Day Hiking in Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is a day hiking paradise. Varied terrain from dense forests to dry, rocky slopes to alpine meadows, it never gets old. While you can’t reach all 734 miles of trail or see all 1 million+ acres in a day, you can see a large portion of it. Below are 88 day hikes that I’ve identified and ranked for my Day Hikes of Glacier National Park Map Guide.

The ranking is my recommendation based upon what I feel gives you the most “bang for your buck” starting with the classic Highline Trail that embodies what make the Park so unique and wonderful. Click each trail name to learn more about the hike. All of this information and more is included in the Day Hikes of Glacier National Park Map Guide that I originally put out in the spring of 2014 (and have updated periodically since). It’s the best map for hiking in Glacier that includes distances between junctions and color coded trail segments denoting slope steepness and much more on one side and a guide on the back of the map. Pick one up to take with you on the trail!

Areas are as follows:

• BR – Belly River
• GH – Goat Haunt
• LM – Lake McDonald
• MG – Many Glacier
• NF – North Fork
• SM – St. Mary
• TM – Two Medicine
• WA – Walton

Click on table headers to sort by those columns!

Jake’s Rank	Hike Name	Distance Group	Area
1	Highline Trail	10-15	LM
2	Grinnell Glacier	10-15	MG
3	Pitamakan / Dawson	15+	TM
4	Iceberg Lake	5-10	MG
5	Hidden Lake	0-5	SM
6	Ptarmigan Tunnel	10-15	MG
7	Siyeh Pass	5-10	SM
8	Bullhead Lake	5-10	MG
9	Fishercap Lake/Redrock Falls	0-5	MG
10	St. Mary/Virginia Falls	0-5	SM
11	Avalanche Lake	0-5	LM
12	Swiftcurrent Pass	10-15	MG
13	Firebrand Pass	10-15	TM
14	Baring Falls	0-5	SM
15	Dawson Pass	5-10	TM
16	Gunsight Pass	15+	SM
17	Scenic Point	5-10	TM
18	Grinnell Lake	5-10	MG
19	Piegan Pass	5-10	SM
20	Lake Josephine	0-5	MG
21	McDonald Creek	5-10	LM
22	Rockwell Falls	5-10	TM
23	Running Eagle Falls	0-5	TM
24	Sun Point to St. Mary/Virginia Falls	0-5	SM
25	Swiftcurrent Lookout	10-15	LM
26	Trail of the Cedars	0-5	LM
27	Lee Ridge	10-15	BR
28	Cracker Lake	10-15	MG
29	Triple Divide Pass	10-15	TM
30	Huckleberry Lookout	10-15	LM
31	Beaver Pond	0-5	SM
32	Apikuni Falls	0-5	MG
33	Cobalt Lake	10-15	TM
34	Florence Falls	5-10	SM
35	Kootenai Lakes	5-10	GH
36	Medicine Grizzly Lake	10-15	TM
37	Upper Two Medicine Lake	0-5	TM
38	Numa Ridge Lookout	10-15	NF
39	Loneman Lookout	10-15	WA
40	Mt. Brown Lookout	5-10	LM
41	Hidden Meadow	0-5	NF
42	Otokomi Lake	10-15	SM
43	Elk Mountain	5-10	WA
44	Sperry Chalet / Sperry Glacier	15+	LM
45	Harrison Lake	10-15	WA
46	Gunsight Lake	10-15	SM
47	Johns Lake Loop	0-5	LM
48	Paradise Point	0-5	TM
49	Swiftcurrent Nature Trail and Loop	0-5	MG
50	Rising Sun	0-5	SM
51	Rocky Point	0-5	LM
52	Goat Lick	0-5	WA
53	Belton Bridge	0-5	LM
54	Apgar Lookout	5-10	LM
55	Quartz Lake Loop	10-15	NF
56	Snyder Lakes	5-10	LM
57	Akokala Lake	10-15	NF
58	Howe Lake	0-5	LM
59	Aster Park Overlook	0-5	TM
60	South Shore St. Mary Lake	15+	SM
61	Avalanche Trail	5-10	LM
62	McDonald Creek Loop	0-5	LM
63	Flathead Ranger Station	5-10	LM
64	Morning Star Lake	10-15	TM
65	Apgar Bike Path	0-5	LM
66	Autumn Creek	5-10	WA
67	Covey Meadow	0-5	NF
68	Rogers Meadow	5-10	LM
69	Poia Lake	10-15	MG
70	Scalplock Lookout	5-10	WA
71	Two Medicine Lake	5-10	TM
72	Logging Lake	10-15	NF
73	Red Eagle Lake	15+	SM
74	Rainbow Falls	0-5	GH
75	South Boundary Trail	10-15	LM
76	Trout Lake	5-10	LM
77	Lake McDonald Trail	5-10	LM
78	Waterton Overlook	0-5	GH
79	Dutch Lakes	15+	NF
80	Akokala Creek	15+	NF
81	Quartz Creek	10-15	NF
82	Coal-Fielding	15+	WA
83	Fish Lake	5-10	LM
84	North Fork Belly River	15+	BR
85	Howe Ridge	10-15	LM
86	Huckleberry Nature Trail	0-5	LM
87	Lincoln Lake	15+	LM
88	Snyder Ridge	10-15	LM