Planning A Trip To Glacier National Park - Top Tips For An Epic Visit

On episode 50, Julie & Art talk about planning a trip to Glacier National Park. This episode kicks off a series that will focus on things to do throughout Glacier National Park.  We'll follow those future episodes with more things you can do while you are visiting in the state of Montana.

Visiting Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is the country's 8th national park, added to the roster in 1910.  The park is visited by over 3 million people annually. Here are a few key points about the park:

History

• Established as a United States National Park on May 11, 1910
• Established as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in 1932
• The landmark Going-to-the-Sun Road was completed in 1932
• Established as an International Biosphere Reserve in 1974

Water

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• Total number of lakes: 762 (131 named; 631 unnamed)
• Largest lake: Lake McDonald at 9.4 miles long; 1.5 miles wide; 464 feet deep; 6,823 acres
• Number of streams: 563

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Land

• Acreage: 1,012,837
• Square miles: 1,583
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• Number of mountains: 175
• Highest mountain: Mt. Cleveland at 10,448 ft / 3,190 m
• Number of glaciers: 26; all shrinking in size
• Largest glacier: Harrison Glacier at 1,661,456.75 sq. meters

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Facilities

• Number Class A campgrounds: 8, with 943 sites
• Number Class B campgrounds: 5, with 61 sites
• Number of trails: 158; total length - 745.9 miles
• Miles of Continental Divide Trail in Glacier: 110
• Number backcountry campgrounds: 65, with 208 sites

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Plants and Animals

• Number of fish species : 24 — 18 native and 7 non-native (Lake trout are native in the Hudson Bay drainage, but are non-native west of the Divide. They are listed on both the native and non-native lists.)
• Number of species of mammals: 71
• Number of species of birds: 276 documented
• Number of species of plants: 1,132 vascular and 858 non-vascular

Planning A Trip To Glacier National Park

On this episode, we discuss several things to help you begin planning your trip to Glacier National Park. Key points that we cover include:

• How far before your planned trip to begin making reservations
• Thinking through the number of days and activities to plan
• Lodging considerations
• Developing a plan for food
• How the time of year for your visit can impact what you can and cannot do
• and more

And while preparing to visit the National Park, you can find links to a number of books to get you in the travel mindset on our Amazon Store Page - check out the section: Books That Inspire Travel 

Glacier National Park Resources

When you take the time to learn about a place before visiting, that can help you understand the things you see and experience once you arrive at your destination.  In that spirit, we suggest the following resources which we have used in our travels to Glacier National Park.

Top Trails: Glacier National Park: Must-Do Hikes For Everyone
Passport To Your National Parks

We also invite you to visit our Amazon Storefront for more travel resources that we recommend - all of which, we personally use in our travels.

GET YOUR TRAVEL GEAR HERE! - The Places Where We Go Amazon Storefront

Thanks for you support!

 

Visit Glacier National Park

We hope this episode inspires you to consider a visit to Glacier National Park.  

Which activities will you plan on a trip to Glacier National Park?   Drop us a line if you have an adventure in this fantastic park.

 

The Places Where We Go

Podcast: The Places Where We Go Podcast is released every other week in your favorite podcast app along as well as on our website at www.theplaceswherewego.com

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Julie & Art

 

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