This was our first trip to Whitefish/Glacier National Park. We were overwhelmed with all of the options for exploring the park and thought this would be a good way to start. Our guide, Gabe, picked us up at our hotel. He was right on time. He had several options for us to choose from as far as where we specifically wanted to go and how long we wanted to be gone. We drove first to Polebridge which is a neat little community in the middle of nowhere with a great bakery/mercantile store and a small
restaurant. We had warm huckleberry bear claws fresh from the oven which was a perfect little snack. We then explored the west side of the park. The views were amazing. We stopped at Lake McDonald in Apgar and then went to the bridge that was the original west entrance. After that we exited the park and toured the Hungry Horse dam and reservoir. Our guide took us up a mountain road to get a bird’s eye view of the reservoir. It was incredible. We also made a stop at Lake Five on the way to the reservoir.
This was a private tour so it was just me, my husband, and our guide. We thought it might be a little awkward to spend 6 hours in a car with a stranger but Gabe was the perfect traveling companion. Although not originally from the area, he has been here for several years and has made it a point to learn the history of the area. I was impressed with his knowledge and appreciated his commentary. We went places and learned more than we ever could have on our own. To me, this was the perfect introduction to the park. I was in the area for a business meeting and I’m not the outdoorsy type so hiking or biking were not options for me. Also I wanted to be able to enjoy the views and not have to focus on driving. Overall it was a great experience. We spent 6 hours touring and covered a large swath of the western park. We’ve agreed that this is a wonderful area and would be worth a return trip. I would totally use Whitefish Outfitters for our next trip and would want to have Gabe as our guide