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My wife and I are planning a vacation with the kids to GNP in July does anyone have recommendations for east entrance lodging in the St. Mary or Babb area? Suggestions welcomed!


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Better hope the Indians open it up by then. As for now the east side still closed.


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TN deer hunter: I have been visiting Glacier National Park and its surrounding areas for decades now.
My advice, for the safety of you and your family, is to NOT stay in East Glacier, Browning or St. Mary.
The reasons (my reasons!) would possibly be considered "racist" by some - so I will NOT elaborate on them (the danger) here.
I have toured Glacier so many times and have done hiking and camping in the back country along with jet helicopter tours (which I HIGHLY recommend!) along with the wonderful drive tours.
Stay in West Glacier, Kalispell or Whitefish.
I do recommend that you DRIVE through East Galcier and St. Mary during the day - and the south approach around the Park to those areas is very scenic and serene.
I recommend that.
I have a picture I took last September (Glaciers most beautiful month?) that I can E-mail you that I took just south of St. Mary looking west that is one of the most outstanding pictures I have ever taken!
In the past I would have highly recommended you also tour the Moiese Bison Range south of Glacier but since the Federal Governement turned it over to "indian control" several years back it has been destroyed.
This was a stunning place to go on an auto tour to view Bison, Elk, Bear, Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, Antelope and Whitetailed Deer - at one time I even got pictures of Mt. Goat there - the last time I was there (2 years ago) I saw NO Mule Deer, NO Elk, NO Antelope, NO Bighorn Sheep, NO Whitetailed Deer and was accosted at the gate/entrance by a family of drinking and drunken indians selling "Elk jerky" at a roadside stand!
Again my advice - do not be in or travelling through the Browning, East Glacier or St Mary areas in the early evening or at night.
Hold into the wind
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I will be there the month before you

I have rented a condo in Whitefish thru VRBO. I got a 2 bedroom/1 bath for I think $170 a night and its 1 block of the main street in Whitefish.

After reading about Whitefish, it sounds like a cool place but I'm actually leaning toward canceling my reservation and going to Kalispell. Just sounds like I'd fit in better there.

I thought about trying to get close to the park entrance, but I'd rather be walking distance to coffee shops , restaurants, etc and then drive to where I want to hike. I figured wherever I go in the park its going to still be fairly long drive from the entrance.

Last edited by KFWA; 01/18/21.

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Originally Posted by KFWA
I will be there the month before you

I have rented a condo in Whitefish thru VRBO. I got a 2 bedroom/1 bath for I think $170 a night and its 1 block of the main street in Whitefish.

After reading about Whitefish, it sounds like a cool place but I'm actually leaning toward canceling my reservation and going to Kalispell. Just sounds like I'd fit in better there.

I thought about trying to get close to the park entrance, but I'd rather be walking distance to coffee shops , restaurants, etc and then drive to where I want to hike. I figured wherever I go in the park its going to still be fairly long drive from the entrance.


Anything you can do to not spend money in WF is a good thing. Fugk that town. Honestly, what it sounds like your after your reservations are about ideal. Your a tourist, you'll fit in fine. But that town defines covtard.

Originally Posted by VarmintGuy
TN deer hunter: I have been visiting Glacier National Park and its surrounding areas for decades now.
My advice, for the safety of you and your family, is to NOT stay in East Glacier, Browning or St. Mary.
The reasons (my reasons!) would possibly be considered "racist" by some - so I will NOT elaborate on them (the danger) here.
I have toured Glacier so many times and have done hiking and camping in the back country along with jet helicopter tours (which I HIGHLY recommend!) along with the wonderful drive tours.
Stay in West Glacier, Kalispell or Whitefish.
I do recommend that you DRIVE through East Galcier and St. Mary during the day - and the south approach around the Park to those areas is very scenic and serene.
I recommend that.
I have a picture I took last September (Glaciers most beautiful month?) that I can E-mail you that I took just south of St. Mary looking west that is one of the most outstanding pictures I have ever taken!
In the past I would have highly recommended you also tour the Moiese Bison Range south of Glacier but since the Federal Governement turned it over to "indian control" several years back it has been destroyed.
This was a stunning place to go on an auto tour to view Bison, Elk, Bear, Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, Antelope and Whitetailed Deer - at one time I even got pictures of Mt. Goat there - the last time I was there (2 years ago) I saw NO Mule Deer, NO Elk, NO Antelope, NO Bighorn Sheep, NO Whitetailed Deer and was accosted at the gate/entrance by a family of drinking and drunken indians selling "Elk jerky" at a roadside stand!
Again my advice - do not be in or travelling through the Browning, East Glacier or St Mary areas in the early evening or at night.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy


It's not that damned bad, sheesh. When the sovereign nation of proud people don't have it locked down, many thousands of people go in and recreate that side of the park every year just fine.


