9 Adventurous Things to do Near Glacier National Park, Montana

Glacier National Park is one of the most popular parks in the National Park Service, yet those visitors who aren’t lucky unbearable to score either a hotel reservation inside the park and/or vehicle reservations to momentum Going-to-the-Sun Road might find themselves frustrated with limited wangle to the park. But don’t despair, plane if your time within the park is limited, there are plenty of fun and venturesome things to do near Glacier National Park. Without all, eyeful and nature don’t stop at the park borders!

When I visited Montana last fall, I only spent one day exploring the park, but then enjoyed a week doing other activities near Glacier National Park. Visiting GNP can be an exercise in patience dealing with full parking lots, bumper-to-bumper traffic, waiting in lines, and crowded hiking trails — not at all what people are looking for in an “outdoorsy” vacation. (See my tips for visiting Glacier National Park in September!)

Don’t fret! Go to Glacier, tick the box, stamp the passport, buy the t-shirt, see the highlights and scenic drives…then move on to all the things to do outside of Glacier National Park.

Where to Stay Near Glacier national Park

Note: My trip to northwest Montana was sponsored by Glacier Country Tourism, but all opinions are my own. I moreover visited Glacier National Park as a guest of Pursuit Glacier Park Collection to review these hotels. This post contains unite links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission.

Before we get to all the things to do virtually Glacier National Park, let’s first icon out where to stay near Glacier National Park, expressly since getting reservations inside of the park requires some serious whop planning and lots of driving to get from one section of the park to the other.

If you are going to be visiting many of the attractions and activities near Glacier National Park, you will be largest off staying west of the park, in West Glacier or the surrounding areas, as many of the things to do near Glacier National Park are largest accessed from the areas west of the park.

Belton Chalet, West Glacier

The Belton Chalet sits just outside of the West Glacier park entrance, within a short walk to West Glacier Village and the shopping, restaurants, and activities offered there. It is the first of the iconic lodges built by the Unconfined Northern Railroad as an effort to bring tourism to the area, opening its doors in the summer of 1910.

This Swiss-style chalet offers 25 rooms and suites in the lodge, withal with two, three-bedroom cabins, which are perfect for families. With its location and size, rooms typesetting up fast so it is weightier to try to make your reservation when they unshut up 13 months in advance. The cozy rooms full-length queen beds and small bathrooms, with a mannerly decor fitting for this historic property.

On-site, you can moreover enjoy the lobby fireplace, downstairs recreation room with games, including shuffleboard and ping pong, and fill up on a succulent dinner at the Belton Chalet Tap Room. This is a perfect nomination for exploring Glacier National Park and the Flathead Lake River and National Forest.

Whitefish & Kalispell

There are plenty of other options west of the park, including glamping resorts like Under Canvas, but if you are looking for a longer stay without spending a couple of days in the park, I’d recommend sticking to one of the larger towns, which moreover offer increasingly suavities and services. Grouse Mountain Lodge is a popular choice, offering spectacular mountain views, recreation options, and modern lodge accommodations, all within striking loftiness of the mannerly ski-town of Whitefish.

Staying in Kalispell to the southwest of Glacier will provide increasingly upkeep options as there are a number of uniting hotels just outside of the downtown. Plus, while there are unconfined restaurants and breweries in town, the zone by the highway and hotels moreover has superstores, uniting restaurants, and fast food/fast unstudied options. When I visited, I stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Kalispell, which was quite user-friendly and nice.

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Things to do Near Glacier National Park

After visiting Glacier National Park, some people like to throne north wideness the verge into neighboring Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada to stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel, or they throne up to the Canadian Rockies to see Banff and Jasper. However, there are plenty of things to do near Glacier National Park right in Montana – no passport required!

Here are a few of the things to do outside of Glacier National Park that will requite you that outdoor vacation and venture you are seeking.

Llama trekking

Drive an hour south of West Glacier for one of the most unique outdoor experiences you will overly have — trekking with llamas. Without all, who wants to go for a regular hike when you can go on a hike with llamas? Swan Mountain Outfitters will introduce you to your llama for the journey and a professional guide will take you into the Flathead National Forest to enjoy a picnic lunch by a waterfall.

