We did all of these stops with four boys, ages two, six, eight, and ten. We planned some of these in advance and we stumbled into others, but regardless, these are the ones we remember a month later. This is our Glacier article all about hikes and stops. If you’re looking for where-to-stay, check out that article here.
What Hiking in Glacier Actually Looks Like With a Toddler
We carried our two-year-old for about half of most hikes, and then he wanted to walk the rest of the way on his own. That is about as honest a summary as I can give you.
Like most two-year-olds, he is very opinionated, and for better or for worse, he wants to hike most things himself and really hates any type of carrier. For us that meant taking it slow at his pace, and carrying in our arms for short stretches when he needed it. It also meant some stretches in a carrier even though it wasn’t his favorite mode of transportation. And I highly recommend some toddler appropriate motivation, like lollipops, to offer periodically.
That being said, we didn’t aim for any super ambitious hikes. But thankfully Glacier National Park is full of accessible hikes that are breathtakingly beautiful, so we went with those that we figured we could manage.
- What Hiking in Glacier Actually Looks Like With a Toddler
- Swimming at Lake McDonald: The Fish Creek Access
- Lunch Creek: Super Easy Stop … For Lunch
- Logan Pass: Hidden Lake Overlook Trail With Kids To Find Snow
- Sun Point Nature Trail and Baring Falls (Saint Mary Lake)
- Many Glacier: Redrock Falls and the Bears on the Drive
- What We Skipped and Why
- On Our List for Next Time: Two Medicine and Running Eagle Falls
- Glacier National Park Visitor Centers: Free Stamps at Each One
- Junior Ranger Badges
Swimming at Lake McDonald: The Fish Creek Access
From Fish Creek Campground there is a swimming access to Lake McDonald that not everyone might think to use. The water is cold, but it is not as ice cold as it is when you put your feet in the water higher up in the mountains. Our kids did manage to dunk in fully, though the swim only lasted about twenty minutes.
There are public changing rooms and bathrooms at this access. They are camp-style in terms of cleanliness, but they are there, which makes this worth the stop even if you do not have a campsite inside the park. You can drive in, swim, change, and leave. But be prepared to be cold.
The sunsets right on this lake were some of the best we saw all trip.
Lunch Creek: Super Easy Stop … For Lunch
Lunch Creek was not on most maps we saw. There is a small parking lot that could probably fit ten cars and a sign marking the stop. We pulled over in the afternoon and it would have been a perfect place to actually have a picnic lunch.
From the parking lot it is just a few meters to the creek on the southern side of the road. It was the first time our boys took off their shoes and put their feet in absolutely ice cold glacier water, and the creek is small enough that you do not feel intimidated standing in it with little kids. A great place to sit down, enjoy a sandwich, and let them splash around before getting back in the car. The northern side of the road features an impressive cascade feature which would be fun to watch, but not to dip your toes into.
Logan Pass: Hidden Lake Overlook Trail With Kids To Find Snow
The Hidden Lake Overlook Trail starts right at the Logan Pass Visitor Center. You hike up behind the visitor center and the trail turns into a wooden boardwalk. Don’t be intimidated by the length of the hike all the way to the overlook. Our aim was to see some animals, take in the views, get to the big snowy area (in July) and then turn around.
The parking lot at Logan Pass is notoriously full, so we planned an evening hike after the visitor center closed but before sunset to avoid the crowds. In the summer, the Visitor Center closes at 7pm and sunset wasn’t until 9:30pm, so we started our hike right at 7pm and were back in the car just after 8pm. This time of day made it feel quieter and there was plenty of parking. We hiked (toddler paced) for about one hour total, including a hike up the boardwalk to the point where the trail hit snow. People were out there tubing, and our boys spent time enjoying the slush before we turned around.
Start earlier if you plan to complete the whole trail to Hidden Lake Overlook. We were not quite wearing the right shoes to get up the icy section to continue along the trail, and with a two-year-old in the group we were not really planning to get all the way to the top anyway. Plenty of other people were doing it in regular shoes, so it is doable.
Stopping at the snow line was more than enough and it was a bonus that this time of day all the local animals came out. On the short stretch we saw a pack of bighorn sheep, a marmot, mule deer, and mountain goats. Later in the afternoon is when most of the animals came out, so the evening timing worked in our favor.
Sun Point Nature Trail and Baring Falls (Saint Mary Lake)
This stop is on the east side of Going-to-the-Sun Road near Saint Mary entrance, past the major passes. We were driving east and hit this section in the afternoon. Park at the Sun Point Nature Trail lot where there is plenty of parking and some picnic tables (where we ate a late lunch).
The Sun Point overlook is just around the corner from the parking lot, only about 10 minutes from the car. The overlook atop a big rocky clearing offered a stunning view of Saint Mary Lake and the mountains and it was indeed beautiful enough to get married. We actually witnessed a wedding and a separate engagement photoshoot all during our 10 minutes at the lookout. Don’t worry, we found a spot on the other side of the area to enjoy our view without interrupting.
From Sun Point the trail hugs the shoreline of the lake and continues to Baring Falls, about 0.4 miles each direction. There is not much elevation change, which made it an easy hike for all our kids without much carrying our two-year-old. The falls are strong but the base is a great place to sit and put your feet in the water. We watched the chipmunks jump around for a while before heading back.
