Lake McDonald is the centerpiece of the western side of Glacier National Park in northwest Montana. And today we are driving to Glacier for a 1 night stay in Apgar Village on Lake McDonald. We’re going to have the afternoon and evening to explore with our daughter and Becky’s mom, Gigi. And we are looking forward to jumping into Lake McDonald and more in West Glacier.
Planning
We weren’t originally planning to visit Glacier National Park. After all, our condo in Big Sky, Montana is 6 hours away. But when we heard Yellowstone closed after the historic flooding last month, they started a phased re-opening. And not knowing if we would be able to see all of Yellowstone, we looked into Glacier. Knowing it’s too far for a day trip, we looked for a place to stay nearby. And Becky makes it happen again. Even though it’s less than 2 weeks away, she calls and surprisingly is able to book 1 night in the park. And we’re excited to stay at The Village Inn at Apgar on the western tip of Lake McDonald. You can read more about booking options at: Glacier National Park Lodges.
The park also requires a vehicle reservation to access to the Going-to-the-Sun Road between 6:00AM-4:00PM. And this is the main road that goes through the park from the West Entrance to the St. Mary Entrance. And without the reservation you cannot access the most popular areas of the park. But since we booked a stay in the park, we don’t need the extra reservation. And the Going-to-the Sun Road just opened up yesterday. It had previously been closed since last year due to the accumulated snowfall on the road. So our timing is perfect to explore this park nicknamed the “Crown of the Continent”.
So we’ll leave early to drive to the West Entrance of Glacier. We’ll explore what we can around Lake McDonald and West Glacier before we have to check-in. And we’ll find dinner somewhere in the park. But our first planned stop in the park is the Apgar Visitor Center. To learn more about this park go to Glacier National Park (nps.gov).
West Entrance
We leave Big Sky early with a 6 hour drive ahead of us. But the drive on mostly backroads is pleasant. We stop at a Sinclair gas station on the way in Seeley Lake that has a deli inside. There are not a lot of lunch options on this route, and we are happy with our choices. They even have a beautiful outside seating area with wildflowers, a pond and mountains in the distance. Even stopping for lunch, we make it to park sign outside the West entrance by 2:20PM. And after some obligatory pictures we continue to the entrance.
We get to the West Entrance with only 1 car in front of us before we get to the window. Instead of paying the $35 entrance fee per vehicle, we show our annual pass. We then show them our email reservation for our stay in the park. Without this, we’d have to wait to drive in after 4:00. On the western side of Glacier, you can’t even enter the park by car without a vehicle reservation. And we actually see a car just outside the entrance waiting for 4:00. But we are in before 2:30 and we head first to Apgar Visitor Center.
Apgar Visitor Center
Stopping at a visitor center in a national park first is usually a great idea. Parking is plentiful, they have restrooms and a park store. But even though it is July 2022, they still require masks to enter the visitor center and store here. So, we grab a mask and head in to look for souvenirs while Becky and Gigi get their passport stamps. The store is pretty small and other areas of the visitor center are closed. And after we check out we want to ask a ranger some questions.
However, the rangers are outside and there’s a line to talk to them. And after some minutes, we get to talk to a young ranger. However, she is not any help in giving us information. We ask a few questions and she just laughs and agrees with what we tell her. Usually we can get reassurance about our planned choices and some helpful tidbits. Though we’re not getting any, we ask about a trail we’ve been looking at called the Trail of the Cedars. Since we have time before 4:00, we decide it’s best to hit this popular trail first. And after the trail we’ll make our way back to Apgar to check-in for the night.
Trail of the Cedars
The Trail of the Cedars is a short 0.7 mile accessible trail starting from the Avalanche Picnic Area. To get here, we get our first opportunity to travel the Going-to-the Sun Road for almost 15 miles. We are on a mission to get straight there, and we plan to make stops on the way back. But there is still construction on the road and one section is only allowing 1-way traffic at a time. So it takes us about 45 minutes to get to the parking area. We turn left to park and find a spot near the picnic area. We then walk across the street to the start of this loop trail. At the beginning, we choose to go left.
The trail starts off on hard compact gravel and fairly even until we get to a small bridge. And at this bridge we get our first glimpse of the shallow but fast-flowing Avalanche Creek. And on the other side is the start of the boardwalk through the forest. This forest is unlike any other area in the park. It resembles a forest in the Pacific Northwest, as we walk through giant cedars, cottonwoods and hemlocks. Many of these trees are over 100 feet tall and over 500 years old. This area just west of the mountains gets a lot of rain and you can see it. There are ferns covering much of the ground and we even pass some rocks where we see water dripping down them. We also see the creek at many points on our right. And halfway we get to another bridge.