You don’t need to worry well-nigh a thing on this family-friendly trek as the guide packs the lunch and the llamas siphon it for you. Or, you can opt for a shorter, adults-only afternoon trek with wine. The llamas are so awkwardly cute that it is untellable not to smile. Highly recommend this worriedness for anyone that needs a good mental health break.

Kayaking or paddleboarding

There are many rivers and lakes to enjoy in Northwest Montana outside of the famous ones in Glacier National Park (e.g. Lake McDonald, St. Mary Lake, Avalanche Lake or Hidden Lake.) You can enjoy kayaking or paddle boarding on Whitefish Lake, fly fishing on Flathead River, and voyage on the immense Flathead Lake.

One of the increasingly unique and relaxing ways to get out on the water is to paddle the Clearwater River Canoe Trail. Located on the shore of Seeley Lake and surrounded by Lolo National Forest, Tamaracks Resort provides equipment rental and a shuttle service to enjoy a lazy, three-hour scenic bladder lanugo the Clearwater River Trail. Withal the way, you may see wildlife withal the river including turtles, fish, birds, and maybe plane a moose. 

Sunset Trip on Flathead Lake

Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Montana, and in all of the Western U.S. by surface area, if you exclude Alaska. It is over 27 miles long and 15 miles wide at the widest point. It averages 164 feet in depth, but it can get up to 370 feet deep. It is moreover one of the clearest lakes in the United States. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, withal with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, who manage the lake work nonflexible to ensure it stays well-spoken and wipe by inspecting all watercraft for invasive species.

With a multitude of coves carved into an irregular coastline and multiple islands in the lake, it is weightier to explore Flathead Lake by boat. Flathead Lake Charters offers half or full-day fishing charters, where you can fish for lake trout, pike, yellow perch, whitefish, rainbow trout, bass, kokanee salmon, and some manful trout. If you don’t want to go fishing, Discover Flathead Lake offers private scenic wend tours of many of the trappy coves withal the lake, with a stop on Wildhorse Island for a hike.

However, an evening sunset trip to watch the colorful glow on the Mission Mountains as you explore the shoreline and cliffside views of Rocky Point and the Flathead River is a trip highlight when visiting Glacier Country. Bring your own drinks and snacks and sit when and soak up the natural beauty.

While you are exploring Flathead Lake, be sure to spend some time in the darling little town of Big Fork. This charming, ungifted town feels like it could be in a Hallmark movie, with cute boutiques, galleries, and cafes.

Hike Through the Cedars

Couldn’t get a parking spot at the trailhead for the Trail of the Cedars in Glacier National Park? That’s ok. You can walk through a giant cedar grove at Ross Creek Cedars Scenic Area in Libby, Montana. It is a long momentum to get there but one of the fun things to do outside of Glacier National Park is to take a scenic momentum through trappy Montana anyway (plus you can visit some waterfalls withal the way).

Ross Creek Cedars Scenic Zone is a grove of western red cedars with an interpretive walking trail well-nigh a mile long. Some of the trees are up to 400 years old and reach eight feet in diameter. The scenic zone is off of Highway 56, up a four-mile long wangle road that winds up and virtually to the parking lot.

The trail takes well-nigh one hour to explore if you stop and read the intepretative signs that explains the area’s monitoring and history.

Chase Waterfalls

There are many waterfalls in Glacier National Park, such as Virginia Falls and Saint Mary Falls, but you can moreover find trappy waterfalls wideness Northwest Montana. Columbia Mountain Trail, which is not far from the park, has three waterfalls withal the trail.

Also, well-nigh two-and-a-half hours from the park, on your way to Ross Creek Cedar Trail, you will find Kootenai Falls, one of the largest free-flowing waterfalls in the Northwest. The falls zone is a sacred site to the Kootenai people and it was once a place where tribal members communed with spiritual forces. Today, you can follow walking trails lanugo to the river’s whet and withal the falls.

