Visiting Glacier National Park With Kids: Our 4-Night Family Trip in June

Before You Visit Glacier National Park

Glacier is a park that requires some planning.

Road openings, weather conditions, shuttle operations, parking restrictions, and other visitor information can change from year to year—and sometimes throughout the season.

When we visited during the last week of June 2026, the summer shuttle service had not started yet. That was one of the reasons we ended up having to rent a car to explore the park.

If you’re planning your own trip, I highly recommend checking the current information directly with the National Park Service before you arrive.

⁠Glacier National Park official website: https://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm

Visiting Glacier in June: Would We Recommend It?

This is a tough question.

We had absolutely beautiful weather during our visit. The Going-to-the-Sun Road was open, the days were sunny, and the scenery was incredible.

But there was still a significant amount of snow at higher elevations.

When we reached Logan Pass, the popular Hidden Lake Nature Trail was still covered in snow. We watched people attempting it, but the conditions didn’t look particularly enjoyable for our younger kids, so we decided to skip it.

I was a little disappointed because people were seeing mountain goats in the area, and Hidden Lake is definitely somewhere I’d like to return and hike someday.

But that’s the reality of visiting Glacier early in the season.

The weather can be unpredictable, and conditions can change quickly. Even though we happened to have a beautiful week, another round of winter weather arrived after we left and affected the Logan Pass area.

If you’re planning a June trip, I would go into it with flexibility and realistic expectations. You might have an absolutely gorgeous week like we did—or you might encounter snow, closures, or limited summer services.

Important: Going-to-the-Sun Road Vehicle Restrictions

This is especially important for RV travelers and anyone driving a large truck.

We travel with an F-350 dually, and our truck could not travel the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road because of Glacier’s vehicle-size restrictions.

According to the National Park Service, vehicles and vehicle combinations longer than 21 feet—including bumpers—or wider than 8 feet—including mirrors—are prohibited between Avalanche Creek and Rising Sun.

Vehicles over 10 feet tall may also have difficulty traveling west from Logan Pass to The Loop because of rock overhangs.

This means that even if you’re traveling with a fifth wheel or travel trailer and plan to leave your RV at the campground, your tow vehicle itself may still be too large to drive the restricted section of the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

That was our situation.

Why We Rented a Car for Glacier

Because our F-350 dually couldn’t travel the restricted portion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road and the park shuttle wasn’t operating yet, we needed another option.

We decided to rent a smaller car through Turo.

For us, the experience was incredibly easy.

The car was delivered directly to Mountain Meadow RV Park, and a couple of days later, it was picked up from the campground. We paid around $350 for the rental and didn’t have any issues.

I know experiences with Turo can vary, so I would definitely recommend reading reviews carefully before choosing your vehicle and host.

For us, though, it was much easier than coordinating transportation to and from a traditional rental-car location.

More importantly, having that smaller vehicle allowed us to experience areas of Glacier we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to access with our truck.

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Our Glacier National Park Itinerary

We essentially had two full days exploring Glacier National Park and then spent our third full day getting away from the park crowds and visiting Whitefish.

Our first Glacier day was mostly about seeing the park and figuring out the lay of the land.

Our second day was much slower.

Looking back, I think that combination worked really well for us.

Day 1: Going-to-the-Sun Road and Many Glacier

St. Mary Lake

One of the views I’ll remember most from Glacier was St. Mary Lake.

The water was completely still when we visited, reflecting the mountains around it like a mirror. It almost looked like you could hop in and travel to a new dimension. It was magical.

There was still snow on the higher peaks while the lower elevations were green and covered in wildflowers.

It was one of those scenes that doesn’t quite feel real when you’re standing there.

Logan Pass: Get There Earlier Than You Think

Logan Pass was a completely different story.

It was packed.

We were never able to find parking there during our visit.

Both mornings, we reached the Apgar entrance around 8 a.m., and honestly, that didn’t feel early enough.

Traffic was already backed up, and we waited approximately 30 minutes just to enter the park.

From the experiences and reviews we read, arriving at Logan Pass before 7 a.m. gave visitors a better chance of finding parking during our visit.

But remember: if you’re entering from the west side, you still have to drive from the entrance to Logan Pass.

That could mean arriving at the park entrance before 6 a.m.

If Logan Pass is one of your biggest priorities, I would research the current parking and shuttle situation before your trip and plan your morning around it.

Hidden Lake Nature Trail

One of the hikes I really wanted to do was the Hidden Lake Nature Trail at Logan Pass.

Unfortunately, when we visited in late June, the trail was still completely covered in snow.

Some people were attempting it, but it didn’t look like something our younger kids would enjoy in those conditions.

So we skipped it.

We did hear about people seeing mountain goats in the area, which made me even more disappointed that we couldn’t experience it.

If we return to Glacier during a different time of year, Hidden Lake will be high on my list.

Visiting Many Glacier

Reaching Many Glacier from the west side was a commitment.

