Life goal achieved: Visiting Glacier National Park in Montana

Two years later, I finally did it. And it was nothing short of stunning. The tally:

-4 days of backcountry camping and hiking in the eastern side of Glacier National Park
-30 miles hiked
-3 lakes swam in
-10 big-horned sheep horning in on our hiking trail
-1 giant bull moose who blocked my access out of the pit toilet
-3 very happy friends, who have a new annual tradition of gathering and camping in some beautiful wilderness in the United States (we're thinking Utah next year - any tips?)

(Susan, myself and Parker atop the summit at Redgap Pass)

I'm pretty sure this trip is the embodiment of "a picture's worth a thousand words," so I'll let my Flickr set do the talking. You can also see Susan's exquisite photos here.

 

(for those curious, we used a guiding service, GlacierGuides.com, and flew in and out of Kalispell and also stayed in the Glacier Guides Lodge on the nights bookending the trip. All 3 of us would heartily recommend all of the Glacier Guides services. I'm definitely happy to answer any further questions, just post a comment below!)

Comments

[Michaela]

This looked amazing. If you're ever looking for a 4th person to join on your adventures, I'd love to be considered :).

[Adrienne]

I want to hear more about what backcountry camping entails. I.e., did you have to haul your own cooking stuff to your campsite? Also...bathrooms. Hole in the ground? There's a lot of great places in the NW to do back-country camping but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough yet.

[Catherine]

Sure thing! This was my second backcountry adventure, so I'm a little more experienced now...

-Yes, you have to bring your own cooking stuff and food. There's lots of pre-made, dehydrated packets you can buy, though. You'd probably need at least a gas stove, a pot, and a water filter. Plus soap, a towel, knife, bowls, utensils, garbage bags... plus rope and bear sacks if you're hiking in bear country. But all this stuff is really light and portable. What I really learned on this trip is that you basically pack no clothes and wear the same stuff day after day and all the other room in your pack goes towards the food/safety type of stuff.

-bathrooms: at the sites we camped at in Glacier, there were what were called "pit toilets" which was basically the most primitive of outhouses/portapotties. However, when I went backcountry in Yellowstone a couple of years ago, we had this: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pLXDKfVlVbk/Tl1EjaZoXrI/AAAAAAAADAU/cIx1lEg3NaA/s1600/DSCN0724.JPG

...not as ideal. No walls there. And I imagine you've got even less in other backcountry sites, in which case you have to bring a trowel to dig a hole, and pack out all toilet paper (yes, the used TP).

GlacierGuides.com was a great experience for us - our guide packed all the cooking stuff (we each carried about 5-8 pounds of food) and explained the stuff we didn't know to us. Now we feel comfortable enough to do our next backcountry trip on our own. I'd highly recommend them if you ever go to Glacier, and I'm sure similar services exist for other parks.