Glacier Park Lodge

In an area held in reverence by the native people who frequented it, Glacier National Park was created in 1910 by President Taft. In the years following its creation, the federal government did not allocate much funding to develop the park, so a unique public and private partnership arose involving the Great Northern Railway. The company not only built a rail line to and around the park, they built four lodges and other facilities and even built out a network of riding trails. The first of the great lodges, all built in the Swiss style, was Glacier Park Lodge. Here the trains from the east dropped their passengers, who typically took horse pack trips to backcountry chalets.

Today, Glacier Park Lodge sits in the village of East Glacier Park, about 7 miles from the park entrance at Two Medicine Lake. Since the completion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, this part of the park sees relatively fewer visitors, but this is still an extremely popular spot. The lodge still houses visitors who want to backpack, explore rivers, or ride horses into the wilderness. They offer free short tours of the lodge most mornings and have a nice restaurant and a golf course. The back deck is a great place to relax and contemplate the stunning mountains of Glacier National Park.