Today was our day to explore the Many Glacier portion of the park. Based on the ages of everyone in our group, we chose to explore the lower lake area of Grinnell Glacier, and to get there via boat shuttle, which required some planning – we booked these tickets back in December, which ensured we had reservations on the first boat of the day at 8:30am. We arrived an hour ahead of time, which allowed us to find parking, use the Many Glacier hotel restrooms, and get in line for our boat shuttle. We were first on the boat because so many people show up hoping to make the waiting list for the boats (who don’t make prior reservations). Although the boats were sold out, they always allow people to join the waiting list because people frequently miss their reservations. But for planning purposes, I was very grateful to have reservations ahead of time and not have to depend on luck / availability.
We rode Chief Two Guns across the Swiftcurrent Lake with a boat tour guide, docked and got off the boat, walked a quarter mile over a hill and boarded a second boat, the name I can’t remember right now, which we rode across St. Josephine Lake. This took us to our trailhead for Grinnell Lake. One day we hope to do the entire hike to Grinnell Glacier that can be 7-10 miles, depending on if you use the boat shuttle or not. We enjoyed the views from Grinnell Lake, and the hike was fun with a swinging suspension bridge we had to cross each way. As usual, chipmunks tried to nibble our food and fingers while we snacked by the lake.
We managed to make it back to the boat dock in perfect timing for the 10:45am return boat(s), putting us back at Many Glacier Hotel around noon. The guys went to our cars to grab our picnic stuff and we enjoyed lunch at some tables inside the hotel, which was built in the early 1900s. It was inspired by European styles, and reminded me of buildings in Lucerne, Switzerland where I visited in high school. One room was called the Lucerne and the coffee shop was called Heidi’s. It’s a really neat building!
After lunch we went ahead and drove a few parking lots over to our next trailhead, which included Fishercap Lake and a 3.6 roundtrip hike to Red Rock Falls. On this hike alone we saw FIVE MOOSE! We’d been told to return to Fishercap in the evening to see wildlife, but we didn’t need to because of all the ones we saw early afternoon. Truly spectacular!
This was our final hike of our Glacier trip and we were ready for some huckleberry soft serve ice cream immediately following it. The last order of business was to stop at a Ranger Station for Carmen Ruth (our 7 year old) to present her Junior Ranger book that she has been working tirelessly on the past few days (having completed 7 pages to match her age). She then repeated the Junior Ranger pledge and received her Junior Ranger badge.
We drove back to our RV park and I made Salsa Verde Tortilla soup in our instant pot – it’s packed with veggies (that I actually prepped and cut before our trip, making dinner super easy), has lots of flavor, and is great with lime tortilla chips. We enjoyed some dessert that Nammaw brought along afterwards and it was a great sweet touch to finish the meal and day.
Following dinner, Nick tackled the task of changing the oil in the generator, and that’s what he’s cleaning up from now. I’m absolutely ready for bed and have such a full heart of gratitude and memories from our time in Glacier. I can’t wait to come back in another season and do some of the same hikes and activities, as well as try some newer ones. We love it here and cannot recommend it enough!
jami lee gainey 