Glacier National Park 2021 – Day 7 – Planes, Trains & Autos

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in Glacier National Park.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here ,Day 6 here & Day 8 here- Read my post on 101 Things to Do Outside of the Park, here – and to read my posts from last year on the West side of the park, click here.

Sadly, this was the day we had to check out of the Many Glacier hotel.

Since check out was at 11 am, we took our time so we could enjoy these views as long as possible!!

I’ll have to say, this is one of the best places we’ve ever stayed and I highly recommend you getting a room here if you ever find yourself visiting this incredible park!

Once again, we started our morning out with coffee on the balcony.

This time the hubby went down to the dining room and ordered breakfast and brought it back to the room so we could have our breakfast on the balcony.

I ordered the bacon, egg & cheese bagel again and the hubby ordered the breakfast burrito…both very good.

Someone had started out their morning kayaking…..you can rent canoes & kayaks at the hotel.

As we were having breakfast on the balcony, we overheard someone say there was a black bear and her cub on the mountainside next to the hotel.

So, I pulled out my canon camera and was able to spot them…

This area of the park has a high concentration of bears so always have bear spray!

I also spotted this beautiful duck in the Swiftcurrent Lake..

Click here to read about the birds in Glacier

We took a few more shots on the balcony before we checked out.

One last shot of that awesome view from the parking lot!

Today, we had planned to drive the Going to the Sun Road back to the West side because we were spending our last night in the park back at Apgar Village Inn.

As we were driving along the Many Glacier Road, we spotted several grizzlies on the right side of the road across the lake…

They are in this area often so make sure you have a good zoom lens camera or binoculars to be able to spot them.

We pulled over to take a picture of the scenery and I spotted several birds perched in a tree..

On the way to the Sun Rd, we passed the Leaning Tree Cafe & Campground & the Two Sisters Cafe...two popular restaurants on the East side.

We also passed the Lodgepole Tipi Village Campground where you can rent a Tipi.

We stopped for gas at St Mary Village and I noticed another place you can rent from if you can’t find availability at Many Glacier or St Mary..it was called The Cottages. They rent out 6 cabins that are 2 bedrooms & 1 bath and they are right outside the East entrance.

Entering into the East side of the park..

Glacier is the most beautiful park we have visited in the US. We also loved Yellowstone & the Tetons but Glacier is our favorite so far!

Read my blog on Yellowstone & the Teton National Park here

Shots along the way…

The smoke in the park was really bad so my pictures were not the best.

Once we neared the Rising Sun area, we spotted a black bear eating berries near the road!

We also spotted a Clark’s Nutcracker in a nearby tree..

We didn’t plan for many stops today since we’ve driven the Sun Rd several times and have made most of the stops.

Click here for 23 best stops along the Going to the Sun Rd

Shots along the Sun Rd

We made another stop at the Wild Goose Island Overlook...this is definitely one of my favorite stops along the Sun Rd!

After this stop, we continued our drive..

We made another stop at the St Mary Overlook..

The views here are incredible!

We spotted a cute little chipmunk at this stop…

After leaving here, we made a stop at the Sun Point Overlook...you can access this overlook by taking a short 0.2 mile trail located near the parking lot.

The views here are definitely worth a stop!

Tip: You can also access Baring Falls, St Mary Falls & Virginia Falls from this trail. It’s 4.7 mi round trip.

After this stop, we made a stop at the Sunrift Gorge. This was our first time stopping here so we weren’t sure what we would see.

The gorge was created by glacial melt off….over time the creek’s continual flows carved a narrow channel in the fractured bedrock, creating the gorge.

Also located here is one of Glacier’s most beautiful examples of architecture on the Sun Rd, the Baring Creek Bridge.

Built in 1931, the bridge is 190 ft in length with a 72 ft arch spanning Baring Creek.

Tip: You can access Baring Falls (0.6 mi r/t), St Mary Falls (3.8 mi r/t) & Virginia Falls (5.2 mi r/t) from this stop. You can also hike to Siyeh Pass (11.2 mi r/t) from this stop.

After this stop, we continued our drive along the Sun Rd.

Approaching the 1st Tunnel...

Shots along the way…

If you zoom in on this picture, you can spot hikers hiking the very popular Highline trail above the Sun Rd

After driving for a while, we made a quick stop at Red Rock Point.

This stop is located 13 mi from the West Entrance….it’s a great place for a picnic…there’s also a huge pool of calm, clear water that would be great for swimming!

After this stop, we made another quick stop at the Sacred Dancing Cascade

As we continued our drive along the Sun Rd, we spotted a deer on the side of the road.

After spending about 4 hrs driving the road, we finally arrived to the Apgar Village Inn.

Tip: If you can’t get reservations at the Village Inn, try the Apgar Village Lodge & Cabins which sit right behind the Village Inn

After checking into our room, we headed over to Eddie’s Cafe for dinner.

Eddie’s is a family owned & operated restaurant and has been opened in the park for 60 yrs….they serve breakfast, lunch & dinner. They also own & operate a grocery store in the park.

I ordered the bacon chicken wrap and the hubby ordered a burger…..both were really good.