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KFWA: Good thinking there - everything in Montana is FAR!
Lesson I learned more than half a century ago.
I have high mileage comfortable cars to rely on to cope with this.
And if you can at all afford to do so the helicopter tours over Glacier Park ARE a life changing event!
Enjoy.
Hold into the wind
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Billygoatgruff: You just go right ahead and drive your family around Browning, St Mary and East Glacier every evening all summer long if you care to.
I won't risk my or my families life, limb and safety by doing so.
Are you new to the area?
Hold into the wind
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I had a pretty good retort typed, but I don't want to sully the OP's thread.

VarmintGuy it is far safer if you just stay in the nursing home.

To the OP, question gets asked on here about Glacier every year. Here are a couple threads that might give you some good reference info. Search functions sucks on here, but if your google-fu is better than mine you'll dig up more.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/14909005/1

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/14993994/1


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This might be a dumb question about my rental car. At the moment I'm just getting a standard car like an Impala.

Going in mid June and planning on hiking almost exclusively. Should I be concerned about getting to trailheads in the park? Getting an AWD SUV will set me back another $200 for the week but I'd do it if its what you need to get around.


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If you want to hike anywhere but the park I'd spring for the SUV if it were me. If all you're staying in the park then you'll be fine.


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Look up Traveler’s Rest Lodge. Some nice little cabins just outside of East Glacier. My wife and I spent a night there years ago. We were through a couple summers ago and they still look nice.

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GNP got hit so hard last summer there were 3-4 hour waits at the entrance. It was fugging full on retarded. East side of fine, just don’t stay in Browning.


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We rented a nice small house near West Glacier outside of Hungry Horse from a VRBO. It was a fantastic trip. Drove all over the place. Don't forget Moose's Saloon in Kalispell!! Polebridge too. And of course Going To The Sun Road. We drove through Browning on the way to Two Medicine. Take the boat ride there!

You can Google up my old thread when I asked the same question. Flave suggested we stay in Browning. I had no idea why. whistle

Last edited by Sakoluvr; 01/18/21.

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You might look for lodging in Hungry Horse.

It's a nice little town.

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Originally Posted by Stormin_Norman
GNP got hit so hard last summer there were 3-4 hour waits at the entrance. It was fugging full on retarded. East side of fine, just don’t stay in Browning.


phuuugggggggg

I don't wanna hear that


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We went last July, drove our Suburban and stayed in a super nice cabin just outside the entrance at something called Glacier Raft Company or something like that. It was fantastic, convenient, easy to get around and easier to get in the park. We had a great time in Glacier and were glad we went. No real waits in our experience. We did not get to the east side, the road was closed east of Going to the Sun, so I can't comment on that. I would stay closer not farther from the gate, myself. We were glad to have the Suburban for the entire trip. Its safer, easier to drive and more ground clearance than a car. The roads on the west side going north felt better in the Sub.

Finally, people from the East generally do not understand distances in the West, you might or might not, but it's common. Things look close on a map but they are not so close. Just trying to help. Vacation time is expensive, too. It doesn't have a price, but its expensive.

Last edited by BKinSD; 01/18/21.

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Originally Posted by KFWA
This might be a dumb question about my rental car. At the moment I'm just getting a standard car like an Impala.

Going in mid June and planning on hiking almost exclusively. Should I be concerned about getting to trailheads in the park? Getting an AWD SUV will set me back another $200 for the week but I'd do it if its what you need to get around.



Take notes

If you want to do polebridge and the lakes in that area, spotted bear ranger station, etc(highly recommend), I would get a SUV. It's dirt/gravel and can get snotty if it rains. Polebridge is a off grid hippy community that has the best huckleberry bear claws on the planet. And make sure you have a spare tire since there is no cell phone service in most places outside town. Whitefish is setup for tourists, it will have everything and a good selection of restaurants close. Plan on very early morning plans because things get crowded and closed around the park. I would hit "going to the sun" at 5 AM, and be done with that part.

The good part is there is tons to do close without dealing with a crowd. There are some cool trails on HWY 2 without much of a crowd. There is a public gold panning area about 90 minutes west of Kalispell if you have never done it and it's free, hundreds of lakes around, you can run up the north fork 20 miles past polebridge to the border ( Numa peak is amazing), fish grayling at red meadow lake, etc. Tuesday is rodeo night at the blue moon bar in Columbia falls, fights start at 11 PM after the rodeo in the bar. Find a guided trip to wild horse island on the south end of flathead lake, it's full of wild horses and bighorn sheep. Spend the money to float the north fork (fish or raft), you won't regret it.

Machine guns MT, and sportsman ski haus are cool gun shops in town.


Last edited by Stormin_Norman; 01/18/21.

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Last time I was at Polebridge I got there in a 1978 VW Rabbit.

Don't ask that hippie woman running Polebridge Mercantile if the gas pump has any gas in it. For some reason it makes her pitch a fit.

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Originally Posted by TN deer hunter
My wife and I are planning a vacation with the kids to GNP in July does anyone have recommendations for east entrance lodging in the St. Mary or Babb area? Suggestions welcomed!



It's close enough, you won't regret it.

https://izaakwaltoninn.com/

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