Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Trip To Glacier National Park?

When we went up we hit Cody, Wyoming and Yellowstone for a couple of days and then headed up to Glacier. Both have their strong points, but given the length of the drive it was nice being able to hit both. And there's always the Buffalo Bill museum.. hate to miss that.

I rode a motorcycle from near Houston to Flathead Lake once, by way of Lewiston and Moscow ID. Was gonna go clear to Glacier NP but by then I'd already seen so much country I saved Glacier for the next time.

Flathead Lake was so clear I do believe you could drop a dime in the middle and watch it all the way down.

Camped once in the Little Missouri National Grasslands in ND, was pretty, might be on your way.

If you could swing, down by the Little Big Horn Battlefield coming or going.

Birdwatcher

Thanks. That's what I was wondering. If Yellowstone would be better that time of year?

Real good idea here.

That is probably the best time of the year to hit Yellowstone. The crowds will be minimal and I doubt the snowfall is going to keep you from seeing most of the popular schit down there.




Travis

Excellent. Thank your sir.

I've never been to either GNP or YNP, so ill take that too.

Yellowstone is great if you visit it any months besides July/August because of the crowds. I would also drop by cody and and hit the museum and the rodeo.

Talked about this before,...and it's been a long, long time since I was camping and hiking around Glacier National Park. But we selected a little village on the edge of the park named "Hungry Horse" to buy supplies, gasoline, and to do laundry.

It was a tiny little place back then,...didn't have much in the way of amenities, but it had a decent little grocery store and a gas station and it wasn't a dump.

You might find a good place to "hotel up" there, but you probably need to reserve it well in advance.

This page breaks it down enough to get a decent understanding of the place.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Hungry-Horse-Montana.html

Can't speak knowledgably about this place, but it looks like a pretty decent little motel.

http://www.hungryhorselodging.com/

Here's a page with a lot of info.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g45222-Hungry_Horse_Montana-Hotels.html

Tzone, you need to head to Yellowstone as others have said, 2nd week of June could be absolutely perfect.

The week the Kids got out of school we headed west, enough snow up high to keep all the critters at the low elevations,

Black Bears and Grizzlies eating green grass roadside.

We saw 28 bears, 16 blacks and 12 grizz, some where feet from the Tahoe.

Neighbors went that year in August, they saw zilch, most animals had headed high by then.

I've been to most of the Major Scenic attractions in North America,including Denali park, Yellowstone is my favorite.

Countless picnic areas in Yellowstone, pack the cooler with food and drink, avoid the tourist centers for food, waste of time...

You're gonna have a great time.

Last time I was in Yellowstone, it was a Winnebago parking lot.

Glacier National Park was the frontier.

GNP will be the Parking lot, as some of the roads will still be closed.

2nd week of June, that's the Key.

As suggested Camp at many Glaciers or I have stayed at Johnson's Campground in E Glacier.

I go every year first week of June to hike and fish the lakes on the Blackfoot reservation ( great trout fishing btw) and some of the rivers in the GNP.

And Browning is a an interesting town. I always make it a point to stop by grocery store there to do my shopping.

GNP hands down beats YNP IMO

All this talk about Glacier has got me to thinkin'.

It was in 1980 that I really looked the place over,...camped all out in the primitive areas and hiked the place like I can't do any more.

Anyway,...

We camped in this primitive campground on the edge of the Blackfeet Indian reservation out there.

No electricity, showers, or any of that stuff. It *did* have a water pump and one chemical toilet booth,....fairly high up,...about 8000 feet.

Wasn't too many people there,...and the one's who were wasn't very close. You pretty much staked out an area and had it to yourself.

Well,...not too long before dark an old Ford LTD pulled in,..all 4 doors opened and I thought Indians wasn't ever gonna stop crawlin' outta that damn thing. Most of 'em either had long braids or just long hair that was tied into a pony tail with a leather band.

They didn't really act bad. They were just there to party.

I hung out and tossed a Frisbee with 'em for a while.

Later that night me and the wife cooked up a dinner over a fire and the Indians built a big fire and sat around it in a circle,...got pretty drunk,...got kinda loud,..

I went on to bed when it was bedtime.

Next day the Park Ranger who was assigned to the campground came around talking to the folks. He wasn't much older than me and stayed in a very nice log cabin up the road.

He was all apologetic about the loud, drunk Indians. It wasn't an issue to me. I'm a hillbilly. I've done my share of layin' drunk around a campfire. In fact,...if I hadn't had the wife with me, I woulda probably ended up over there with them before the night was over.

But evidently, there was a lot of snivellers in the campground that complained about the drunk, loud, Indian situation in the campground.

I was pretty much all "National Geographic" about the situation. Here I was,...a young hillbilly boy up on top of a Rocky Mountain on the other end of the country,...and I encounter a herd of drunk ass Blackfeet Indians,

My thoughts on the matter was, "Oh,...so this is where the Indians around here come to party".

It never occurred to me to complain about it.

I was a stranger in a strange land,...and I didn't have no say in what went on there.

,...didn't really give a damn.

As I said,....I was a 23 year old hillbilly,....and I'm gonna complain about somebody gettin' drunk around a campfire and havin' a party?

,...not hardly.

It will the be the second week of June. [/quote]

Bad time to go IMO.



Travis [/quote]

I agree. Glacier's FaceBook page is still suggesting July 1. Hit Yellowstone instead. Save Glacier for when you can see it all.

Bob [/quote]

Thanks. That's what I was wondering. If Yellowstone would be better that time of year? [/quote]

I've done both places several times and I'd go Yellowstone that time of the year. We've had some great trips with numerous griz, wolves, and black bears sightings during that time frame.

I heard from some friends that did a short trip in the north section of YNP last week. They had very good access. Not much snow. Still getting down below freezing at night and up into the 60's during the day. Perfect! Lots of animals seen from the roadway. Not any bears for them. You should have better luck seeing some in mid-June. I would plan a lot of time in the Lamar Valley area if griz and wolf are what you're looking for. For sure make it over to Geyser Badin and see Old Faithful and the rest. You'll have a hell of a good time. Make sure that you don't try to see everything in a few days and end up staring thru the windshield the whole time. There's lots of good trails for hiking. Get a guide book while there. Enjoy the trip.

Bob