By Michael Lanza
Glacier National Park sprawls over a million acres of rugged, glaciated mountains sprinkled with alpine lakes in the northern Rockies—most of it remote wilderness seen only by backpackers willing to hike into the backcountry for multiple days. Nonetheless, you can reach some of the best scenery in America’s 10th national park on dayhikes.
This story describes the 10 best dayhikes in Glacier, from popular hikes like Grinnell Glacier, the Highline Trail, Iceberg Lake, and Hidden Lake Overlook to some trails and mountain passes you may not have heard of but which reach areas of this iconic national park that are just as mind-blowing as the popular hikes—but not as busy.
I’ve created this list based on numerous trips dayhiking and backpacking all over the park for more than 30 years, including the 10 years I spent as a field editor for Backpacker magazine and even longer running this blog. Use this story as your guide and you will see the best of Glacier that’s accessible on a moderate to full day on foot.
Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Click here for my e-guides to classic backpacking trips. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip.
Key planning step: To drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road between 6am and 5pm or to drive into the park’s North Fork area via the Polebridge entrance between 6am and 6pm, from May 27, 2022, through Sept. 11, 2022, you must purchase a timed ticket at recreation.gov/timed-entry/10087086. See more info at nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/gtsrticketedentry.htm. This is separate from a park entrance pass, which can be purchased at the park or before you arrive there at recreation.gov/sitepass/74280. The park’s free shuttle buses along the Going-to-the-Sun Road provide access to several trailheads. See nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm.
See also “The 7 Best Long Hikes in Glacier National Park” and all stories about backpacking in Glacier at The Big Outside.
Please share your thoughts or questions about any of these hikes or your own favorites in Glacier in the comments section at the bottom of this story. I try to respond to all comments.
The Highline Trail
To Haystack Pass, 6.9 miles round-trip, about 500 feet both uphill and downhill.
To The Loop, 11.6 miles, 800 feet uphill, 3,000 feet downhill.
To The Loop, including the Garden Wall Trail, 13.4 miles, 1,700 feet uphill, 3,900 feet downhill.
The Highline Trail has a well-deserved reputation as one of the premier trails in Glacier as well as one of the best dayhikes in the entire National Park System. Staying above treeline, you’ll walk below the sheer cliffs of the miles-long Garden Wall, drinking up uninterrupted panoramas of Glacier’s severe topography. Sightings of mountain goats and other wildlife are common on the Highline—I’ve seen goats and bighorn sheep along it and once missed an encounter with a grizzly bear by minutes.
There are various options for hiking the Highline north from Logan Pass on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Many hikers venture a scenic mile or two out and turn around at will. Haystack Pass represents a good turnaround point for a moderate, nearly seven-mile out-and-back hike, with only about 500 feet of uphill and downhill.
You can also make a one-way, 11.6-mile hike from Logan Pass to the next shuttle stop west of Logan Pass on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, The Loop, that’s much more downhill than uphill. That traverse brings you through Granite Park, where you can add two miles round-trip by walking up to Swiftcurrent Pass for a view down into the Swiftcurrent Valley to the Many Glacier area.
You can also add the breathtaking—in many ways—side hike to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook. About 6.7 miles from Logan Pass, you’ll reach the Highline’s junction with the Garden Wall Trail, a relentlessly steep and strenuous, 0.9-mile (one-way), 900-vertical-foot path that leads to a notch at 7,500 feet in the Garden Wall, with a heart-stopping view from high above the Grinnell Glacier and the Many Glacier valley as well as the side valley leading to Piegan Pass.
Find your next adventure in your Inbox. Sign up now for my FREE email newsletter.
Grinnell Glacier
7.6 miles or 11 miles round-trip, 1,800 feet both uphill and downhill.
One of the most popular dayhikes in Glacier, for good reasons, the trek to Grinnell Glacier above the Many Glacier area involves a moderate amount of uphill and rewards you with sweeping views along much of the trail of the lake-filled Swiftcurrent Creek Valley, three glaciers, and the jagged cliffs of the Garden Wall. The trail ends at the glacial lake at the toe of the Grinnell Glacier—which, like glaciers all over the park, has shrunken significantly over the past century. Nonetheless, this hike provides the easiest access to the very edge of a glacier anywhere in the park.
If starting from the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead in Many Glacier, a half-mile west of the turnoff for the Many Glacier Hotel, the out-and-back hike is 11 miles, much of the trail ascending at a moderate grade. Cut 3.4 miles off the hike by taking the two short boat shuttles (about 20 minutes combined in each direction, there’s a fee) from the Many Glacier Hotel across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine, with a quarter-mile walk on a trail through forest between the lakes.
Plan your next great backpacking adventure in Glacier and other parks using my expert e-guides.
St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls
3.6 miles, about 500 feet both uphill and downhill.
Two of the best and easiest-to-reach waterfalls in the park, St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls can be combined on an out-and-back hike that also delivers great views of long, narrow St. Mary Lake, flanked to the north and south by mountains rising thousands of feet above its often-windblown waters.
