Granite Park Chalet

2024 Price: $1,200/person +/- $100 (rates waiting approval) with $300 deposit upon booking
Other Price: Glacier National Park entrance fee. Purchase your pass in advance here. Linens are provided. Packs and hiking poles are available for rent.
Guide Tip Not Included: Industry standard is 18-20%

Meeting Time: 7:30 AM
Trip Duration: 3 Days
Difficulty: Family Friendly, Moderate
Minimum Age: 10

Description

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This trip offers the best of both Glacier National Park worlds: the backcountry and the front country. You’ll experience Glacier National Park’s stunning interior in the comfort of the historic walls of Granite Park Chalet.

Savor delicious meals, miles from a grocery store, in the charming chalet dining room. Let your eyes widen as they try to take in the amount of stars studding Glacier’s internationally recognized dark night skies. Do all of this without having to carry camping gear! On the hike to and from Granite Park Chalet your daypack will weigh approximately 20 pounds. You will be responsible for carrying your clothing and miscellaneous gear (i.e. 2 water bottles or 1 Camelbak or similar hydration pack), lunch, raingear, and optional items like camera, binoculars, sunscreen, etc.

Depending on trail conditions, you’ll hike to the Chalet via the Loop Trail (3.8 miles, 2000′ elevation gain) or the Highline Trail (7.5 mostly level miles). The Chalet features a fully equipped kitchen and beds with linens. In addition to getting to experience Glacier’s backcountry with many of the comforts of civilization, this 3 day hut hike to Granite Park Chalet offers guests an excellent chance to observe Glacier’s abundant flora and fauna.

Flora and Fauna

We often see Glacier’s iconic mountain goats and Bighorn sheep on our way to Granite Park Chalet. At times, we also spot grizzly bears, wolverines, marmots, bald eagles, and more! The summer bloom of wildflowers create carpets of beargrass, sticky geranium, and Indian paintbrush along the trail. The views from the Highline Trail, and Granite Park Chalet, are largely unobstructed. You may feel the need to sing songs from The Sound of Music as you hike. That’s okay with us.

Bucket List

A trip to Granite Park Chalet is the definition of a unique experience in Glacier National Park. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience a stay at one of the last chalets standing in the park, and the chance to view two of the park’s last remaining glaciers!

Click Here For Reservation + Cancellation Policies

Granite Park Chalet Trip Itinerary

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Day 1

Meet at our office just outside of West Glacier at 7:30 AM to go over the contents of your pack with your guide. Sit back and enjoy the ride to the trailhead. We’ll navigate Glacier’s historic Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass. Next, our 7.5 mile hike on the Highline Trail begins.

This is a moderate hike. The trail undulates, gaining and losing a couple hundred vertical feet of elevation over its course. We’ll be hiking in an alpine environment with wide open views of the majestic peaks all around us. You can expect your daypack to weigh about 20 pounds. In late afternoon, we’ll arrive at Granite Park Chalet. Time to settle in, enjoy the amazing scenery, and watch for wildlife before dinner. Our guides love this trip because the fully equipped kitchen allows them to create gourmet backcountry meals!

Day 2

After breakfast, we’ll choose from a couple of hiking options. One favorite is the hike to Swiftcurrent Lookout, which sits on the Continental Divide and offers one of the best views in Glacier. From Granite Park Chalet, this is a rigorous 2 mile hike with an elevation gain of about 1,800 feet. Total distance is 4 miles round trip.

Guests who want more mileage, but not so much elevation gain, may choose to hike from Granite Park Chalet to Ahern Pass. At Ahern Pass we will get a glimpse into the remote Belly River area of Glacier. We’ll look down on turquoise Helen Lake. The hike to Ahern Pass from the Chalet is 4.5 miles one way, or 9 miles round trip. There is not a significant amount of elevation gain or loss.

After another delicious dinner, we’ll spend a second night in the comfort of Granite Park Chalet.

Day 3

Following breakfast,guests may hike to Grinnell Glacier Overlook. This is a 1.5 mile hike with an elevation gain of 900 feet — steep, but worth it! From the Overlook, we’ll enjoy staggering views of Grinnell Glacier, one of the largest remaining glaciers in the park. Total mileage is 3 miles round trip.

Guests that prefer a more easy going day are welcome to pass on this hike. Instead, relax and enjoy the views from Granite Park Chalet. Our group will reunite at the Chalet for lunch. Then, we’ll hike down the Loop Trail — 4.5 miles with 2,200 feet elevation loss — to the Going to the Sun Road. Expect to return to our West Glacier office around 4 p.m.

Granite Park Chalet Facilities

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Kitchen + Dining

• Granite Park Chalet is a historic backcountry hut equipped with an off-grid, propane-powered kitchen. There, your guide will prepare and serve delicious home cooked meals. Adjacent to the kitchen is a comfy, rustic dining room where you may relax and enjoy the atmosphere.

Bedrooms

• Sleeping accommodations are in the upper level of the main Chalet or in the Annex, about 200 feet from the main Chalet. The rooms are hostel-style and furnished with single bunk beds (2 to 6 beds per room) and linens are provided.
• For Glacier Guides and Montana Raft chalet guests, your family unit is the unit you are traveling to Montana with – you will not share rooms with anyone else on a Glacier Guides tour of the chalets.
• The Chalet’s walls are very thin. If you are a light sleeper we recommend ear plugs

Bathrooms

• There are no shower facilities, but drinking water is available. Bottled water can be purchased or local water can be obtained from a filtered system near the Chalet.
• There are pit toilets equipped with toilet paper and hand sanitizer near the Chalet.

What’s provided? Do you need a sleeping bag? Here’s a list of what to bring.

Meeting Notes

Guests should call the day before departure at 406-387-5555 to check in. The day of the trip, arrive at our office at 7:30 AM to meet your guide.  Click on directions for how to find us.

Typical Granite Park Chalet Menus

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Breakfast

Hashbrown quiche, sausages, melon

Blueberry or banana pancakes, bacon, melon

Lunch

Cheese, meat, crackers; hummus pesto; oranges; fruit leathers, cookies, chips

Chicken wraps or peanut butter + jelly or hummus pitas; fruit; trail bars, chips, cookies

Dinner

Steak or chicken fajitas with rice and beans, salsa, tortillas; spinach salad with strawberries and almonds; brownies

Super pasta; veggie salad with ranch or balsamic vinaigrette; garlic bread; no bake cookies

Learn More About The Glacier National Park Chalets

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Interested in learning more about the Glacier National Park Chalets? There were once 9 chalets in the park that predated the Going to the Sun Road. Today, only 2 remain in service as chalets: Sperry and Granite Park. The Two Medicine Chalet is now a camp store. Here’s a list of good reads about the chalets:

• The Loss of Sperry Chalet-And History of the Original 9 Chalets
• Explore Our Guided Trips to the Glacier National Park Chalets
• 10 Reasons To Go To Granite Park and Sperry Chalets
• More Reading About Granite Park Chalet
• More Reading About Glacier National Park’s Lodges and Chalets
• Curious about hiking the Highline Trail to Granite Park? We lead trips there every Tuesday. Read more about that hike here. And then you can read even more about it here.