I’ll be there mid July with wife and 2 daughters. Wife has the whole itinerary planned for sight seeing and hiking etc, but we’re looking for something to do that would be memorable other than the obvious amazing sights and landscapes. We have 9 days split between MT and Canada and we’ll be in 4 different hotels or condos over the trip and using a rental car to move around.

I’m thinking fishing? We know nothing about fly fishing but I really think the girls will enjoy an outdoor activity besides hiking.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I don’t mind paying for a 1/2 day guided trip to have better success than DIY.

Other ideas? Suggested outfitters?

Have you considered rafting the Middle Fork Flathead River? It's the southwestern boundary of Glacier. Trips are mostly geared to whitewater, but fishing is likely available through the right company.

If going to Banff, go to the Prince of Wales Hotel.

https://www.glacierparkcollection.com/lodging/prince-of-wales-hotel/

It's a must see. We stayed there and it was incredible.

Do they like horses? There is trail ride outfitters in Banff. Boat tour on Lake Minnewonka in Banff NP. How about the cable car up Sulphur Mountain in Banff NP?

There is also a boat tour on Lake Waterton.

Remington Museum near Cardston, outside Waterton NP. Museum is of carriages and wagons etc. one of a chain of outstanding Alberta museums. Depending on your route from Waterton to Banff, you could pass by the Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump museum which is about the plains Indians running bison over cliffs.

If you took the back way from Waterton to Banff, which is a little shorter, you would be driving up highway 22, “the Cowboy Trail”, one of the prettiest drives you’ll ever see. You would pass by the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site.

If you spend time in Calgary, Heritage Park is a great way to spend half a day.

If they like dinosaurs, the Tyrell Museum near Drumheller is the third of the world class museums you would see.

Just watch out for the Hoodoos!

Icefield tours

https://www.agoda.com/activities/de...pAKYkTjl_sBYL_SOOaX7Id9u11BoCJnwQAvD_BwE

This!

If you can not afford to stay there, at least indulge yourself and the wife by booking a meal there!

I clearly recall the dining experience and the specific meal my girlfriend and I had there.

It was like I had imagined first class would be like on the Titanic (it dates from the same era).

I can't recall the cost (other than it was expensive) but it was nearly four decades ago!

Not many meals that I can recall four decades later - the food and the service was that good!

Also, at the link that devnull posted, there are other fun things you can do in the area, including horseback riding if your girls like horses (don't they all?)

/John

Going to the sun road in Glacier if it's open by then. Gotten busier so tickets are a must I think and it's weather dependant. Many Glacier lodge and the lakes are interesting too. Lot of good hikes around there

I hope you gave all your reservations at Banff in place. Parking permits at Lake Louise are very hard to get. Have a great trip.

Polebridge was a cool place too. Kinda out of the way but interesting. The bear claw huckleberry pastries are great

Thanks for all the suggestions. Keep them coming! Probably going to stay away from horseback riding due to allergies.


Will look into this. Thanks.


Thanks! Will make a point to at least see it.


Planning to do this.

I’d skip the Canada part, I always tote an AR rig and a couple of pistolas when I vacay.

Around glacier, the rafting trip is fun and you can get a guided fishing trip and float the northfork of the flathead. If the fishing is bad the float on the northfork is worth the trip. Hit Polebridge and East Glacier both, you might enjoy a trip around Flathead lake. It will be crowded around the park that time of year. If you enter going to the sun road on the East side you don't need a ticket to get in in. All the entrance on the west side is controlled via online ticket in advance. The whole area NW MT is pretty scenic with lots of lakes and rivers. You might even get lucky and see a naked hippie around polebridge

Slummy

U can cum to Utah & be right at home with UR AR's

I went rafting in Banff. It was great - cold, but great. Did some amazing hiking although I wasn't prepared for knee deep snow in mid June.

Just a few pictures from a trip to Glacier a few years back. West and East Glacier , A few lakes , great trip. Saw wildlife but didn't take many pictures. Had a cow moose and calf within 20 feet and was more concerned with backing away instead of photos.

We lived in NW Calgary for 4 1/2 years. Rafting the Kananaskis River was a good time.

Troutnut,
Where is that lodge on the lake? beautiful location

Beautiful scenery! Missus has talked about going there for years!

Many Glacier lodge , Swift current lake. Closest town is Browning MT I believe

About 10 years ago we camped - mostly on the west side of GNP at lakes - for about a week with daughter, son in law and three grand kids and enjoyed all the best of beautiful scenery, fishing, wildlife, etc.. It was near fabulous.