Begin at either the St. Mary Falls shuttle stop on the Going-to-the-Sun Road or the St. Mary Falls Trailhead a quarter-mile east of the shuttle stop on the Sun Road (adding two-thirds of a mile to the round-trip hike)—where there’s limited parking, so arrive early. From the shuttle stop, follow the St. Mary Falls Cutoff Trail downhill for a quarter-mile to a couple of trail junctions coming in rapid succession, first bearing right and then left.
At 1.2 miles from the shuttle stop, St. Mary Falls plunges about 35 feet in three tiers through a narrow gorge. Continue beyond it another 0.6 mile uphill on the St. Mary Trail/Continental Divide Trail, passing another long, unnamed cascade, and turn right onto the Virginia Falls Viewpoint Trail, within minutes reaching the base of the 50-foot main drop of Virginia Falls, which continues down through a small flume in rock and a lower cascade. Then backtrack to the shuttle stop.
Hidden Lake
3 miles, 550 feet both uphill and downhill.
Hidden Lake is the classic, short hike in Glacier with a huge payoff for little effort, with constant, five-star scenery and likely mountain goats sightings. From behind the visitor center at Logan Pass, follow the gently rising Hidden Lake Nature Trail leading southwest across the wildflower meadows known as the Hanging Gardens, with a 360-degree panorama of rugged mountains.
At 1.5 miles from the visitor center, you’ll reach the overlook of Hidden Lake, nestled in a deep cirque surrounded by the steep-walled peaks Clements, Reynolds, Dragon’s Tail, and Bearhat. Dress for weather—wind often blows across this high, exposed terrain. Hidden Lake Overlook is extremely popular: Get an early start to beat the crowds and—if you’re driving to Logan Pass rather than taking the shuttle bus—to ensure you find parking because that lot fills virtually every morning.
I can help you plan the best backpacking, hiking, or family adventure of your life.
Click here now to learn more.
Piegan Pass
9.2 miles, about 1,800 feet both uphill and downhill.
One of the classic mountain passes of Glacier National Park, Piegan will make you stop in your tracks and look around in disbelief. Hiking it from Siyeh Bend—the first stop east of Logan Pass on the Going-to-the-Sun Road—you begin along Siyeh Creek, enter forest, and a mile from the trailhead, turn left (north) onto the Piegan Pass Trail, part of the Continental Divide Trail. Less than two miles farther, turn left again at the Siyeh Pass Trail junction, soon emerging from forest.
The trail then rises at an easy angle toward Piegan Pass, already in view, as are the Garden Wall, the Piegan Glacier and 9,220-foot Piegan Mountain just across the valley to the west, and farther to the south, the Jackson and Blackfoot glaciers, the latter the park’s largest (though shrinking, like all the park’s glaciers). Reaching the pass, at 7,560 feet, you’ll get a better view of the Garden Wall, but continue a short distance beyond the pass for broader views down the valley of Cataract Creek toward the Many Glacier area.
If you’ve used the park shuttle bus, you can extend this hike to nearly 14 miles by turning onto the Siyeh Pass Trail on your return to cross beautiful Preston Park and Siyeh Pass at over 7,900 feet and make a long descent of about 3,400 feet to the Sunrift Gorge shuttle stop on St. Mary Lake.
Read all of this story, including my picks for the other best hikes in Glacier, and ALL stories at The Big Outside, plus get a FREE e-guide. Join now!
Iceberg Lake
9.7 miles, about 1,300 feet both uphill and downhill.
Iceberg Lake, tucked in beneath towering cliffs in one of the most-visited and dramatic cirques in the park, is a popular hike with a moderate amount of up and down relative to its distance—not as hard as the distance might imply. Grizzly sightings are common in this area—I’ve seen them twice, including one that hikers watched from a distance for at least 30 minutes as it sat patiently at the bottom of cliffs across the lake, gazing up at a mountain goat out of reach on a ledge above it. In fact, the park sometimes closes trails in the Many Glacier area due to concern about bear activity.
Start at the Iceberg Lake/Ptarmigan Tunnel Trailhead behind the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn in Many Glacier. The trail initially crosses open meadows with views of Mount Wilbur and the Ptarmigan Wall in the distance, then enters pine forest. About 2.5 miles from the trailhead, the trail reaches an overlook of Ptarmigan Falls and a clearing with rocks, then the trail junction where you’ll bear left for Iceberg Lake. The trailhead parking lot often fills early; you may have to park in front of the Swiftcurrent Inn and walk a quarter-mile to the trailhead.
Gear up right for hikes in Glacier.
See the best hiking shoes and the 10 best hiking daypacks.
See nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/hikingthetrails.htm for more information on hiking in Glacier and all stories about Glacier National Park at The Big Outside.
Let The Big Outside help you find the best adventures.
Join now for full access to ALL stories and get a free e-guide!
