I have a conference in MT in a couple of weeks and decided to head out a few days early with my youngest son (15) in order to spend a few days in and around Glacier National Park. We plan on tenting it - just doing some sight seeing, hike some trails and maybe do a little fishing. I've never been to Glacier, but I've heard it is amazing. What are the must-see places that we should have on our list? Any recommendations on camping? We don't own any fly fishing gear, so we're looking at bringing a couple of spinning rods.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Depends on what you want to do. Glacier is over run with people like many other NP's. The mountains are real dramatic and cool looking but the traffic and crowds on the trails ruin it for me. If you guys are into hiking and fishing I would stick to the area surrounding the park.

I have two friends that just came back from there in the last week. They said a lot of snow yet and the one guy hikes and said last Saturday it snowed all day while he was hiking. The Sun highway I don't beleive is open yet, still plugged with snow. He only seen a mountain sheep and no grizzles. I have a few good friends that live there and I can tell you to take every care of safety for the grizzles.

The guy said he only saw two jets and the sheep, not one person hiking that day.

Glacier is amazing, as well as the whole front north and south of there.

Early in the year, before the classic tour season begins, is better , but as snowy mentions, too early and the Sun wont be cleared yet. A call to get info on that would help find updates.

Driving the Sun is surely a wonderful way to see into the heart of the country.

The earlier in the morning to go, say Logan Pass , in tour season, will have a lot less traffic. A hike up there , on top of the world, is worth it, in my opinion.

If you are tenting , just stay aware and be safe.

The quarter circle bridge is interesting to check out on McDonald creek near Apgar I like Snowy mentioned that the Going to the Sun highway is still closed due to snow depths.
I worked on the movie Beethoven's II and road closers were common then too.
Allan

Thanks for the replies thus far. Is it worth the bother to try fishing with spinning gear? I'm sure there are fly fishing purists out there who would insist that there is no other way to catch a trout - which reminds me of a quick story...

I was driving through MT a few years ago on my way to Idaho for an elk hunt. While getting fuel at a truck stop/gas station somewhere in the middle of the state, I struck up a conversation with a fella who had one of those nifty row boats that are designed to drift the river for fly fishing. He informed me that there is a long-standing debate among fly fisherman as to which approach is the "purist" technique for presenting a fly: Either by using waders or by using one of these row boats. He summed it up nicely by characterizing the debate as "classic ROW versus WADE".

Sorry. I coundn't resist.

I follow a guy in montanna on fb. it just snowed there last week and day temps are just now getting above 50. its cold enough the mosquitoes haven't started in yet and he's usually covered up with them by now.