Days 5–7: West Glacier National Park

Days 5–7: West Glacier National Park

Where the Road Ends and the Magic Begins

Montana · Biking, Hiking & Huckleberries

We rolled into West Glacier with three days ahead of us and absolutely no idea how thoroughly this place was about to rearrange our sense of what "beautiful" even means. Days 5, 6, and 7 of Reba's Great Adventure 2026 delivered everything: heart-stopping scenery, a very unbothered black bear, stolen firewood, a fiddle-and-whistle duo, and more huckleberry than a person has any right to consume in 72 hours. Buckle up.

THE HIGHLIGHT

Biking the Road to the Sun — Two Mornings Running


Both mornings we rose with the sun, greeted by a brisk 40-something degrees that had us layering up from top to bottom. We packed up Reba, fed the dogs, and made our way into the park; driving as far as the RV could take us before the road closed to vehicles at Avalanche, about six miles in. From that point on, only bicycles and hikers were allowed past the gate.

At first, being stopped felt like a consolation prize. It was not.

"Having the road and the views all to ourselves — without the white-knuckle danger of park traffic — turned out to be the greatest gift the park could give us."


The only vehicles allowed past the gate were park workers (rare sightings) and the occasional small fleet of those iconic red tour buses, ferrying passengers willing to pay good money for the views without the pedaling. I could only imagine how nerve-racking it would be to try to navigate those winding, often narrow roads while worrying about a distracted driver nudging you off the cliff. But let's get back to the breathtaking views around every turn.


The pictures I took will never do justice to the colors of the trees, mountains, sunshine, and clouds that hovered like a lazy hug around the glaciers. Waterfalls glistened down the mountain cliffs from the melting glaciers high above. While they were beautiful, it brought a tear to your eye when you realized these were likely the result of climate change.

WILDLIFE SIGHTING

A Bear with Places to Be

A stunning black bear joined us on the Road to the Sun as if he was just out for his morning stroll, completely unbothered by the cyclists who had stopped respectfully to let him pass. He didn't so much as glance in our direction. How rude. Not that I was hoping for a selfie or anything. He was simply added to the growing list of animal sightings at Glacier NP and went on his four-pawed way.


AFTER SUNDOWN

Campfires, S'mores & a Woman Who Could Whistle

Evenings on the west side had the east side beat by a comfortable margin and it started with something deceptively simple: firewood. After the Great Firewood Drought of East Glacier, having actual wood to burn felt like a small miracle. Night one, we had our very first campfire of the entire trip, complete with s'mores. Perfect. Necessary. Deeply satisfying.

Unfortunately, we only enjoyed one night of a campfire because someone helped themselves to our remaining wood. Unbelievable! They must have been heading to East Glacier next and heard about the shortage there.

Live Music at Frita's

The local eatery Frita's had live music every night and they played both types of music: country and western. One of the artists played the fiddle beautifully, but she was also remarkably gifted at whistling; which was deeply impressive to someone like me who can barely hum a recognizable tune, let alone whistle one.


A MONTANA LOVE STORY

Huckleberry Everything

I cannot leave this post without dedicating proper space to the huckleberries of Montana. Huckleberry Everything. There were more kinds of huckleberry products than Forrest Gump's friend Bubba could name varieties of shrimp and Bubba had a very long list. I might have uttered the famous phrase, "I'm your huckleberry," a time or two. We partook enthusiastically and without restraint:

🥧 Huckleberry Pie
🍦 Huckleberry Ice Cream
🫙 Huckleberry Jam
🥞 Huckleberry Syrup
🍖 Huckleberry BBQ Sauce
🍹 Huckleberry Mule (a very nice cold libation)

COMING NEXT

Onward to Othello & the North Cascades

We are now off to a quick one-night stay in Othello, Washington before heading to Cascade National Park. Stay tuned to hear about those adventures in the next post!
























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