Start/Finish: Lake McDonald Lodge
Total Distance: Bike 11 miles, Hike 4.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 917’ gain
Difficulty: Medium
When spring Montana provides cool (or even rainy/snowy) days, this route allows you to enjoy the best Glacier National Park has to offer, usually with significant solitude. After the bottom of Going to the Sun Road melts out around April, you can bike along the paved road even though its closed to vehicles. Spring 2024 there was still some gravel due to road construction. While biking all of the way to the seasonal closure is highly recommended, sometimes the weather doesn’t allow for it when its cooler in the alpine. A great alternative to biking all day is to bike + hike to Avalanche Lake, which includes the Trail of Cedars.
Park your car and start at Lake McDonald Lodge and bike through the gate along the Going to the Sun Road. Along the way there are various stopping points along McDonald Creek. Bike 5.6 miles until you reach the Avalanche Lake Campground, which will be your transition point to hiking.
The hike up to Avalanche Lake does have slight elevation gain, but offers a variety of wonders like Avalanche Gorge, dark woods, and open vistas of steep rocky peaks. The finale is seeing the bowl that Avalanche Lake is in. On a cooler day making some hot drinks allows one to enjoy the scenery a bit longer before getting to chilled and needing to start the hike + bike back to your vehicle.
Side Trip: You can bike a short .25 miles off Going to the Sun Road to the bridge that crosses McDonald Creek
Can you spot the deer?