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We're doing a big road trip this summer and one of our stops will be at Glacier! It will just be for one full day, staying the night before and after. We're only just now planning this part because we originally thought we wouldn't have time to squeeze it in. Any suggestions on which east entrance Red Bus tour to take? We will have my 85 year old mom with us, and I'm not sure she'd be up for the 8 hour one. Any suggestions on where to stay near the east entrance? Thanks! :mickey:
I would recommend one that includes the Two-Medicine Road area.
Definitely!Quote:
Originally Posted by Altair
Thank you! We're finding out that a lot of the tours are already booked. But if we don't get one that includes this, we should have time to do some of our own touring too.
We camped at the St. Mary's campground on the park's east side. I think that had some lodging as well. I know there was another lodge over on the West entrance at Apgar.
No Glacier visit is complete without driving the Into the Sun Road. There is a visitor center at the top of the pass, with a couple hikes you can easily do. A little north of St. Mary there is another rode that goes in a ways, towards Swiss Motor hotel(?) which has some great views and easy hikes as I recall.
I spend summers near Glacier and just a heads-up that parking in Glacier can be pretty insane until after Labor day. Going to the Sun road is the primary attraction for most visitors and the parking lot at Logan Pass (upper most point of the road where one of the visitor centers is) often fills up by 8:30 AM. When the lot is full the rangers will make vehicles keep going, you can't even pull into the lot and drive around waiting for someone to leave so it can be a downer for people who were expecting an easy park, get out and walk around experience (or those who really need to use the bathroom). People of course do leave the parking lot and then they'll let cars in but it's something to keep in mind if you drive your personal vehicle.
If you can get a Red Bus tour they of course are allowed to park so you won't have any issues there, and the park service has a free shuttle system that runs the length of Going to the Sun road that you can use as well.
Since you just have the one day and you're presumably not doing much hiking with your 85 year old mom I'd opt for their 'East Side Many Glacier Crown of the Continent' tour or the 'Eastern Alpine Tour'. The former covers the full length of the road and would be my choice for a one day visitor, especially if you can get one leaving out of St Mary Lodge or Rising Sun Motor Inn as those are about 6 hours. The latter tour only covers about half of the road and if you do that one you might also have time to drive your personal vehicle to the Two Medicine area and check out things there like Running Eagle Falls (very short, easy hike) or the boat tour in the Two Medicine area.
If you can't get a red bus tour I'd strongly suggest arriving early and taking the park bus to Logan Pass and then maybe over as far as Lake McDonald Lodge before working your way back. If you plan to drive your personal vehicle try to go as early as you can, and expect that you may be turned away from parking at Logan Pass. With a personal vehicle other options might be driving into the Two Medicine area and checking out the falls and boat tour as mentioned above, or driving to the Many Glacier area and taking the boat tour there. There's also a boat tour that leaves out of Rising Sun just a few miles into the park on the east side.