In August, me (Jonathan McGlynn), Jerry Wilburn and Gil Whisnant drove from Purdue to Glacier National Park in Jerry's Jeep, camped for five nights, hiked four trails, and came home with sunburns, 37 trail miles, two rolls of film and no bear stories, because we didn't see a single bear. We checked. This page is mostly so my mom stops asking to see the pictures, and partly for anybody planning the same trip. All three of us are seniors this year (me ME, Jerry civil, Gil ag engineering), so we figured it was now or get a job first.

THE PICTURES
Click for the big version. Taken on my point-and-shoot, two rolls of 24. Gil says he took about 300 more with his eyes.

Highline Trail, Monday. Left to right: me, Jerry, Gil. Note the cable. Note the drop. A guy from Ohio took this for us.	Going-to-the-Sun Road, Thursday. That stone wall is the only thing between you and the valley.
Mountain goat, Monday, about fifteen feet from the trail. He did not care about us at all.	Grinnell Glacier and its lake, Tuesday. The water really is that color. It's from rock ground up by the ice.
Camp at Many Glacier, Tuesday night. Gil's chili on the stove. Mountain in the back.	Gil soaking his feet on the way back from Iceberg Lake, Wednesday. He lasted about 40 seconds.

TRAIL LOG
Miles and climbs from the park map and the trail signs, round trip unless it says otherwise. Climb is total feet up.

How we did the Highline with one car: we left the Jeep at The Loop and hitched up to Logan Pass with a retired couple from Ohio in a pickup. Same couple took the picture of us on the cable, which I think makes them the MVPs of the trip.

DAY BY DAY

Sat 8/7. Left West Lafayette at 5 a.m. Chicago, Madison, the Twin Cities, Fargo, then north and onto U.S. 2. Motel in Minot at midnight, 1,065 miles. Three drivers, one tape deck, Gil's tapes. That's all I'll say.
Sun 8/8. Across the whole width of Montana on U.S. 2, which is a long way to see the mountains getting bigger. Into the park at St. Mary around 6 p.m. Campground at St. Mary.
Mon 8/9. Highline Trail. Goats. Hitchhiking. Dinner was two boxes of macaroni and cheese and a can of chili, mixed.
Tue 8/10. Up at 6 to get a site at Many Glacier (got the second-to-last one). Grinnell Glacier. Campfire talk.
Wed 8/11. Iceberg Lake. Gil's foot soak. Saw a moose in a pond by the road on the way back to camp.
Thu 8/12. Over Going-to-the-Sun Road east to west, stopping at every pullout. Avalanche Lake. Last night at a campground on the west side.
Fri 8/13 - Sat 8/14. Home around the south end of the park on U.S. 2, then the same way back. Jerry drove the last six hours straight because, quote, "you two drive like old ladies."

BEAR RULES
From the park newspaper, the rangers and the signs. I'm not a ranger. If you're going, read theirs.

1. Make noise. We wore bells on our packs. The rangers said talking and calling out at blind corners works better than bells, so we did both. Jerry sang. Bears stayed away. So did most other hikers.
2. Carry pepper spray where you can reach it, on your belt or pack strap, not in the bottom of your pack. Read the can before you need it. We each carried one and read them twice.
3. Food never goes in the tent. In the campgrounds, all food, the cooler, the dishes and even the toothpaste get locked in the car. On the trail it stays in your pack. At backcountry sites you hang it from the food poles. (We were car camping, but we read the rules.)
4. Cook and eat away from the tent, and clean up right away.
5. If you see a bear, don't run. Back away slowly. For the rest, ask a ranger. I'm not going to play one on the Internet.

Animals we did see: mountain goats (lots), bighorn sheep, a moose, deer, a marmot sunning on a rock like a fat old dog, and about a thousand ground squirrels. Bears: 0.

GEAR LIST
Starred items never got used. Next time they stay home.

GAS AND MILES
Jerry's Jeep: 1991 Cherokee, 160,000 miles going in, about 163,600 coming out. Split three ways.

That's 18.6 miles per gallon for the trip, which is about what a Cherokee with three guys and all that gear should get, and $79.77 each for gas. Campgrounds were $12 to $15 a night split three ways, and the motel in Minot was the most expensive night of the trip. Cheapest vacation any of us will ever take.

WHAT THE RANGER SAID ABOUT THE GLACIERS

At the campfire talk at Many Glacier on Tuesday night, the ranger told us that back around 1850 there were about 150 glaciers in what's now the park, and now there are about 50, and the ones that are left are a lot smaller than they used to be. She showed slides of old photographs of Grinnell Glacier next to new ones taken from the same spots, and the whole amphitheater got quiet. We had been standing at the edge of that ice that same afternoon, and in the old pictures it came way out past where we were standing. Her advice was to come see them while they're here. I'd pass that on.

Hikers on this trail since August 1999:


Going to Glacier? Questions about the trails or the drive:
[email protected]

Last updated September 19, 1999