We traveled across the Going-to-the-Sun Road toward St. Mary, briefly left the park, and continued north into the Many Glacier area.

This is one of the main reasons our first day became so long.

Many Glacier is somewhere I would absolutely like to spend more time if we return.

We stopped at the visitor center, where the girls picked up Junior Ranger booklets. We also stamped our National Park passport and, as usual, checked out the stickers, magnets, and souvenirs.

We didn’t have enough time for a long hike, so we walked part of the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail to Fishercap Lake.

We only went about a mile total round trip.

Fishercap Lake is known as a place where visitors sometimes spot moose, which was our main reason for heading out there.

We didn’t get our moose sighting, but we still enjoyed the short walk through the area.

If we return to Glacier, I would dedicate an entire day specifically to Many Glacier rather than trying to combine it with the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

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Day 2: Trail of the Cedars and Our Favorite Glacier Discovery

By our second day, we understood the park much better.

And we knew we didn’t want another day spent almost entirely in the car.

We decided to focus on a smaller area of the Going-to-the-Sun Road and spend more time actually experiencing it.

Our first stop was Trail of the Cedars.

Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail

We arrived around 8 a.m., and the parking situation was already crazy.

Luckily, rangers were outside helping direct traffic, and one ranger was able to help us find a parking space relatively quickly.

Interestingly, even though the parking area was packed, the trail itself didn’t feel overwhelmingly crowded.

Trail of the Cedars is approximately a 0.9-mile loop, making it a great option for families with younger kids.

It honestly didn’t feel like we were in Glacier anymore.

Enormous cedar trees towered above us, and portions of the trail followed a boardwalk through the forest. There was rushing water and a beautiful creek area along the way.

The morning light coming through the trees also made this one of my favorite places for photography.

The trail connects with the longer Avalanche Lake Trail, which we didn’t complete on this trip.

That’s another one going on our “next time” list.

Red Rock Point: Our Unexpected Favorite Place in Glacier

After Trail of the Cedars, we wanted to find somewhere a little quieter.

That’s how we ended up at Red Rock Point.

The pull-off is north of Trail of the Cedars, before reaching The Loop, and it’s easy to drive right past without thinking much of it.

There was a fairly large parking area that was busy when we arrived, but we were still able to find a spot.

We walked down toward the water and found one of the most beautiful places we’d seen during our trip.

Getting down wasn’t completely effortless. We had to navigate some rocks while carrying our lunch and everything we needed for the kids.

But once we were there, we stayed.

The kids got into the freezing water.

Then Eli found a large rock to jump from.

Of course, once he started jumping, other people saw him and started jumping too.

Before long, we had met several people who were swimming and jumping into the water with us.

The water was absolutely freezing.

All three kids still got in.

We ate lunch beside the river, swam, jumped off rocks, talked to people we’d just met, and spent hours surrounded by the mountains.

It was the highlight of our Glacier trip.

Not Logan Pass.

Not a famous five-mile hike.

A random afternoon swimming in freezing mountain water.

And that’s exactly why we don’t try to schedule every minute of our trips.

When we visit extremely busy national parks, we try to experience some of the places they’re famous for.

But we also don’t want to spend our entire vacation surrounded by a billion people or fighting for parking (we literally saw cars almost running into eachother and grown adults yelling at eachother over parking spaces)!

Sometimes that means we miss something popular.

In exchange, we occasionally find something that feels like ours.

Red Rock Point was that place for us.

Apgar Visitor Center and Junior Rangers

We also stopped at the Apgar Visitor Center during our trip.

Compared with some of the busier areas of the park, Apgar felt much more manageable.

Rangers were outside answering questions and providing information, and this is where the girls completed the Junior Ranger program and received their badges.

If you’re visiting Glacier with kids, we almost always recommend picking up the Junior Ranger booklet.

It’s free, gives the kids something to work on throughout the park, and helps them learn about what they’re seeing instead of simply being dragged from one viewpoint to another.

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Extra Day: Visiting Whitefish With Kids and a Dog

For our third full day in the area, we decided we needed a break from Glacier’s crowds.

We headed to Whitefish.

And it ended up being another really good family day.

Whitefish Lake State Park

Hugh Rogers Wag Park

If you’re traveling with a dog, Hugh Rogers Wag Park was another highlight of our Whitefish day.

The park is huge, with approximately five acres of space for dogs.

There were walking paths, benches, large grassy areas, drinking fountains for dogs and people, an agility area, pet-waste stations, and even a pond where dogs could swim.

There were dogs everywhere.

Willie loved it.

Traveling full-time with a dog means we’re always looking for places where Willie can actually run and enjoy himself instead of constantly being on a leash.

This was one of those places.

If you’re visiting the Glacier area with your dog, I think making the drive to Whitefish is absolutely worth considering.

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Where We Stayed: Mountain Meadow RV Park

We stayed four nights at Mountain Meadow RV Park near Hungry Horse.

