HELP! Road trip starting in Philadelphia, need advice!

[Southwest Dave]

The weather is unpredictable at best and you are likely to see a wide range of temperatures and possibly conditions. What you really need is layered clothing where you can 'bulk up' if and when needed and some wet gear just in case. You can get an idea of historic weather data from a number of weather sites but it will still have no effect on what's happening 'there and then' when you are travelling.

[DonnaR57]

Since you started this thread, I returned to Glacier NP, this time with my husband. This information is now 2 weeks old. We spent our days this way:

Day 1 - drove from Great Falls to East Glacier Park Village, checked into our motel, and then headed to the Two Medicine Lake area. We took the walk to Running Eagle Falls -- level trail, mostly on boardwalk, about 6/10-mile round trip. Drove down to Two Medicine Lake, walked along the middle lake for a little bit, went into the general store. Then went to another parking area and took the hike up to Appistoki Falls - about 1.2 miles round trip, I believe, and very pretty walk. The campgrounds in this area were really pretty, and I believe pmount in this forum finds these her favorite.

Day 2 - Going to the Sun Road. I HIGHLY recommend that you do this early in the morning or later in the afternoon. Even in September, I am told, the traffic up near Logan Pass can make you feel like you never left the urban area -- no fun. Depending on what campground you end up in, you could go one direction on Going to the Sun, and take US 2 in the other direction, to make it a loop. That was our intent, but due to some screwups, we ended up doing Going to the Sun in both directions. (There's something to be said for that -- different view in each direction.)

Our intent was to hike to Avalanche Lake (3.8 miles round trip), but due to the lack of parking at the trailhead, we could not. We did Trail of the Cedars -- worthwhile -- on the way back, but there was no time for an almost 4 mile trail with a 500-ft gain in elevation. We also wanted to hike Hidden Lake Overlook, but that trail was closed due to Bear Activity. This could be any trail at any time.

If I were camping in Glacier, I think I'd prefer either the Apgar area, or Two Medicine, just for a little less people!!!!

Day 3 - In the morning, we went out to Many Glacier area. Very beautiful. It was rather rainy, so we canceled plans to the Apikuni Falls trail (Can you tell I love lakes and waterfalls?!) as we did not carry raingear with us. (Bad planning on our part.) You are forewarned that the road into Many Glacier is not really in great condition, but go slow and you'll be fine.


Donna