Avalanche Gorge
This bridge also crosses Avalanche creek. And here we see the water gushing through Avalanche Gorge and under the bridge down the creek. After stopping at this beautiful spot for a few minutes, we cross the bridge. On the other side, the Trail of the Cedars becomes gravel again.
And here we see the junction for the Avalanche Lake Trail which goes another 1.6 miles. However, this trail to Avalanche Lake is closed due to bear activity. Though we weren’t planning to hike for very long today, so we start the return loop back. On the way back through the forest, we see a large hollowed out tree that Becky and our daughter easily fit inside.
We also find a spot we can walk down to a bend in the creek. Our daughter has to touch the creek and tell us it’s so cold. And just a little further, we pass some restrooms. We must be near the campground as these are full restrooms with flush toilets and showers. Yes we talk about restrooms often, but with a family with a little one this is a great find. So after a pit stop, we continue through some more large trees. And after about an hour, we are back at the parking lot.
Driving Back on Going-to-the Sun Road
After the trail we are ready to head back on Going-to-the-Sun Road to Apgar Village. And after a great experience in Grand Teton and Yellowstone, we purchased GyPSy Guide for Glacier as well. Gypsy Guide is a GPS narrated audio tour app that feels like you have a guide in the car with you. It has been very helpful so far on this trip and perfect for scenic drives. And they have one just for Glacier – Going to the Sun Road and it’s only $7.99! So we plug it in and listen for the next must-do stops.
Our first stop is the McDonald Creek Overlook which is the same as the Upper McDonald Viewpoint. It’s just a pull-off from the road with space for about a dozen cars. And in the middle are some stairs leading down to a platform. Here we get a great look at the fast-flowing McDonald Creek. The clear turquoise water drops right by the platform where you can see and hear the rush of the water.
Our next stop is the Sacred Dancing Cascade Viewpoint. At this pull-off, there is a short trail at the end of the parking lot that leads to a bridge. Though you can get a glimpse of the cascade from the parking area, the bridge offers unobstructed views. I take our daughter down to check it out up-close while Becky and Gigi stay on the bridge. The cold water is rushing through here so we’re careful not to get too close. The next pull-off is down the creek at McDonald Falls. Though the falls can be seen from the parking lot, you can’t get a clean view. But overall these 3 viewpoints were nice stops before Lake McDonald Lodge.
Lake McDonald Lodge
We turn off for historic Lake McDonald Lodge after hearing all about it on our GyPSy Guide. This classic Swiss Chalet style lodge was built in 1913 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987. And as soon as we park, we see one of their vintage red tour buses out front. These are almost identical to the yellow buses we toured on in Yellowstone, but red. To see more about our bus tour in Yellowstone, see Evening Wildlife Tour in Yellowstone. We may think the red buses are even cooler though, but we don’t have enough time for a tour unfortunately. However, heading into the lodge we admire its rustic architecture.
Inside the lodge is an open lobby where you can see up to the 3rd and top floor. There are plenty of places to just sit in the lobby and many people taking advantage of it. Also, there are lanterns with native drawings hanging down from the ceiling. And wood carved railings are adorned with animal busts. Once we walk through the lobby, we see Russell’s Fireside Dining Room.
Russell’s Fireside Dining Room
On their website, it says the dining room is only open to guests at the lodge. But, it’s after 5:00PM and we’re hungry so we figure it doesn’t hurt to ask. And since they’re not busy at all they say we can! We decide to seize this opportunity and figure we can check-in a little later. They have a $30 buffet which looks great, so we follow the hostess to a table by a window.
The buffet is not large but has plenty of options including salad, soup and bread. It also includes bison pastrami and elk salami cold-cuts which I had to try. They have a few entrees, potatoes and vegetables including herb chicken and steelhead trout which is very good. And though “Rib-eye” in a chafing dish doesn’t look appealing, it was excellent and very tender. And to top it off they have a small table with dessert plates including carrot cake and tiramisu. Needless to say, we enjoyed the food and the service was also good. When we left they were still only about half full so glad we asked to eat here. After dinner we head out back to check out the lake.
Out Back of Lake McDonald Lodge
Out back of the lodge, we get a better view of its Swiss architecture. In addition, there are beautiful red flowers in planters in front of rocking chairs. Though there is no one enjoying the chairs at the moment. And down steps leads to their dock and beach.
And this is our 1st real glimpse of Lake McDonald and it is beautiful. The blue-green clear water glistens in front of the mountains on the other side. There are steps down to a beach which our daughter has to check it out. We see people here sitting on some benches overlooking others exploring the beach below.
In addition there’s a hut on the dock where you can rent kayaks, paddleboards and small motor boats. They even have scenic boat tours departing every 1.5 hours. But it’s almost 6:30PM, and we still need to check-in.