After a while, the summer presence of fellow tourists became a small nuisance, so one day we took a drive about 40 miles up the north fork of the Flathead almost to the Canada border and found Kintla Lake. Well worth it for us. Almost no one else there, great camping sites right at the lake, excellent fishing. If you want to try that, go north on Camas Rd, then N Fork Rd and then Inside North Fork Rd.

My wife and I are going this summer. We booked our hotel a few months ago; hotel reservations are pretty slim now.

The roads into Kintla lake is now reservation only like going to the sun road. It used to be pretty uncrowded and a nice lake to kayak in the summer. Things are way more crowded post Rona. We used to run to lake Mcdonald in the summer for a evening dip and kayak, not anymore.

Country 20boy: The waters in Glacier National Park are so cold and so clear (and winters so long!) that for the most part "fly fishing" is NOT good!
No weeds - no place for flies to nest, rut and proliferate.
Yellowstone Park has much much better fly fishing.

For an absolute "life changing" experience, rent a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter and tour the "innards" and peaks and remote lakes and glaciers of Glacier National Park!
I've done this and it was an absolutely incredible (life changing!) experience!
Be sure and take the somewhat short hike (3/4 mile?) from Logan Pass Visitor Center up the Hidden Lake Overlook Trail to the overlook.
Last September my friend from Germany and I took this trail and saw Grizzly Bears (2), Bighorn Sheep (4), Mt. Goat (20 plus - need binoculars here) and the ultra-rare (in the lower 48!) Ptarmigan (4)!
Two of my other favorite hikes are the Avalanche Creek Trail (for amazing photo ops of the creek and Avalanche Lake) and the Garden Wall Trail (I always see Bighorn Sheep on this trail and saw two Grizzly Bears over the years here). Remember that Glacier National Park is NOT well "roaded" it is more of a back packers park - I really enjoy the perimeter drive from Many Glacier around the south end of the park back to west Glacier - doing this after travelling the loan road THROUGH the Park (Going to the Sun Road).
Have NOT been to Banff as yet - enjoy your time in Montana and drive carefully.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

We also booked hotels, rental cars, park passes, etc months ago. That is all set, thanks to my wife!

Thanks for this suggestion. I'm always looking for ways to get away from the crowds. My wife believes that we have to hit the popular spots because they are somehow better, but I'm of the opinion that there are other spots just as pretty, but not as crowded or well-known.

Thanks. After looking at several outfitters and some online reading, I'm thinking fly fishing may not be the best use of our time. I'm afraid the learning curve for my girls (and maybe me) would be tough to make much of a half-day trip.



The helicopter trip sounds incredible and I'll check into it, though it may be out of my budget, which is already stretched thanks to plane tickets and the $300/night hotels in the park.

We are definitely planning for some hiking.

"The helicopter trip sounds incredible and I'll check into it, though it may be out of my budget, which is already stretched thanks to plane tickets and the $300/night hotels in the park."

Sometimes you just need to say what the hell and book the helicopter tour. We did this when we took our girls to Maui. The cost of the helicopter tour was worth it. They'll remember it forever. It's about making family memories.

Watch out for the Grizzly bears. This time of the year they like to snack on tourists for lunch.

L.W.

It may have changed but 3 years ago when we went to Glacier, getting park passes wasn't enough, you need to get a an entry ticket to get on the main road into the park unless you entered the park before 6am. They would have a lottery for the entry tickets about 2 months before to give out 80% of the tickets and then a lottery again the week before for the remaining tickets.

We had a tour in the park which gave us access without the ticket, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get in.

No way am I getting in a chopper flying around in the mountains. A helo is a million parts, all moving in opposite directions trying to beat the air into submission ……….and they have to work twice as hard in the thinner mountain air. 😁🚁

Auto rotate?

Navy guys love planes that hit a moving deck.

Check into the safety record of the company.




Probably gtg.

If not, you make the news in an epic crash. 😎

country_20boy, if you do go to Banff and plan on doing any hiking, be careful where you go. We have a lot of Grizz in Alberta now since the hunting moratorium on Grizz started years back.

Too many now, this couple and their dog were not so lucky last year!

https://globalnews.ca/news/10005074/bear-attack-bad-harrowing-final-message-from-alberta-couple-killed-by-grizzly/#:~:text=Colin%20Inglis%20said%20his%20nephew,named%20Tris%20was%20also%20killed

We stayed in Creston just outside of Kalispell as our base camp back in September and did a full day float on the Clark Fork in Paradise, MT. My wife and i had no fly fishing experience and caught probably 15-20 fish. I would say for someone who hasn't fished floating is the way to go as most of the time your fly is drifting with the boat. We also did horseback riding which was fun, but fishing was the most fun we had the whole trip. We looked at rafting but that time of year the water was low and it was more of a float, we are already close to the Ocoee so we can do that most any time.