“We loved that there were two flags – US & Canadian at the Logan Pass. Logan Pass is the highest point at Going to the Sun road and sits on the continental divide. This is the most popular area in the park where several hikes start including Hidden Lake trail (begins behind the Visitor Center) and Highline Trail (Runs across the road from the Visitor Center). 

Tip1: Always check the current condition in the park. Due to plenty of wildlife, some campsites could be closed for soft tents. Also, some trails could be closed.  You can find current condition here.




                      

Previous Posts on Glacier National Park
25 Tips to drive the iconic Going to the Sun Road
Glacier National Park | First Come First Serve Camping
A week in Glacier National Park | 20 Tips to get you started

Glacier National Park is known as the Crown of the continent and rightly so, because driving on Going to the Sun road is like transition of camera frames - each frame more beautiful than the other. Whether its watching the mountain goats graze or whether its hiking to several glacial lakes and glaciers or whether its admiring the uncountable waterfalls and trickles that pass you by or whether it’s your car getting an Alpine shower at the weeping wall or whether it’s a snowfield or whether its lush bright green hills or whether its hikes by friendly NPS rangers or whether its Grizzlies grazing next to your campground. It’s rare to find a combination so perfect that even our week’s stay felt less. It’s rare for us to feel that way but there was still so much to do and see! It is wilderness in its truest sense.


 

You would be traversing through humongous landscape where you’d realize how miniscule we as human beings are in there. Cars look like toys as we drive on the only road that cuts through the panorama of valleys and peaks.

It’s close proximity to St. Mary’s boat harbor and the Going to the sun road made us choose Rising Sun on Day 2 till the end of our vacation. We had initially reserved for two days and then kept extending it for rest of the days. Had we not discovered Rising Sun, we would have had totally missed our experience. Rising Sun is a gem of a campground. It is clean, the campsites are huge and they have clean toilets too.



                                                              Bear Box to store food.

                                             Parking with the campsite was convenient. 

"One of the greatest dilemmas many times we face is where to charge our devices in the campsites. Charge phones in your running vehicle. Charge cameras either at the visitor center (if its near they can do it for you) or at the charging points located in the washroom. "

Should you wish to take a shower, head to the gift center and ask for tokens. They have tokens for $3 and at the back of gift center is the shower. Bring your own toiletries and towels to the shower. You also will get firewood at the gift center.




"There is tap water in the campground for drinking purposes. There is also utensil cleaning room adjacent to toilets incase if you wish to wash your utensils..

 The gift center also stocks a few prepackaged food and grocery however, I would suggest going to St. Mary’s village for more options on food.

One of the best part about staying here was Bears (both Grizzly and Black) would flock around the nearby meadows and every evening at around 7-7:30ish we would see them inside those meadows. We even heard stories from our neighbors on how one of the Bears from the nearby meadow came to the campground and was shooed away by the rangers on one of the days we had gone hiking.




“ Bear activity is common in the area. The popular Many Glacier campground was closed for soft tents during our visit due to some Bear activity even though that was our first preference of stay. We have Bear Box in each campsite and that’s where we are supposed to keep our food.”.

During night, look up into the sky from the campsite. Crystal clear sky makes it an eternal viewing gaze far into the twinkles. Star Gazing is recognized at the park and at the Logan pass, they also have Star Gazing parties.

Another campground that we have in the area is the St. Mary campground. Should you not get in Rising Sun you can try your luck there. I don’t think that other week would be as packed as that week when we went was, so it might not be a problem getting into one.

The significant campgrounds like Rising Sun, St. Mary or Many Glacier gets filled up by 7:00-8:00 am on an average busy weekend while the campgrounds such as on the West Glacier Side or Two Medicine may have occupancy till the afternoon however I found that the drive to Two Medicine was a little too much for going back and forth to the Going to the Sun road.

One of the best ways to enjoy your stay In Glacier National Park would be to split your stays between campgrounds. Many Glacier is where many of the significant trails (Grinnel and Iceberg) starts. Rising Sun is near to St. Mary’s and Logan Pass whereas Apgar is near to Mc. Donald Lake. The distances between Many Campground to Rising Sun is significant at 50 minutes and it’s best to stay at varied locations than wasting time going back and forth on mountain roads.

“During Summers when we were there, the day light would stay as long as 10:30pm. So a day could be long and you could pack in more in a day. However, if it looks dark and feels that its going to get dark, its best to return back as thats when most wildlife is active and Glacier National Park is wild at its best! We even spotted Fox on the road walking in pride. Bears were common in the area too!”