Glacier National Park was made for backpacking. With over 1 million acres, 734 miles of trail and limited access, it’s a backpacker’s paradise.
To help you plan I’ve assembled some resources below.
3-Day Backpacking Options
In this blog entry, I talk about various three day trips to get the juices flowing for that weekend-length trip.
Extended Trips
“I’m looking for a 4-5 day trip. Where do I start?” Right here. In Part 1, I cover resources to prepare and thoughts on areas that I love. In Part 2, I give some guidance for actual routes so you can narrow down where you’d like to go.
Backcountry Permits
Any time you spend the night in Glacier’s backcountry, you need to get a permit. For some locations and/or times of year, this is as simple as walking into the backcountry office and getting one. For the more desirable places, especially in the peak season, it’s a bit more complicated.
ADVANCED RESERVATIONS LOTTERIES
- Approximately 70% of wilderness campsites parkwide are available for advance reservations.
- Glacier National Park utilizes early access lotteries for Wilderness Camping advance reservations using the Recreation.gov online platform.
For the most up-to-date information on Glacier’s advanced reservations, check out the Wilderness Camping Advanced Reservations page.
After early access lotteries are completed, all remaining advance reservation campsites will be available online at Recreation.gov.
If you are unable to secure a wilderness camping advance reservation through recreation.gov, wilderness permits may be available the day before or day of a desired trip start date. Approximately 30% of all sites parkwide are set aside for walk-in campers. Check out my “Top 5 Tips” for Walk-in Permits.
What’s in my Backpack?
Knowing what to bring along on a backpacking trip and what to leave behind can be overwhelming. It’s also a personal endeavor. Hopefully by checking out my blog, you can get a good start on what you’ll need. (Also, here’s a more recent list of hiking gear essentials that are always in my pack.)
Glacier Day-Hikes Map Guide – Lots of helpful features for backpacking:
- An easy-to-read topographic map
- All 65 backcountry campsites marked & labeled with their code names
- Distances between junctions and/or features have been calculated
- Trail names & trailhead locations
Glacier National Park Shuttles
Getting around Glacier with point-to-point trips can be super challenging. Fortunately, using the shuttle system is one option to look into. Fun Fact: All the shuttle stops are marked on our Glacier Day-Hike Map Guide and Going-to-the-Sun Road Driving & Biking Guide.
Backpacking with a DSLR camera
With so much scenery and so many animals, it’s tempting to bring a nice camera into the backcountry. The big problem is how does one carry it? Find out how I carried my Canon 7D with two lenses accessibly during my 1,200 miles of hiking in 2011. Also find out what my setup is in this blog entry. I now have an updated camera setup using the Panasonic LUMIX FZ1000 which you can see in my review of it here.
