Visit Glacier in the Off-Season

Glacier National Park is a bucket-list item for many outdoor and travel enthusiasts, as it should be. The mountains deserve royal praise.

My favorite experience with this park was when I ventured alone and camped for a full week in early spring, hardly seeing another human being the whole time. I usually plan far treks out into backcountry wilderness when I visit National Parks in order to find the sanctity and silence. 

When I arrived to West Glacier last spring, I had the whole place to myself, including the developed campground Apgar and the whole stretch of Going-To-The-Sun Road that remains open parallel to Lake McDonald. It was a magical gift. I sat and mediated on the lake shores every morning, only in company of shy deer and spring birds.

Of course, this amount of precious sanctity cannot be guaranteed during every park visit in the off-season, but here are a few reasons why Glacier is best visited before the tourists flock:

1. Solitude & Healing- It's important to be able to find refuge in the natural world, especially while it's still here. Our psychological wellbeing benefits from time spent alone in nature. The vast amount of time and space as well as the silence offers an opportunity for deep introspection that we are not granted in the busy, fussy, fast-paced world of modern culture. Going to a place alone can seem scary, but try it. Plan a trip where you go your own way and reacquaint with yourself for a little bit. Even a day trip alone is worth the level of introspection and allotted peace that can lead to great moments of clarity or psychological mending. Let the impeccable beauty of the natural landscape support you. Spend a whole day alone in the presence of mountains and see what you notice. You can find solace in the summer season, but you'll have to work harder to escape the mobs.

2. Photography - If you are a photographer, you understand that snow is heaven. The opportunity for those pristine snowy field shots and the white-capped mountains is prime in the winter, obviously. However, the winter is cold and harsh. Worth it for the beauty of the land, but definitely takes a tougher version of your character to stand through those single digit temperature days. Visiting in the spring is a great time because the weather has had a chance to mellow out, yet the winter atmosphere is still very much in tact. Glacier's "winter" season lasts until about late April, so early spring is a great time to venture into the park to catch some stunning beauty before the snow melts and the families bombard.

3. It's all FREE - Perhaps one of the nicest things about Glacier in the winter season is that the gates are open, but there's nobody in the kiosks, meaning free entrance to everyone! (An annoying reality when you already have an annual parks pass). The winter season also means that the campgrounds that are open year-round are free to the public use, with a maximum of 14-days. You can live in Glacier for two weeks, explore the magic of the park, take in the serene silences, capture amazing photographs of the winter scenery, probably spot more wildlife that is active with lesser crowds, and perhaps befriend another traveler who also understands the wonders of the off-season.