We chose this area primarily because of its proximity to the west entrance of Glacier National Park.

The campground was only about 15 minutes from the park entrance, which was incredibly convenient.

We paid approximately $95 per night for a full-hookup, big-rig pull-through site.

That’s expensive for an RV park.

Unfortunately, the Glacier area is expensive in general, and Mountain Meadow was actually one of the more reasonably priced options we found that could accommodate what we needed.

Our site was a decent size. It wasn’t huge, but it worked fine for us.

The campground itself was beautiful and well maintained, and the people running it were incredibly kind.

We had some last-minute changes to our reservation, and they were very accommodating despite us visiting during an extremely busy time.

Campground Amenities

Mountain Meadow has a rainbow trout pond where guests can fish without a fishing license.

During our stay, fishing was free if you caught and released the fish. If you decided to keep one, you paid by the inch.

We didn’t get a chance to try it because we were gone exploring almost every day.

There were some limitations for traveling with Willie. Many of the campground’s green spaces were off-limits to dogs, so we didn’t get as much use out of the property with him as we would have liked.

We also had to pay an additional fee to park our rental car.

Cell service was good, and our Starlink worked without any problems.

Eli had taken the week off so we could spend full days exploring Glacier, so we didn’t actually test working remotely from the campground. Based solely on our connectivity, though, we didn’t experience any issues.

One thing that really drove home where we were was seeing people walking around the campground carrying bear spray.

Bears are a reality in this part of Montana.

We didn’t personally see a bear at the campground or have any problems, but it’s something you need to be prepared for.

On the night we arrived, the campground had a live band playing, and they were actually really good.

Between the music, scenery, and overall atmosphere, it was a great introduction to the area.

Would We Stay at Mountain Meadow Again?

Yes.

It was expensive, but so was almost everything around Glacier.

The campground was beautiful, felt safe, was well maintained, and was incredibly convenient for accessing West Glacier.

We just weren’t there very much.

And for this trip, that was kind of the point.

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Is Hungry Horse a Good Place to Stay for Glacier?

For us, yes—with one major consideration.

Hungry Horse was a great home base for accessing West Glacier, Apgar, Trail of the Cedars, and the west side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

It was not particularly convenient for Many Glacier.

Our nearly eight-hour driving day made that very clear.

If your priority is exploring the main Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor, I would consider staying near West Glacier/Hungry Horse or on the St. Mary side.

If Many Glacier is high on your list, I would seriously consider splitting your stay or choosing accommodations closer to that area for at least part of your trip.

Hungry Horse itself has some local amenities, but for major grocery shopping, we drove toward Kalispell, approximately 30 minutes away, where you’ll find larger grocery stores, Costco, and more shopping options.

We found the entire Glacier area expensive, so stocking up before heading closer to the park can be especially helpful for RV families.

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Food, Bathrooms, and Cell Service in Glacier

We packed our food and lunches both days we explored Glacier, and I would absolutely do that again.

We saw food options around the lodge in Many Glacier, but we didn’t notice many convenient places to grab a full meal while traveling the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Packing our lunch also gave us the freedom to eat wherever we happened to be.

That’s exactly how we ended up having lunch beside the water at Red Rock Point.

We found bathrooms throughout the areas we explored, although many were basic vault toilets.

Cell service inside Glacier was unreliable.

I would download your maps and any important information before entering the park rather than relying on having service once you’re inside.

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Bring Bear Spray

This is bear country.

Bring bear spray.

We purchased ours at Costco before our trip, but bear spray is also available for purchase or rental around the Glacier area.

If you’re flying, research current airline and TSA restrictions before your trip because bear spray generally cannot be transported on commercial airplanes.

More importantly, know how to use it.

We saw a bear during our visit, and although it was safely across the road, bears are very much part of the environment here.

Carry your bear spray somewhere you can actually reach it.

Not buried at the bottom of your backpack.

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Would We Visit Glacier National Park Again?

Absolutely. I don’t feel like we’re finished with Glacier. There is so much we didn’t see.

I’d love to return and hike Hidden Lake when it isn’t covered in snow. I’d like to complete the hike to Avalanche Lake. And I’d dedicate an entire day to Many Glacier instead of trying to squeeze it into our Going-to-the-Sun Road day.

But I also wouldn’t change the trip we had.

We drove one of the most scenic roads we’ve ever experienced. We watched the mountains reflect across the perfectly still water of St. Mary Lake. The kids stuck their hands out of the car to feel the spray from the Weeping Wall. We saw a bear. We walked beneath towering cedar trees. We searched for moose. We swam in freezing mountain water. And we spent an afternoon sitting beside the river instead of racing to our next destination.

When our kids talk about Glacier, those are the things I want them to remember.

We didn’t see everything Glacier National Park has to offer in four nights. But we saw enough to know we want to come back.

And sometimes that’s the best way to leave a place.

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