Glacier and Yellowstone vacation 2024

[BuckSutherland]

I took my family on vacation last summer to Glacier National Park for 4 days and then to Yellowstone for 4 days. What an awesome trip. We left around 10pm on a Friday night and drove through MN and ND overnight. We got to Theodore Roosevelt National Park as the sun was coming up. From there we headed across rural Montana and got to Great Falls, MT around 2pm. Great Falls was a fantastic town. I will be back. They have some massive damns on the MO river, the Lewis and Clark museum, Giant Springs state park, Malstrom AFB, etc. We spent night 1 at a Holiday Inn.


Day 2 we headed towards Glacier. Before we entered the park I took them white water rafting on the middle fork of the Flathead River. The water, rocks and mountains were absolutely breathtaking. That afternoon we entered the park and went to our campground (Avalanche) on the continental divide. We were on the west side of the divide and surrounded by HUGE cedar trees. I think it was $25/ night to stay there. We sleep in a tent with air mattresses. We stayed in this area for 2 nights. LOTS of epic scenery along going to the sun road. We did TONS of hiking (Avalanche Lake, Hidden Lake, Highline Trail, St Mary Falls, Lunch Creek, etc). The girls even cliff jumped into the glacial water at St Mary Falls.


By Day 4 we left our first campground and then headed up toward the Many Glacier campground. We did LOTS of hiking again. Saw plenty of bears, moose, bighorns, mountain goats. We did our favorite hike in Many Glacier. The Grinnell Glacier hike was HARD, but the views and smells are unexplainable. It was that good. The geology, moving water, wildlife, glaciers, trees were all world class. I got within about 6ft of a world class bighorn. Brought our lifestraw water bottles and drank the water coming right off the glacier. The final evening in Glacier we went for a drive and got a good show from a grizzly sow and her cubs. Cant wait to go back in 2026......

 

[BuckSutherland]

 

[BuckSutherland]

 

[BuckSutherland]

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Looks like the trip of a lifetime!

I have been to Yellowstone two times and each time I regret not planning a longer trip. I have yet to get up to GNP. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Looks like the trip of a lifetime!

I have been to Yellowstone two times and each time I regret not planning a longer trip. I have yet to get up to GNP. Thanks for sharing.

Glacier will blow your doors off. Try to plan a minimum of 5 days. We wanna go back in 2026 for sure. The Many Glacier area is gonna be closed in 2025 for new roads, sewers, etc. That area is a must see along with everything on Going to the Sun Road. We only stayed 4 days cause we met some friends in Yellowstone after Glacier. We will stay in Glacier at least 6 days next time we go. We will also stay in Great Falls, MT again. Giant Springs State park had a huge freshwater spring pumping 150 million gallons of freshwater into the Missouri river every 24 hours. Also wanna check out the Lewis and Clark Museum.

 

[Mortenson]

You've been taking some great trips. That ram would look good on the wall. So what's better, Glacier or Yellowstone?

 

[BuckSutherland]

If you asked my 3 girls they would say hands down it would be Glacier. I would probably say Glacier too, but Yellowstone is no slouch. Yellowstone felt very crowded when we were there in 2024. Yellowstone does have the amazing thermal features, is 3x bigger and is much more developed. Glacier is really breathtaking with all the water falls, the amazing rock formations and just general beauty. I would love to see both a few more times before I die. If I was down to my last time I would probably go to Glacier. Reservations for anything there are difficult to get. Be planning a year in advance.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

How did you get the close-up of the ram?? Thanks for posting all the pics. Great scenery!!

 

[BuckSutherland]

How did you get the close-up of the ram?? Thanks for posting all the pics. Great scenery!!

We do LOTS of hiking and get to encounter LOTS of wildlife. My iPhone is always charged and I always have my Vortex binoculars with. I take more pictures than videos. Priceless memories that I hope the family never forgets. The Rocky Mountains are a truly special place to us.


That big ram was right off the trail on our Grinnell Glacier hike. 95% of people walked right past him and had no clue. We always seem to end up getting very close to plenty of animals. This trip was the first time we have ever saw a grizzly bear and mature bighorn rams. We got to have 4 grizzly encounters on this trip. Most of them were from the vehicle, which is fine with me. Other animals we have been right on top of.


Had 4 cow/calf moose encounters at less than 50 feet (plenty close for a moose)
Had mountain goat at less than 10 feet
Big horn less than 10 feet
Small black bear at less than 75 feet
Bison in Yellowstone about 5 feet away from the truck multiple times
Elk 40-50 feet away
Some type of grouse 10 feet away.

Some of these are screenshots from my videos....

 

[Turkey Creek]

Wow! That looks like a fantastic trip. Took way too many of the family the last time we went, 2 years ago. We have a couple individuals that go on every "family" vacation every year and they end up putting a damper on everything. Would love to take my 2 daughters and my wife back if could leave the rest at home, but that wont likely ever happen. Searched high and low trying to find a Mnt Goat for my daughter to take a photo of as it was on her bucket list, we never found any.

 

[SD51555]

Dusky Grouse

Dusky Grouse Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

This large grouse lives in mountain forests of ponderosa and lodgepole pine, aspen, and fir. Males are steely gray-blue with purplish air sacs in the neck and red eye combs that they show off for brownish, highly camouflaged females. The species ranges from sun-baked bitterbrush steppe to the...

www.allaboutbirds.org

 

[BuckSutherland]

Wow! That looks like a fantastic trip. Took way too many of the family the last time we went, 2 years ago. We have a couple individuals that go on every "family" vacation every year and they end up putting a damper on everything. Would love to take my 2 daughters and my wife back if could leave the rest at home, but that wont likely ever happen. Searched high and low trying to find a Mnt Goat for my daughter to take a photo of as it was on her bucket list, we never found any.

On the way down about 1.5 miles from the Grinnell Glacier my 8 year old daughter spotted a mountain goat hanging out on some rocks over the trail. She was so proud. Then she sat there and pointed it out to all kinds of people walking by on the trail. That goat must have had an EPIC view.

I would not wanna go with more people. We like to go from sun up to sundown and sleep when its dark. We are usually so darn tired that its instantly lights out at the end of the day. Our biggest day in Glacier was about 17.4 miles according to my wife's watch. Probably over 4,000 feet of elevation change. Love it!

 

[Newbie]

Awesome trip! Both parks are incredible in their own right. I think Glacier is more scenic - dramatic views around every corner. However, Yellowstone is simply otherworldly, with all the thermal activity.

I spent last summer backcountry in Yellowstone on a fly fishing trip, some of the best fishing I've every experienced. Between 3 guys we caught 150 cutthroat trout in a single day on the fly rod.

I actually got engaged to my now wife in front of the lake at Grinnell Glacier.

I am still tempted to move from PA to either MT, ID, or WY. It is incredible out there.