Day Hiking in Glacier National Park

Old Man Lake

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.

Scroll down for a list of all of the day hikes or click over to my interactive map with links to blogs that I’ve published for every trail in the park!


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:

Glacier National Park Regions
Click to Enlarge
  • 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 0-5 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 Otokomi Lake 10-15 SM
31 Huckleberry Lookout 10-15 LM
32 Beaver Pond 0-5 SM
33 Apikuni Falls 0-5 MG
34 Cobalt Lake 10-15 TM
35 Florence Falls 5-10 SM
36 Kootenai Lakes 5-10 GH
37 Medicine Grizzly Lake 10-15 TM
38 Mt. Brown Lookout 5-10 LM
39 Upper Two Medicine Lake 0-5 TM
40 Numa Ridge Lookout 10-15 NF
41 Loneman Lookout 10-15 WA
42 Hidden Meadow 0-5 NF
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