5 Backpacking Trips for Solitude in Glacier National Park

By Michael Lanza

Is it possible to find some degree of solitude backpacking in a national park as popular as Glacier? The answer is an unequivocal yes—even in Glacier’s relatively short peak season of mid-July through mid-September. And the strategies for doing so are remarkably simple and will not compromise the quality of your experience in other ways—in fact, encountering fewer people only increases the chances of encountering wildlife. This article describes five backpacking trips where you are virtually guaranteed to find solitude in Glacier National Park.

For backpackers, Glacier delivers one of the most unique wilderness experiences in the country, with scenery almost unmatched and a high likelihood of seeing a range of megafauna seen in few places in the Lower 48, including mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, and black and grizzly bears. I have enjoyed stretches of solitude on each of the several backpacking trips I’ve taken in Glacier over the past three decades—many of those years as the Northwest Editor of Backpacker magazine and running this blog—including, most recently, while backpacking the Continental Divide Trail through the park.

Like most national parks, Glacier limits the number of people in the wilderness through its backcountry permit system, and many available permits get reserved in March for the entire summer; it’s best to submit a permit reservation application by March 15 for up to eight people, or by March 1 for a group of nine to 12 people. Read my “10 Tips For Getting a Hard-to-Get National Park Backcountry Permit” and “How to Get a Last-Minute, National Park Backcountry Permit.”


Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Click here for my e-guides to classic backpacking trips. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip.


A moose in Red Eagle Lake, along the Continental Divide Trail in Glacier National Park.
A moose in Red Eagle Lake, along the Continental Divide Trail in Glacier National Park.

Complete solitude is rare during summer because most available permits get used, but you can walk for hours, even on some popular trails that are farther from trailheads and see few or no people, and by avoiding the easily accessible, very scenic areas like Lake McDonald, Many Glacier, Logan Pass, St. Mary, and Two Medicine, which attract the most dayhikers and backpackers. Go after Labor Day and you’ll probably see fewer people than in July or August.

Keep in mind that you could certainly see a snowstorm in September. Check the forecast before you head out, and have warm clothes, waterproof boots, a warm bag, and a good tent. Snow at that time of year tends to melt away as soon as the sun comes out again, but be ready for any weather. And certainly carry pepper spray in grizzly country.

Learn more about obtaining a permit and planning a backpacking trip in Glacier—with expert tips on these specific trips—in my feature stories about a 90-mile backpacking trip in northern Glacier, part of which is a 65-mile hike that I consider the best backpacking trip in Glacier; a 94-mile traverse of Glacier mostly on the Continental Divide Trail; and my family’s three-day backpacking trip on Glacier’s Gunsight Pass Trail (which require a paid subscription to read in full).

Get my expert e-guides to the best backpacking trip in Glacier
and backpacking the Continental Divide Trail through Glacier.

 

As I suggest in the very first of my “12 Expert Tips For Finding Solitude When Backpacking,” the best strategy for finding solitude in a popular destination like Glacier is to head to the less well-known areas of the park. The five trips described below all do exactly that, and every one of them has Glacier-caliber natural beauty and a high likelihood of seeing wildlife.

Want to explore Glacier on dayhikes? See “The 10 Best Dayhikes in Glacier National Park” and “The 7 Best Long Hikes in Glacier National Park.”

Tell me what you think of these trips, or offer your own, in the comments section at the bottom of this story. I try to respond to all comments.

A backpacker at Dawn Mist Falls in Glacier National Park.
Mark Fenton at Dawn Mist Falls in Glacier National Park. Click photo for my e-guides to backpacking trips in Glacier and other classic parks.

Bowman Lake to Kintla Lake

The first backpacking trip I did in Glacier was a 39-mile, point-to-point hike from Bowman Lake to Kintla Lake in the park’s northwest corner, via Brown Pass and Boulder Pass. It’s a beautiful hike in a less-accessible corner of the park, going from forest and lakes to alpine terrain with views of peaks and glaciers and likely sightings of mountain goats.

The three high camping areas along the route—Brown Pass, Hole in the Wall, and Boulder Pass—are all excellent. I rode my mountain bike between the trailheads instead of arranging a vehicle shuttle; I recall it being less than an hour from Kintla (where I left our car) downhill to Bowman.

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Backpackers on the Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail high above Elizabeth Lake in Glacier National Park.
Jerry Hapgood and Geoff Sears on the Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail high above Elizabeth Lake in Glacier National Park. Click photo for my expert e-guide to this hike.

Chief Mountain to Many Glacier

Arrange a shuttle from Many Glacier to the Chief Mountain customs station on the Canadian border, and hike from there up the Belly River Trail and Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail back to Many Glacier; an awesome 20-mile trip over two to three days. If you can, add the 8.6 miles (but not much elevation gain) out-and-back to Helen Lake, and camp there; the trail ends there, so you could have the place to yourself, and the lake sits in a deep mountain cirque below the soaring cliffs of Ahern Peak.

Even though Iceberg Lake is a popular dayhike, make the short side trip out to it, it’s well worth the time and putting up with the crowds (although dayhikers are generally there mostly during the middle hours of the day). See photos from these areas in my feature story “Wildness All Around You: Backpacking the CDT Through Glacier.”

I can help you plan your Glacier hike or any trip you read about at my blog. Find out more here.

 

A backpacker on the Continental Divide Trail in Glacier National Park.
Jeff Wilhelm backpacking the Continental Divide Trail in Glacier. Click photo for my expert e-guide to this trip.

Traverse Glacier on the CDT

The Continental Divide Trail traverses Glacier from north to south (you can hike it in either direction), and explores some of the richest scenery and loneliest corners of the park (as well as, to be sure, a few popular areas where you’ll see more hikers).

My downloadable e-guide “Backpacking the Continental Divide Trail Through Glacier National Park” explains all you need to know to plan and execute that trip—and it describes several shorter alternative itineraries that hit parts of Glacier that provide the best opportunities for solitude.

Read all of this story and ALL stories at The Big Outside, plus get a FREE e-guide. Join now!

 

After Glacier National Park, hike the other nine of “America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips.”

See my “12 Expert Tips For Finding Solitude When Backpacking” and all of my stories about Glacier National Park at The Big Outside. Read about the two Glacier trips that rank among “America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips” and “The 6 Best Long Hikes in Glacier National Park.” Note that most of those stories require a paid subscription to read.

Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned backpacker, you’ll learn new tricks for making all of your trips go better in my “12 Expert Tips for Planning a Wilderness Backpacking Trip” and “A Practical Guide to Lightweight and Ultralight Backpacking.” If you don’t have a paid subscription to The Big Outside, you can read part of both stories for free, or download the e-guide versions of “12 Expert Tips for Planning a Wilderness Backpacking Trip” and the lightweight backpacking guide without having a paid membership.

Tell me what you think.

I spent a lot of time writing this story, so if you enjoyed it, please consider giving it a share using one of the buttons at right, and leave a comment or question at the bottom of this story. I’d really appreciate it.

 

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