Glacier National Park

Introduction

Why visit Glacier?

Going-to-the-Sun Road and 1,708,887 visitors last year cannot all be wrong. The scenery is spectacular and on a larger scale than Zion or Yellowstone. You will see rivers, streams waterfalls, great views and a few mountain goats. Glacier is known for having a high density of grizzly bears. In summer it gets dark late (9:30pm).

Going to the Sun Road is still closed in May, check out NPS website for update, it closes again in late October. Visitors should be aware that there are size restrictions on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Vehicles longer than 21 feet or wider than 8 feet (including mirrors) are prohibited on the steepest sections of the road.

How to get there by air.

The nearest airports are Kalispell and Great Falls.

Kalispell is about 1 hour from West Glacier entrance. If you go toWest Glacier and over Going-to-the-Sun road and then out to East Glacier and take the South perimeter road (hwy 2) back to Kalispell the journey is 200 miles and about 7 hours. There is a good Christian bookshop in Kalispell (on hwy 2 just 1 block north of Jct 93).

Bozeman is served by Delta and North West. You are a two hour drive from Yellowstone West entrance and 80 minutes from the North entrance. You are about 6-7 hours (300 miles) from Kalispell, so Bozeman would also serve as a base for a two centre vacation to Glacier and Yellowstone. For Glacier use Kalispell as the base.

Scenic route Bozeman to Kalispell:

I90W

287N to Helena then 12W to Avon

141N to Jct 200

200W

83N to Bigfork (do not go through Bigfork continue on 83 to 35N)

35N to 2W to Kalispell

Bozeman hotels - Bozeman is well served by hotels. From the airport turn left and continue five miles until the road goes to the right after two sets of lights turn right into Baxter lane and you will find the Best Western Gran Tree Inn, the Holiday Inn and the Hampton Inn. Opposite is a Comfort Inn, and close nearby is a Fairfield Inn, a Sleep Inn and a Ramada.

Driving in Montana - there are no daytime speed limits, it is up to your discretion. Most people drive at 70 -75 mph. At night the main highways restrict you to 65 mph. The reason for the lack of daytime speed limits is because the population is small and the distances so large that road congestion is small and therefore fast daytime driving is fairly safe.

The Weather

Going to the Sun Road is closed in Winter.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	July	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rain "	3.25	1.86	2.06	2.07	2.97	3.35	1.95	1.45	1.83	2.93	3.76	3.09
Days rain	5	4	7	14	16	15	11	9	9	14	9	2
Days Snow	16	11	8	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	11	17
Snow"	35.4	16.8	14.8	3.1	0.3	0	0	0	0	2.0	24.7	41.5
Max Temp	49	55	62	75	87	91	99	93	95	79	56	45
Min temp	-29	-27	-11	11	22	31	36	26	23	-3	-17	-30

The Cost

For a car and passengers it is $10 (valid for seven days) to enter Glacier. An all year pass costs $20. An Eagle pass still costs $50 and is valid for all national parks for a year (but not state parks).

Glacier National Park

Introduction

Why visit Glacier?

The Weather

The Cost

Hotels in Kalispell

Hotels in Whitefish

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