Glacier National Park Backcountry Guide – Choosing Your Route & Campsites

We awoke on the morning of day 5 at campsite 8H3 on the western shore of Heart Lake. We had a jaunt a little shy of 10.5 miles to our next campsite, the final one booked on our 6-day, 5-night excursion.

We’d logged double-digit mileage in each of the 4 days prior, shuffling ourselves up river drainages, across said rivers, and to the top of Mount Sheridan, the most recent pair of nights camped on the beatiful lake shores. We set out early, for the first time all trip walking with the winds in our faces, knowing that meant we’d have a better chance at seeing wildlife than at any point thus far.

They can’t smell you so well when they’re upwind, after all.

As we wound around Basin Creek Lake, we found ourselves in a narrowing of the creek valley, and on the bluffs to our right above Red Creek sat a mother grizzly bear and a cub. We stopped, we stared, and we realized after about 2-3 minutes of gawking that it was, to be precise, a mother grizzly and two cubs.

They were a healthy 70 or so yards away and merely chomping berries on the bluff, but for the first time all trip I could feel our collective invincibility begin to question itself. We’d spent 4 days out there seeing nothing more threatening than a fox and a few eagles, after all – now, we had seen what we’d hope to see humble us.

We gazed for another handful of minutes, watching as mama bear sat up, sniffed the air, figured out we were there, and deemed us unthreatening enough to get back to her own business. We shuffled on down the trail, though as we approached campsite 8C1 – our final spot of the trip – we realized the weather was great, we were only about 6 more miles to the car, it was only about 2:30 PM on a summer afternoon, and the town of Jackson nearby had some delicious pizza and beer.

So, we pushed right past 8C1 and all the way back to our car, a day that featured a trio of grizzlies and nearly 17 miles of trail under foot.

The headline of this article is about Glacier National Park, yet you just read me write about Heart Lake and Jackson. The above tale is from a trip in Yellowstone National Park’s southeast corner from back in 2022, and yes, Yellowstone and Glacier are two very different places.

That’s the relevant point here. Yellowstone, for as vast and brilliant as it is, features precious few trails that force you up and over mountain passes, the average elevation gain/loss usually limited to the occasional knoll as you follow river drainages and valleys. That nearly 17 mile day we did from Heart Lake back to the South Entrance saw us shed some 500+ feet, never once ascending more than 50-75 feet as we followed creek beds to the Snake River and out.

Mileage adds up in very different ways, and that’s perhaps the biggest point of emphasis when planning your routes in Glacier, should be one of the lucky few who land a backcountry permit. There are no flat 17 mile days there, and almost every trail you take eventually sends you almost straight up.

Take the Walton Trailhead, for instance. It sits at nearly the very southern point of the National Park on the Flathead River. The elevation at the trailhead is a relatively oxygen-heavy 3,720 feet, but given its location that means you’re inevitably going to be hiking north on your Glacier adventure. If you’re headed to Two Medicine Lake (5,164 feet), you’re going to have to go over Two Medicine Pass (7,555 feet) to get there. Heading up Ole Creek to do a loop back down the Continental Divide Trail? That’ll force you up over Firebrand Pass (6,951 feet).

That’s not a feature unique to the southern edge of the park, either. If you start on the eastern edge at Cut Bank Trailhead at some 5,000 feet, you’ll be faced with either turning north over Triple Divide Pass (7,397 feet) or south over Pitamakan Pass (7,549 feet) before you reach the nearest designated backcountry sites.

Each trail in Glacier involves significant elevation gain and loss, and when you’re trying to put together a multi-day trip, it’s paramount that you figure out where that gain and loss is. If you’re heading out of the Belly River Trailhead or Many Glaicer in the northeast corner of the park to circle Mount Merritt (10,004 feet) and see Mount Cleveland (10,466 feet, the tallest point in the park), you’ll come up against Stoney Indian Pass (6,908 feet) and Swiftcurrent Pass (7,185 feet) along the way. At Stoney Indian Pass, in particular, there are campsites on either side of the pass, but none actually on the pass, meaning which one you select will determine whether you finish one day going up and over the pass or begin the next day doing it with fresh legs.

Important Notes

• First and foremost, you need an excellent topographic map of the area. For Glacier, I’ve always leaned on this one from Trails Illustrated.
• There are some 65 campgrounds in Glacier National Park’s backcountry scattered across the nearly 1,000,000 acres of land. There are over 700 miles of trails in the park to take you to these campgrounds, should you get lucky enough to land a permit through the early access lottery (or get lucky as a walk-up the day-of).
• Pay close attention to the Wilderness Campground Map when picking your sites. Over half of all sites within the park do not allow campfires, so if a) that’s a dealbreaker for you or b) you anticipate being wet from rain or water crossings, maybe you’re best off looking for an alternate site/route.
• The earlier in the year you plan your trip, the more likely you’ll run into snow. The later in the year it gets, the more the snow melts, and snowmelt inevitably produces mud, puddles, and the mosquitoes that love them. Late in the backcountry season, though, you run the risk of the dryness in the area flaring up with a single lightning strike, as wildfires (and the smoke that rolls in from fires outside the park) become important considerations. Keep a keen eye on trail statuses as you plan, re-plan, and check up on your trip conditions.
• Glacier National Park has bears, and lots of them. The Park Service has a detailed information page on identifying bears (black or grizzly) and how to react to both, as well as tips for avoiding confrontations with them altogether. I’ll also point out that when you’re booking your trip on Recreation.gov, pay close attention to which sites have bear boxes versus bear poles for food storage.
• There are several main ‘headquarters’ areas in the park with amenities and car-camping, should your journey to the far reaches of Montana want to loop a day or two in on the front or back end. To the south, both Apgar and Lake McDonald (both on actual Lake McDonald). Further East, St. Mary Lake has both the Saint Mary Village and the Rising Sun area, featuring food and inns. Further north is perhaps the centerpiece of the entire park at Many Glacier, featuring the chalet-style Many Glacier Hotel that was built beginning in 1914.
• Finally, Glacier National Park borders Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park, with Waterton Lake prominently located in both countries. If you’re planning to visit the Goat Haunt area (on the lake), here’s more information you’ll need from Customs & Border Patrol.