In October 2021, we started planning our biggest trip yet for August 2022. For the first time ever, we were taking a two-week vacation. We decided to make a visit to Glacier National Park the central focus of our trip. We had never been to this park but had heard great things from those who had visited previously. In addition to Glacier, we planned to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho, and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. We had been to Grand Teton on a previous trip but Theodore Roosevelt and Sawtooth would also be new destinations. By December, I had finalized our itinerary and we were ready to start counting down the days until campsites would be available to book. (We wanted to stay in the park at most of our destinations. They all had rolling six-month windows for booking, which meant that we could book campsites for our August trip in February.) Fortunately, we were able to find sites that would work for us in each location.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
We started by heading to Minnesota, and camped in Sauk Centre, MN after a long first day of driving. We were anxious to arrive at our first park (Theodore Roosevelt), so we got an early start the next morning. We drove across North Dakota to the small town of Medora. This was such a cool old-fashioned Western town. Theodore Roosevelt was a very unique park. It reminded us of a combination of badlands, grasslands, and painted desert. We drove the scenic road through the park and hopped out to take a few short hikes. It was great to stretch our legs after two long days on the road. We dry camped at Cottonwood campground inside the park.
Glacier National Park
Once again, we set out early the next morning. This time our destination was Glacier National Park. This was a long day of driving, mostly on two-line highways in Montana. We arrived at Apgar campground in Glacier in the late afternoon. We set up camp and walked to McDonald Lake from our campsite, where we were able to see the sunset. Apgar campground is one of my all-time favorite campgrounds. The sites are tucked away in tall pine trees and the location is outstanding. It is within walking distance from the Apgar visitor’s center (where the shuttle starts and stops), Lake McDonald, and several restaurants/ice cream shops, and souvenir stores. Apgar does not have any hookups for RVs, but it does have a dump station and a fill station for fresh water tanks.
We ended up spending four nights and three full days in Glacier. Our original plan was to spend three nights in Glacier and then drive to Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho for a couple days. As it turned out, wildfires were burning around Sawtooth, closing some of the trails on our list and, according to Google Maps, closing some of the highways in the area. With this in mind, we scrambled and found a last-minute cancellation in Glacier that allowed us to stay an additional night there. We were bummed about missing out on Idaho, but we were happy to have an extra day to spend in Glacier.
During our time in Glacier, we hiked, took scenic drives, and paddle boarded. Our hiking included Grinnell Glacier, the Highline Trail, and Avalanche Lake. They were all amazing hikes, but my favorite was Grinnell Glacier. I loved the combination of the lakes and the mountains. The hike ended at Grinnell Glacier and Upper Grinnell Lake, which was an unreal turquoise blue and filled with ice bergs. Roundtrip, it was about 11 miles. The Highline Trail was full of majestic mountain views. It paralleled the Going to the Sun Road (GTTSR) at the beginning and then turned and headed deeper into the mountains. We also added Grinnell Glacier overlook, which was a strenuous side trail that added just under two miles. Although it was a tough climb to the overlook, it was absolutely worth the effort. We hiked Highline trail to Granite Park Chalet and took another trail down to The Loop stop on the GTTSR. Because we took the shuttle from Apgar visitor center, we were able to start and stop in different locations on the GTTSR. Altogether, this hike was around 14 miles. Finally, on our last day (our bonus day), we hiked to Avalanche Lake. This was a shorter hike at around 6 miles, which was alright with us because we spent the morning scrambling to figure out our plans for the night due to the wildfires.
We also took our paddle boards out on Lake McDonald. We brought our own inflatable paddle boards with us, so we needed to get them inspected by a ranger, which was a surprisingly quick and painless process. Paddling on the crystal clear water with the mountains in the background was an outstanding site. Our scenic drive was on the GTTSR. Because we were there in August, the entire length of the road was open. Due to snow, it wasn’t fully open until mid-July. We drove it from East to West on the return trip from the Grinnell Glacier hike, stopping at many scenic view points and pull-offs along the way. To read even more details about our time in Glacier, click here.
Yellowstone National Park
After Glacier, we rerouted toward Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We spent a day in Yellowstone on the way to Grand Teton. We road our bikes on the Fountain Freight Road trail toward the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook. It was roughly a 6 mile ride round-trip. Then we drove on to the Grand Prismatic Spring parking lot, where we were able to walk on the boardwalks next to the springs themselves. From here, we moved on to Old Faithful, which we were able to see erupt in all its glory. We spent the next three nights in Colter Bay RV Park in Grand Teton. More details about our visit to Yellowstone can be found here.
Grand Teton National Park
Our first day in Grand Teton, we hiked to Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes. This was roughly a 9 mile hike with some serious elevation gain. We gained approximately 3,000 ft hiking into the mountains, but it was worth it to see these secluded mountain lakes. The next day, we choose a more laid-back hike starting from Jenny Lake visitor’s center and hiking to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. We took the ferry across Jenny Lake on the return trip. To rest our legs after this hike, we took a scenic drive in the Jenny Lake area and then drove up Signal Mountain. Later that afternoon, we hiked a short 3 mile trail from the Colter Bay RV Park out to a small peninsula in Jackson Lake. More details about Grand Teton National Park can be found here.
Finally, it was time to head home. To make the return trip home more fun, we decided to follow the Oregon Trail from Grand Teton back home. In Wyoming, we stopped at Saddle Rock, Independence Rock, Register Cliff, and Fort Laramie. In Nebraska, we stopped at Scott’s Bluff and Chimney Rock. These were all easy stops with plenty of parking for our truck and travel trailer.
