glacier Np and surrounding areas
 

I'll be flying into Kalispell Aug 19th and have been reading postings on the lodging in the NP is it that bad or people just want creature comforts? What lodge is the best to stay in since we have 7 days? Is it worth moving to different lodges to see different parts of the park? Yes,I do like to hike and my husband and I do camp but only were we live so roughing it is no problem. One more question what cities out side the Park would be intersting? Whitefish, St Mary's Ect>>.?Any advise is apprecitated.We did see Banff and Jasper and they were incredible!!

Kalispell is a typical town,and has real supermarket, unlike Hungry Horse and a walmart and kmart - which comes in handy for odds and ends that you realize you need, you won't find that on the east side of glacier. If you are a hiker you may be more drawn to the east side, i have to say that is where some of the best day hikes are, but the west is beautiful too. this area is NOT Banff and Jasper. they are more in tune to tourists there. Big Fork has a little downtown area of gift shops and cafes, Whitefish has a downtown area too. Lodging in the park.hmmm East glacier complex very nice but since you almost certainly need your car on the west side, no need to stay in the park, but you are not going to find too many 5 star places to stay. price will tell you what you get... definately do some web searches. I rented a house for two weeks last sept. and loved it, i use vrbo.com, vacation rental by owner. haven't had any problems. used it for hawaii too. plan on using it for maine this year. also St.Mary's is a place in along the road, but go to , i think it's called the Park Cafe, it's on the left (89) as you head to canada. it gets crowded, wait for your table it will be a good meal. Go to Waterton, it's worth it for a day (if you are on the east side or compulsive like me and drive from the west side anyway) the town is adorable, there are some interesting day hikes, you can likely see black bear on red rocks highway in the park there. (you'll see them at many glacier too) did i say go to many glacier? go. you can do low hikes, not to stressful at all, although longish for some, the hike to iceberg lake is really nice. so is the one to grinell glacier, but that's a tougher hike. have i gone on enough? i love that area.

Lodging in the park is fair. I think you will be ok if you don't expect too much.
The Many Glacier Hotel is not one I would suggest. It is creaky to say the least.

I have not stayed in Lake McDonald Lodge recently enough for my experience to be relevant.

I think you will find the best accommodations in Waterton because the motels are privately owned and compete for business.

There is a new lodge at St. Marys on the east side. I have not stayed there,but other reports on this forum were favorable. Take a look at this web site http://www.glcpark.com/
You may find the prices higher than you care to pay.

I tried staying in a Hungry Horse motel last time and wish I had not.

On the west side there are some decente cabins scattered about, but finding them takes some good Google searching.

The last time I was there was 2.5 years ago. We used a B and B called Shintangle that is located just north of the entrance to Waterton Park on the road to Pincher Creek.

It is close enough to Many Glacier that you could drive down, walk up to Iceberg Lake, or the Grinnell Glacier remains, and return.

The B and B itself has large rooms and was designed for its purpose. The bed rooms are in a separate wing of the house with a separate entrance.

Whitefish is an interesting town. It has become somewhat touristy, but it has a large enough permanent population to have a decent grocery store in a small shopping mall.

Kalispell is more of an industrial town with a large non seasonal population.

Bigfork on the east side of the lake is an interesting place with some intriguing shops in the old part of the town. It is rather small, however.
The Bigfork Timbers Motel is a decent conventional motel. The problem is that it is a little too far from Glacier to make a convenient base.

None of the towns in the Glacier NP area will measure up to Banff and Jasper.
So don't expect that level of opportunity.

BOB BROWN
Hello from northwest Montana. Kalispell an industrial town???? Hardly. Though it is becoming the center of the Flathead Valley with all the big box stores, I'd hardly call it an industrial town as in heavy or even light industry.
We still have lots of clean fresh air and great mountain views!

jnet56
Try www.Kalispellmt.com
www.whitefishmt.com
www.travel.state.mt.us/
www.discoveringmontana.com
www.bigmtn.com
www.nps.gov/glac/home.htm
www.bigforkmt.com

jnet56
That should be
www.bigfork.org

Perhaps Semi Tool and Casting, Precision Engineering, Bioenergy Systems, Montana Rockworks, Stock Building Supply, S and S Campers, and Sonju fooled me. And I thought I did see several forest products business around the area.
But I guess I was mistaken.

When we went to Glacier a few years ago we stayed in Whitefish at the Hidden Moose Lodge. We liked the lodge, which was very nice, and Whitefish, which was cute and had good restaurants. However, we got tired of driving back and forth, so we'll stay in the park next time. I would suggest staying a few days in the Lake McDonald area, a few days at either Many Glacier or the St. Mary Lodge, and a few days at Waterton to limit driving. If you like to camp, you might even want to hike up to one of the backcountry chalets. The national park lodges are old, seasonal, and run by outside concessionairres. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst and do not have an expectation of getting a good value on accomodations. That said, the park is spectacular - definitely go no matter where you stay!

Endure the lodging; enjoy the park.
The most spectacular hike that can be done easily in a day originates at Logan Pass and follows along the Garden Wall.

You can stop and head back at any point.

On that hike I have seen mountain sheep, mountain goats and, way down, bears.
Of course there were the usual marmots.

My only caution is that some of the trail is on a shelf with a chain enclosed in a garden hose for safety!
The chain is cliff side, and you can hang on to it. (Some wag wanted to know if that was why it was called the Garden Wall.)