Glacier National Park March 2021 Trip Report

March 5th, 2021

Glacier National Park was the final park we visited on our road trip from New York to Seattle! It was also the most logistically difficult, given the seasonally closed roads. So much of the park was closed due to COVID and winter, but with some planning, we were still able to have a great day!

We entered from the only open entrance, West Glacier. Going to the Sun Road was closed after Lake McDonald, which was not very far at all.

After some research, we decided to attempt Apgar Lookout! Apgar Lookout is a ~7 mile hike with about ~1800 feet of gain to a fire tower summit. However, the road to the summer trailhead is closed in March, so it adds an extra 2 miles total. March 5th, 2021 was a beautiful spring-like day, with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the 50s.

The winter hike begins along the seasonally closed road. The road offers nice views and sunshine as a consolation prize for the extra mileage. There wasn't very much snow coverage on the dirt road, so we didn't put our snowshoes on until we got to the summer trailhead.

We hiked along a river and then up some nice switchbacks out of the valley until we encountered avalanche terrain.

We bailed since the conditions were not ideal and met another couple from Montana as we were turning around. They wanted to keep going, but then checked the snow conditions for themselves and unfortunately decided to turn around as well. The mountain will be there another day!

No summits that day, but we did get plenty of lovely views and a bit of a tan. After our hike, we drove the rest of the way to McDonald Lake to enjoy the beach and take some photos.

Glacier National Park is on the lands of the Blackfeet and Kootenai. FAST (Food Access and Sustainability Team) Blackfeet is working to address food insecurity on the Blackfeet reservation: fastblackfeet.org.