Couple More Stops on Lake McDonald
On the way back, our GyPSy guide points out more stops including at Glacial Lake McDonald Overlook. Like others overlooks we’ve stopped at, this pull-off doesn’t seem like much. However, once parked you will see stairs leading down to the lake.
Here there is a nice beach where you can get right at the water’s edge. You can see different colored rocks in the crystal clear water. Looking down the lake you can see trees on your left and mountains in the distance. This is a nice spot to get up-close and personal with Lake McDonald.
But 15 minutes later, we find another spot to pull off the Going-to-the-Sun Road. This spot closer to Apgar doesn’t have a name we can find, but is very similar to the last. Here we can also walk to a beach with similar views of Lake McDonald but closer to the mountains. But now we’re looking to get even closer to the lake after checking-in at the Village Inn at Apgar.
The Village Inn at Apgar
We exit the Going-to-the-Sun Road past the visitor center to Apgar Village. And at the end on the left is the Village Inn at Apgar. We finally get here at 7:00PM and walk inside their office to check-in. They give us the keys for the 1st unit next to the office, so we grab our bags and head in. We walk in to a kitchen with a sink, stove/oven, microwave, dishwasher and mini-fridge. It even has a table with 4 chairs. To our right is the separate bathroom. And just past the kitchen is the 1st bedroom with a window view of the lake. We also have a second bedroom behind the 1st, each with queen beds.
There is plenty of room for us, but what makes this place special is what’s out back. From the main bedroom is a back door which leads to a walkway with 2 chairs and a table for each room. And on the other side of the walkway are some rocks and then Lake McDonald. And since we’re on the end of the row, we are next to some stairs that go down to the lake.
And of course our daughter has to immediately go down the stairs to the lake. We let her put her feet in the cold water for a few minutes, but tell her not to get to dirty. We decide to do some shopping and check out the rest of Apgar Village before sunset.
Shopping
Right next to the Village Inn is The Cedar Tree, the largest store in Glacier National Park. It’s named for the 2 large cedar trees standing inside the gift shop that are hundreds of years old. But this shop also has just about every type of souvenir including a large collection of t-shirts and hats. They also have a lot of craft products made by local artisans. But what we really want is the made-in-Montana huckleberry products. Becky has been obsessed with all things huckleberry since I brought her some candies and jam a few years ago. Our son Drew and I picked up some while Driving from Washington to Florida in 5 Days. And though their selection here is okay, we decide to go to the Huckleberry Hut in West Glacier.
The Huckleberry Hut only sells huckleberry products which make great gifts for others. But we have to get in our car to drive to West Glacier Village just outside the park. It’s only a few minutes to get there. And it’s easy to spot with an old purple pickup truck out front filled with beautiful flowers. And this little store also has purple and white flowers in front hanging above its purple deck. Inside we find all of the huckleberry products we could want. We focus mostly on their tasty food items like huckleberry jam and candies. But we also get some of their flavored coffee and other goodies. After stocking up on everything huckleberry, we drive back to Apgar Village.
Apgar Village and Lake McDonald Sunset
On the way back we head through the West Entrance at almost 8:30PM. There is no attendants, so we just drive right through. And when we get back, our daughter wants some ice cream. So we walk past The Cedar Tree gift shop to Eddie’s Cafe & Mercantile. This restaurant/store has just about anything you would need. And on the other side of the cafe is the ice cream shop with their signature Huckleberry Heaven. So we grab a scoop each and meet Becky inside the restaurant at the bar. Becky gets a huckleberry cocktail (of course), to take back to enjoy while watching the sunset.
Back at our room, we enjoy our ice cream and cocktail while we watch our daughter jump in Lake McDonald. She is having a blast picking up and throwing the colorful rocks and frolicking in the shallow crystal clear water. Becky walks down the steps to join her while I walk along the shore to take some more pictures. I find a boat dock where you can rent boats and another dock I walk out on to take some pics. And when I get back we just sit and watch the remaining sunlight vanish behind the mountains.
Summary
Today we explored the western side of Glacier National Park between the Apgar and Avalanche areas. We loved the short but beautiful Trail of the Cedars hike through large trees to Avalanche Gorge and back. And we enjoyed our stop and dinner at Lake McDonald Lodge. But we most enjoyed seeing Lake McDonald from different viewpoints. And our Gypsy Guide helped point out stops on the Going-to-the Sun Road. But the best viewpoint of all was from our room at the Village Inn at Apgar. Here our daughter got to jump into Lake McDonald. Well at least to her ankles. But she had a blast and we enjoyed the view until the Sun was gone. A perfect ending to our first day in Glacier National Park.
Tomorrow we are planning to drive the rest of the Going-to-the-Sun Road from west to east. Therefore we need to get to bed so we can get up early to beat the crowds. We’re looking forward to another day in Glacier National Park!
Such Majestic beauty. Great trip.