On the walk back we were following a deer almost the entire trail back to the parking lot. Don’t forget your bear spray. It felt like exactly the kind of terrain bears love.
One note: Jackson Glacier Overlook is along this stretch of road and it is the one spot where you can get a really great view of Jackson Glacier from the car. Worth a stop for a couple of minutes to see the glacier and snap a couple of pictures.
Many Glacier: Redrock Falls and the Bears on the Drive
The Many Glacier entrance is accessed from Babb. We found this entrance and the eastern Going-to-the-sun road entrance were not as hectic as the west entrance, and it is worth going into the Many Glacier entrance for a different set of trails.
We loved our hike here to Redrock Falls near Swiftcurrent Lake, about 1.5 miles each way. Park at the Many Glacier visitor center where there is plenty of parking. The hike itself was fairly flat and weaves through gorgeous terrain. We carried our two-year-old for about half the way and he walked the rest on his own. He happened to be in a mood this day, but nothing to do with the trail itself.
The boys loved climbing on the rocks and going barefoot in the water at the base. The waterfall is very strong, but the bottom of the falls is a great place to put your feet in the water and enjoy the red rocks.
Note that on the drive to the trailhead we saw bears, and in the afternoon on the drive back we saw different bears. Luckily we did not see any while we were actually hiking, which was probably the right order of things. It was absolutely a highlight of the day even before we started our hike.
If you are staying on the West side outside the park and aim to visit Many Glacier area, avoid the west entrance entirely and drive around the outside of the park. The drives both inside and outside the park are about 1.5 hours, however, the west entrance traffic can delay this much further. The day we went we instead drove around the outside of the park to Many Glacier first, and then drove back via Going-to-the-sun road west-bound, and didn’t wait for any park entrance that day.
What We Skipped and Why
Avalanche Creek
The parking lots for Avalanche Creek were always so full, and we did not want to go to an overcrowded trail. We drove past more than once and never found our window. It is talked about as one of the great hikes in the park, and I have no doubt it is. Go early if it is on your list and not trying to wrangle four kids into the car.
Boat Tours on the Lakes
Glacier has boat tours on Lake McDonald, Saint Mary Lake, Two Medicine Lake, and in Many Glacier across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine. The Many Glacier boats are the ones that get you closest to an actual glacier. You cross both lakes with a short walk between them and can hike from there toward Grinnell Glacier. Normally this hike to see Grinnell Glacier is 10 to 11 miles roundtrip, but the boats bring it down to 7.6 miles of hiking.
Check Glacier Park Boats directly for booking.
On Our List for Next Time: Two Medicine and Running Eagle Falls
Two Medicine is a separate section of the park in the south east with its own entrance and its own set of trails. Running Eagle Falls was recommended to us as a nice hike with little kids, but we didn’t manage to make it to this entrance, so it’s on our list for next time. The trail is only 0.6 miles roundtrip with almost no elevation, which makes it very doable with a toddler.
Glacier National Park Visitor Centers: Free Stamps at Each One
Glacier has three visitor centers: Apgar on the west side near the entrance, Logan Pass at the top of Going-to-the-Sun Road, and St. Mary near the east entrance. There are no visitors centers through the Many Glacier entrance. Hours shift from season to season, so check the current hours on the NPS site before you plan your stops.
Our kids loved collecting stamps at each one, and they are completely free inside the visitor center. Bring a blank piece of paper, a national park passport booklet, this passport which they sell inside the parks, or our boys put the stamps directly in their summer travel journals.
Junior Ranger Badges
The junior ranger program, available at National Parks and monuments, might just be our favorite thing. We knew this existed, but didn’t quite understand how it worked until we went on our national park tour this summer. The first step is to stop at a visitor center and pick up your kid’s junior ranger booklet. The program is best for ages 3+ but our 2-year-old participated (sort of) because he wanted to be like his brothers.
There are usually two booklets, and we found that all parks label them as different age ranges, but I would say ‘reader’ versus ‘non-reader’ was the distinction. Our kid turning 6 this summer would sometimes choose the simpler one and sometimes the more complex version. All parks vary, but they usually then ask kids to complete a certain number of pages during their visit to the park (i.e. if you are 8, you complete 8 pages).
Once you complete the booklet pages required, you can stop by any visitor center to have the rangers check your booklet (you do get to keep it), ask your kids a few questions about their visit, take the ranger pledge and receive a wooden badge pin from the park. The time we spent in the car or resting at a picnic bench were perfect for completing their booklets, and we all learned so much from them!
Glacier is absolutely magical and you really cannot find a bad hike. We loved the ones we found, but there are always more to see. My favorite part is that you can actually just repeat all of your favorite places too and have completely different experiences with weather changes, leaves falling, snowy passes, and animal sightings. All in all, make the most of it and let me know what hikes worked best for you so we can fill our list for next time.
If you want to learn more about camping inside or outside of Glacier National Park, including where we stayed, what it cost, and what we packed for six people, check out our post here.
If this helped you plan, save it for when you are deep in the Glacier research rabbit hole!
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