south shore trail with side trips to beaver lodge, Aster Park overlook (OK), Rockwell Falls, then Twin Falls picnic. Nice walk in the woods, but steadily busy with hikers. Caught a boat shuttle back for $5 apiece for change of pace.
Spent the night at Mountain Pines motel in East Glacier--a basic 50s motel, but clean at $58. Ate dinner at Thistleberry (OK), but didn't have room for the recommended pie. Went to the native speaker at Glacier Park Hotel that evening, very interesting talk about his people, the Blackfeet.
Used the Internet access at Glacier Park Trading Compnay ($3/hr) to check e-mail the next morning before heading over on Hwy 2. Stopped at Goat Lick and saw one goat on the salt lick. Back into the smoke on west side. Drove into park but could still just barely see Lake McDonald. We went to Apgar and saw some nice local artwork at a shop there, dropped postcards at the post office, then picked up a deli sandwich at the supermarket in Columbia Falls to eat at the airport after checking in.
Glad we went despite the smoke. It is very dramatic country and we saw more wildlife than we expected. We will certainly go again to see trails we didn't make this time and visit the Blackfeet museum in Browning.
Date: 08/27/2003, 10:27 am
Message: We are back from our trip to Glacier. We booked flights and accommodations in early June only to see the fires start in mid-July. We followed the conditions closely through the chat board at www.glacier.national-park.com. We would have lost quite a bit of money if we cancelled, so we just adjusted our lodgings as much as we could to move eastward and planned to spend all our time on the east side of the park.
Arrival was not fun--so much smoke and haze couldn't even see ground flying into Kalispell, suitcase was open on arrival, Hertz rental car folks asked tedious questions even though we are Gold level, car windshield had cracks, smoke was so thick on the drive that we couldn't even see McDonald Lake from the road. We did drive the GTTS road as we didn't know if it would close again--couldn't see anything, even St Mary Lake a vague sight on east side.
We spent 3 nights at Glacier Trailhead cabins 2.5 mile north of St Mary. Nice modern one-room cabin with micro/frig, shower just off the highway with trees but not remote ($103). While there we ate at Park Cafe as recommended for the pie (disappointed to hear the only fresh fruit was the apple and peach) but food was fine. Good pizza at cafe in the St Mary Lodge complex. Bought fruit etc. at the supermarket (convenience store).
Next day was slightly clearer and the forecast for following days was for strong winds and possible rain, so we headed back to Logan Pass to play it by ear. Decided to take the Highline and decide along the way if want to turn back or go over the pass. Still couldn't see any mountains, but we did see wildlife (mt goats, bighorn sheep, really big rabbit, birds) along the route to the chalet. There we lunched with the staff who said we'd have no trouble at our speed making it over the pass and catching the shuttle, so we did it. Along the way we saw more sheep, deer, and moose. It cleared enough we could see a hazy Many Glacier valley as we came out of the pass--still a great sight along with the waterfall and a hazy glacier. After 15 miles at fast pace we were exhausted. Very few on the trails because of the smoke.
Next day was windy (gusts up to 35 mph). We headed up to pass to see if wind pushed out smoke and ended up in the clouds. We went to Hidden Lake and watched at it appeared, then disappeared in the fast moving clouds. After warming up we stopped at Sun Point and tried to stand up in the wind--at least we could see the lake this time. I would have liked to walk to St Mary and Virginia Falls, but hubby had a bad blister from day before and was tired of battling the wind. Instead we ate lunch (not bad) at Rising Sun, then drove around to Many Glacier, relaxed in the hotel lobby, then took the 4pm hotel tour (very interesting).
Third day was beautiful. We drove the winding road among the free range cattle to Two Medicine. We took the south shore trail with side trips to beaver lodge, Aster Park overlook (OK), Rockwell Falls, then Twin Falls picnic. Nice walk in the woods, but steadily busy with hikers. Caught a boat shuttle back for $5 apiece for change of pace.
Spent the night at Mountain Pines motel in East Glacier--a basic 50s motel, but clean at $58. Ate dinner at Thistleberry (OK), but didn't have room for the recommended pie. Went to the native speaker at Glacier Park Hotel that evening, very interesting talk about his people, the Blackfeet.
Used the Internet access at Glacier Park Trading Compnay ($3/hr) to check e-mail the next morning before heading over on Hwy 2. Stopped at Goat Lick and saw one goat on the salt lick. Back into the smoke on west side. Drove into park but could still just barely see Lake McDonald. We went to Apgar and saw some nice local artwork at a shop there, dropped postcards at the post office, then picked up a deli sandwich at the supermarket in Columbia Falls to eat at the airport after checking in.
Glad we went despite the smoke. It is very dramatic country and we saw more wildlife than we expected. We will certainly go again to see trails we didn't make this time and visit the Blackfeet museum in Browning.
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