By Michael Lanza
If you have ever backpacked in Glacier National Park, you know you want to return. If you haven’t yet, then isn’t it time? One of America’s flagship national parks, it’s a must-see destination for backpackers because of the eye-popping scenery, remoteness, and an extremely rare variety of megafauna—including mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, and black and grizzly bears—as the photo gallery below from my numerous trips in Glacier shows. It includes images from my most-recent trip, a nearly 70-mile hike a week ago through some of the park’s premier scenery on its east side.
And it’s not too early to start planning a backpacking trip in Glacier for next summer.
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There are many good reasons I rank Glacier as one of “America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips,” a list I base on having backpacked all over the country for more than three decades, including 10 years I spent as the Northwest Editor of Backpacker magazine and even longer running this blog.
On every multi-day hike I’ve taken there—such as the 65-mile route I consider the best backpacking trip in Glacier—I have marveled at an ocean of mountains spreading out before us, soaring cliffs, some of the park’s 760 lakes, sightings of bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and bears (yes, including grizzlies)—and enjoyed a surprising degree of solitude even while hitting many of the park’s highlights.
See my expert e-books to two outstanding backpacking trips in Glacier
and my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how I can plan every detail of your Glacier trip.
My advice: Start planning your Glacier adventure months in advance. Backcountry campsites can be reserved in advance starting March 15 for groups of one to eight people (although having a group of more than four gets much more complicated) and March 1 for groups of nine to 12. Permits for about 40 percent of backcountry campsites in Glacier are issued on a first-come basis no more than a day before a trip’s start date—but that’s a hard permit to get because of the high demand and backpackers on a multi-day hike may claim some of those walk-in sites farther in advance.
Glacier holds two 24-hour lotteries for early-access times to reserve a backcountry permit, on March 1 for large groups of nine to 12 people and on March 15 for standard groups of one to eight people. Standard group lottery winners will get a date and time when they can apply for a permit reservation. Large-group lottery winners will receive special instructions for applying for a permit reservation. Glacier makes 70 percent of backcountry campsites available for reservations and 30 percent of campsites available for walk-in permits no more than one day in advance during the backpacking season.
Click any photo in the gallery to scroll through it. Scroll below the gallery for links to stories about backpacking in Glacier at The Big Outside.
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Read “5 Reasons You Must Backpack in Glacier National Park” “How to Get a Permit to Backpack in Glacier National Park” and “10 Tips For Getting a Hard-to-Get National Park Backcountry Permit,” and all stories about backpacking in Glacier at The Big Outside (many of which require a paid subscription to read in full, including expert tips on planning those trips), And find more info at nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/backcountry-reservations.htm.
See also my expert e-books to two outstanding backpacking trips in Glacier and my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how I can plan every detail of a Glacier trip customized to your preferences.
Great album! Looks like a trip of a lifetime.
Yes, it is. Thanks for the nice words.