This is a lovely spot for a picnic or you can stop in the town of Libby for lunch at Cabinet Mountain Brewery first. There is increasingly to do than just enjoy the waterfalls though. A nice, fairly easy hike, with trappy views will bring you to the Kootenai Suspension Bridge. This uproarious but sturdy underpass offers a variegated perspective of the rapidly flowing river and brings you to other trappy overlooks withal the opposite bank.

Zipline and Venture Course

If you are looking for venture a little closer to Glacier National Park, the Glacier Highline is the perfect spot to bring the family. This venture park offers over 50 variegated highline and ropes undertow activities. There are ziplines, a treetop venture course, waddle climbing wall, Tarzan swing, and plane an inflatable obstacle undertow and waterslide.

Whitefish Mountain Resort moreover offers ziplining, an tall slide, a treetop venture course, and plane tubing in the summer! For those not quite so thrill-seeking, the resort offers scenic chair lift rides and hiking trails to enjoy, all only one hour from Glacier National Park.

Whitewater Rafting

If you are looking for thrills, try white water rafting withal Class II – III rapids on the Flathead River. The Glacier Raft Company offers half, full, and multi-day rafting trips on the scenic Middle and North Fork of the Flathead River. These areas are within the Flathead Wild and Scenic River designation and are jointly managed by Glacier National Park and the Flathead National Forest. 

If you aren’t sure if you are ready for the thrill of the rapids, there are moreover scenic bladder options that let you glide withal and fathom the trappy scenery without drumming up your adrenaline. Glacier Raft Company is conveniently located right in West Glacier Village, but other rafting companies moreover operate nearby including Glacier Guides, Montana Raft Company, and Unconfined Northern Resort. Just alimony in mind that reservations are required and later in the season, the water may be too low or slow for rafting.

See Wildlife

Many people visit Glacier National Park hoping to see wildlife (just hopefully no tropical encounters with grizzly bears), which is why you should unchangingly be prepared with withstand spray and recreate responsibly. However, if you leave Glacier National Park without spotting any wild creatures, don’t worry. The Park isn’t a zoo and the wild animals wander throughout the state. You may just encounter a withstand checking out the picnic zone of a town park (true story — happened to us in Big Fork but luckily it was just a woebegone bear.)

I would be surprised if you spent any length of time near Glacier National Park and didn’t encounter at least some deer or elk withal your drives, which is why you unchangingly need to stay alert, expressly when driving at night.

However, if you want a near guarantee of spying wildlife, momentum two hours south of Glacier National Park to visit the Bison Range. The Bison Range, which has been restored to federal trust ownership for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), is home to 350 sultana bison. The Bison Range is a pay-to-enter, fee-use zone that features a visitor part-way and a 24-mile scenic loop.

Visitors should plan on taking a few hours to momentum the one-way loop, but if you have less time, you can momentum a lower section of the loop surpassing turning when when it switches to one-way only. In wing to bison, there are also elk, white-tail and mule deer, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep and woebegone bear, withal with over 200 species of birds in the reserve.

Go Mountain Biking

There are many wanderlust trails near Glacier National Park, including the 10.5 mile paved Gateway-to-Glacier Trail that runs from Hungry Horse to West Glacier and the Whitefish trail for whence and intermediate mountain bikers. Glacier Guide offers velocipede rentals for those wishing to velocipede Going-to-the-Sun Road, including e-bikes, and plane provides guided wanderlust trips.

For something increasingly challenging, Whitefish Mountain Resort offers downhill mountain wanderlust with two lifts and over 25 miles of downhill trails from beginner to expert.

With so many things to do near Glacier National Park, you will not get bored. Just pack your bug spray, sun screen, hiking boots, comfy clothes, water snifter and buy some withstand spray and get ready for adventure.

Visiting Montana? Read More:

• 5 Venturesome weekend getaways in Montana
• Reasons to plan a family dude ranch vacation
• Places you must see in Yellowstone National Park
• 21 Tips for visiting Yellowstone National Park with kids

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