‘The Montana sunset lay between the mountains like a giant bruise from which darkened arteries spread across a poisoned sky.’ – F. Scott Fitzgerald

In order to get a campsite at Glacier National Park, you need to be ready the moment reservations open. I had googled ‘what is the best campground at Glacier?’ and the response was overwhelmingly Many Glacier. So that is what I went for. I logged into recreation.gov and ready when it opened in March and easily able to select my dates and a site close to the bathroom (something that I always look for).

I car camp and so grateful that I do (once I get my new car, I’ll have a post about it). About a week before my trip, I received an email from the National Parks Service letting me know that, due to increased bear activity, they were prohibiting soft shell camping, i.e. tents. As I sleep in my car, it was not a big deal for me but I would have been so bummed! They lifted the ban the day I arrived. But it is something to be aware of and to make arrangements if the same thing happens to you. You are also not allowed to leave anything outside of your car, everything needs to be bear safe. This meant some rearranging my sleeping quarters but better to be safe than a visit by Yogi Bear!

The campground was really nice. I was walking distance to the general store (with delicious soft serve ice cream) and the hotel. There were several trails, including one which will take you to see the famed Grinnell Glacier. Being said, even though I was there in late June, most of the Grinnell Trail was covered in ice. It’s also about 10 miles so you need to plan ahead.

The views were stunning from the hotel and I caught some amazing sunsets from their parking lot, highly recommend just sitting and eating oreos while the sun goes down! Even though the area is very crowded, it was quite peaceful and never felt overwhelming.

As for wildlife…I saw nothing until the end. As mentioned in my previous post, I was well equipped for animals and, of course, didn’t really see anything. There were bear sightings on a trail I was going to take to watch the sunset so I turned back. My last night, however, I was driving back to the campsite and a line of cars had pulled over. So obviously, I did as well and there, enjoying his dinner, a grizzly bear. I think it was fairly young as he wasn’t huge yet. I was a safe distance but really cool!

I really loved Many Glacier and re-enforced my belief that East Glacier is far superior to the west side. Next week will also highlight why I and Forrest Gump think so!