Amy Grisak - Nature Guide to Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks

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As a media professional for over thirty years, Amy Grisak shares her passion for the outdoors through her writing, radio, podcasts, and video projects. Her career began with her decade-long work as everything from bait to associate producer for National Geographic Television, where many of the assignments involved looking for grizzlies and mountain lions instead of avoiding them. While working with these apex predators was exhilarating and educational, Amy still geeks out over nearly every flower, bird, and butterfly, and dont even get her started on pika.

Amy eventually transitioned from television to freelance writing, pairing her nature photography and field experience with her informational articles and essays in publications such as The Farmers Almanac, Sky & Telescope, Montana Quarterly, Distinctly Montana, The New Pioneer, and many others. Amy is also the co-host of Front Range Outdoors on KGPR-Great Falls, where she and her radio partner, Marty Bannon, discuss the abundance of outdoor recreational opportunities throughout Montana.

Since the outdoors is as much a part of her daily life as it is of her work, Amy and her outdoor-loving husband, Grant, frequently take their sons, Samuel and John, hiking, fishing, and exploring their grand Montana backyard. Amy also takes particular delight talking her friends and their kids into accompanying her on hikes throughout Glacier. From a three-mile jaunt around the beaver ponds in St. Mary to the nearly ten-mile hike to Iceberg Lake with a string of kids, every outing is an adventure. Lately, as her own boys are strong enough for the bigger hikes, higher elevations beckon in search of alpine flowers, fire lookout stories, and of course those fascinating pika. Her work is found on amygrisak.com.

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Breathtaking mountain scenery with glaciers and snowfields lingering in the high country throughout the summer, lush valleys, and ample water make Glacier and Waterton Lakes a recreationists paradise. This wonder wasnt lost on Glaciers early advocates, including the eminent conservationist George Bird Grinnell, who is honored with a glacier, lake, and a mountain named for him. He finally saw the creation of the park on May 11, 1910. Billed as the See America First campaign, courtesy of the Great Northern Railway, wealthy Easterners had the chance to experience the magnificent Western landscape, boasting scenery rivaling the European Alps, with luxurious accommodations to match.

The inception of Waterton Lakes initially took a different route. Before 1900, the Canadian government preserved Waterton as a Dominion Forest Park, yet its natural wealth was more fully realized when Glacier and Waterton Lakes joined in 1932, as Rotarians on both sides of the border pushed to create the worlds first international peace park. Bordering northwestern Montana and southern Alberta, theres a striking difference in appearance on the west and east sides of Glacier, along with Waterton Lakes. Rain is more generous on the west side, resulting in enormous trees, dense forests, and vegetation indicative of this moister region. The east side is harsher, with drier conditions and far more wind, but it boasts stunning scenery as mountains overlap in the landscape. Waterton Lakes offers the best of both worlds: It has more rain and snow than the prairie, yet its situated where the mountains meet the prairie, providing equally stunning views any time of the year.

Piegan Glacier from Preston Park

The visitor centers / centre are the best places to obtain information on trails, parking lots, area closures, and weather conditions. Most are open from mid-May to mid-September, although Apgar is sometimes open on the weekends beyond those months, and the Waterton Visitor Centre is open year-round. Also check the campground kiosks and ranger stations for information on ranger-led hikes and interpretive talks.

The Logan Pass Visitor Center

Glaciers convenient dashboard feature, the Glacier Information Display at nps.gov/applications/glac/dashboard/, provides up-to-date information on the status of roads and weather. Waterton Lakes National Park posts updates and closures, as well as general visitor information, on their website: pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/waterton/.

There is a misconception that Glacier is closed during the winter. Going-to-the-Sun Road closes for vehicle traffic by the third week of October, and restaurants and other facilities are shut down for the season, but cross-country skiing and snowshoeing along Lake McDonald or the Camas Road are increasingly popular. Many people also love heading to the more-remote Autumn Creek Trail located near Marias Pass. Like Glacier, Waterton Lakes is much quieter in the winter, but still provides a memorable opportunity for cross-country skiers and snowshoers to explore the frozen landscape in peace. Some accommodations remain open in Waterton Lakes, but it is far from busy.

When the plow crews start clearing Going-to-the-Sun Road in the spring, it is open to bicyclists and hikers months before vehicles crowd the thoroughfare, and Waterton has several roads open only to hikers and bikers early in the season.

Its not until July, and sometimes toward the end of that month, that trails such as Grinnell Glacier or the Carthew-Alderson Trail are sufficiently cleared of snow to allow safe passage for the average hiker.

Lodging is a hot commodity during this peak season, and reservations at lodges and some campgrounds need to be made months, if not a year, ahead of time. Advanced reservations for some sites in Apgar, Fish Creek, St. Mary, and Many Glacier can be requested at nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/camping.htm. For the Waterton Lakes townsite campgrounds, call (877) 737-3783 or visit pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/waterton/activ/camping/camping-reservation. For hotel or cabin reservations, contact Xanterra, (855) 733-4522; glaciernationalparklodges.com/lodging; or Pursuit Glacier Park Collection, (844) 868-7474, glacierparkcollection.com. Granite Park and Sperry Chalet reservations open once a year, typically in January. To apply, or to check availability status, call (888) 345-2649, or visit graniteparkchalet.com or sperrychalet.com.

Both parks turn visitors away at the gate in certain areas when the parking reaches capacity. People with reservations are permitted to proceed, but even so, finding a parking space can be daunting. To avoid this situation, stay in the area the night before if youre planning a hike, or arrive very early, and always have a backup plan.

There are separate entrance fees to visit Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks. For Glacier, visitors purchase a single-day, weekly, motorcycle-entry, annual pass for Glacier, or annual pass for the entire National Park system, either at the gate or digitally through yourpassnow.com. These are available on digital devices, although keep in mind that not all entrance stations have cell or Wi-Fi availability. The Every Kid in a Park program provides a free annual National Park pass to all fourth graders who apply online at everykidinapark.org.

Waterton Lakes offers either daily or annual Discovery park passes, and all persons under seventeen years old are admitted for free. To purchase the Discovery pass online, go to pc.gc.ca/en/voyage-travel/admission.

Even though Glacier and Waterton Lakes make up an international peace park, visitors still need a passport to cross the border going either direction. There are customs border stations along the Chief Mountain Road, as well as the Port of Piegan / Carway on US 89 and AB 2, as well as the Goat Haunt Ranger Station at the southern end of Waterton Lake. Reporting Offsite Arrival Mobile (ROAM) kiosks in Waterton Lakes townsite allow hikers and backpackers to report in or out when traveling. Visit CBP.gov for more information.